FIELD OVERSIGHT SUMMARY
NEAL'S LANDFILL SITE
SETTLING TEST
Tetra Tech EM Inc.
June 5 and 6, 2002
CIC info
INTRODUCTION
 As requested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Contract No. 68-W6-0037,
Work Assignment No. 943-RSBD-0539, Tetra Tech EM Inc. (Tetra Tech) is conducting site visits and
performing oversight activities at the Neal's Landfill site in Bloomington, Indiana. Viacom, Inc.
(Viacom), is the responsible party for the site. PSARA Technologies, Inc. (PSARA), is Viacom's
consultant. Earth Tech, Inc. (Earth Tech), is Tetra Tech's subcontractor and conducted a portion of the
field oversight described herein.
As part of Viacom's screening of remedial alternatives for the site, a settling test was planned for surface
water emerging from overflow springs at the site. The test was to be conducted during a storm event
producing a surface water flow of at least 5,000 gallons per minute (gpm) created by an intense period of
rain. The goals of the settling test were to evaluate ( 1 ) the fraction of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
remaining in a peak flow sample at various times after up to 24 hours of settling and (2) the fraction of
PCBs remaining in a peak flow sample at various times after up to 24 hours of settling when an organo-
clay flocculent was added to aid in settling.
This report summarizes settling test activities observed by Tetra Tech and Earth Tech at the Neal's
Landfill site on June 5 and 6, 2002; issues and developments; and future activities at the site.
Appendix A contains a photographic log of field activities, Appendix B contains a copy of Tetra Tech's
field notes, and Appendix C contains a site location map. The attachment contains a copy of Viacom's
test procedure for the settling test.
ACTIVITIES AND OBSERVATIONS
Tetra Tech's activities and observations at the Neal's Landfill site on June 5 and 6, 2002, are
summarized below.
Wednesday, June 5, 2002
A storm event of sufficient magnitude to produce a surface water flow of 5,000 8pm from overflow
springs at the Neal's Landfill site occurred during the afternoon of June 5, 2002. Viacom initiated the
settling test at about 3:30 p.m. when it was certain that the 5,000-gpm flow rate would be achieved. A
maximum flow of about 5,000 8pm was achieved from about 3:50 to 4:30 p.m. Viacom notified Earth
Tech ofthe initiation ofthe test at about 5:00 p.m., and Earth Tech in turn informed Tetra Tech.
Earth Tech arrived at the Neal's Landfill spring treatment facility (STF) at 6: 10 p.m. Drums I through 6
had already been filled. The drums designated "A" did not have flocculent added, whereas the drums
designated "B" had flocculent added as soon as the drums were full. Over the next 2 hours, the
remaining four drums (A7, As, B7, and B8) were filled, and drums B7 and B8 were treated with
flocculent. The approximate fill time for each pair of drums is presented below.
Drum Pair (A and B) Fill Time
13 :45 p.m.
24:10 p.m.
34:34 p.m.
45:03 p.m.
55:34 p.m.
66:04 p.m.
77:04 p.m.
88:03 p.m.
Drum pair I represents the true rising-limb storm sample. Flow was relatively constant as drum pairs 2
and 3 were filled. Drum pairs 4 through 8 were collected during the falling-limb portion of the storm
flow.
At about 8:00 p.m., Earth Tech observed the addition and mixing of flocculent for drum B8. The
flocculent was observed to be mixed at a constant rate, which was a deviation from the Viacom test
procedure. This deviation is discussed further in the "Issues and Developments" section of this report.
Earth Tech left the site at 8:30 p.m.
Having travelled to the site from its Louisville, Kentucky, office, Tetra Tech arrived at the STF at
9:00 p.m. At 9:10 p.m., PSARA read the staff gauge on the weir in Conard's Branch north of the site and
reported the water elevation to be 0.78 foot (see Photograph No. 1). At about 9: 15 p.m., PSARA
collected samples from drums B6 (3-hour sample), B7 (2-hour sample), and B8 (1-hour sample). At
about 9:30 p.m., PSARA collected the 4-hour sample from drum A5, and at about 9:45 p.m., PSARA
collected the 4-hour sample from drum B5. At about 10:00 p.m., PSARA collected samples from drums
A6 (4-hour sample), A7 (3-hour sample), and A8 (2-hour sample). At about 10:20 p.m., PSARA
collected samples from drums B6 (4-hour sample), B7 (3-hour sample), and B8 (2-hour sample). At
about 11:00 p.m., PSARA collected samples from drums A7 (4-hour sample) and A8 (3-hour sample).
At about 11:20 p.m., PSARA collected samples from drums B7 (4-hour sample) and B8 (3-hour sample).
At about 11:45 p.m., PSARA collected the 8-hour samples from drums A I and B I . Because the
sampling was repetitive in nature and was to be completed in accordance with a schedule, Tetra Tech left
the site at 11:50 p.m.
Thursday, June 6, 2002
Earth Tech arrived at the Neal's Landfill site at 7:40 a.m. At that time, the staff gauge on the Conard's
Branch weir showed a water elevation of 0.74 foot. Earth Tech left the site at 7:50 a.m.
Tetra Tech arrived at the STF at 7:50 a.m. At about 8:00 a.m., PSARA collected the 12-hour sample
from drum A8, and at about 8:25 a.m., PSARA collected the 12-hour sample from drum B8 (see
Photographs No. 2 and 3). PSARA reported that drum sampling would not resume until about 3:45 p.m.,
when PSARA would begin collecting the 24-hour samples from the 16 drums. The final 24-hour sample
would be collected at about 8:25 p.m. Before leaving the site, Tetra Tech took photographs of the
settling test setup (see Photograph No. 4) and the storm wiser overflow collection point (see Photograph
No. 5). PSARA and Tetra Tech left the site at 8:45 a.m. Because the remaining sampling was repetitive
in nature and was to be completed in accordance with a schedule, Tetra Tech did not return to the site to
observe the collection of the 24-hour samples.
ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENTS
Richard McCandless of PSARA initially reported that the storm event on June 5, 2002, was not expected
to produce the required 5,000-gpm flow in Conard's Branch. Because of PSARA's need to respond
quickly to the site when it became apparent that the storm event would produce the required flow, Earth
Tech and Tetra Tech were not notified of the initiation of the settling test until about 5:00 p.m. on June 5 and were not able to respond to the site until six of the eight drum pairs had been filled and drums B I
through B6 had been flocculated. Proper addition and mixing of flocculent constituted the most critical
element of the settling test. Earth Tech did observe the mixing of flocculent in drum Be, which was
conducted at a steady rate for 20 minutes. This activity was not conducted in accordance with the
Viacom test procedure, which requires mixing at various rates (high, medium, and low) for varying
periods of time (see the attachment, Section C, Step 15). The effect of PSARA's modified mixing
procedure on the test results likely cannot be quantified. Test results will be available approximately one month after completion of the settling test. All other settling test activities observed by Earth Tech and
Tetra Tech, including all the sampling procedures, appeared to conform to the Viacom test procedure.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Tetra Tech will continue to conduct site visits and perform oversight and sampling activities at the Neal's
Landfill site as directed by EPA.
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