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FY 2011 Performance Measure:

Remediate acres of prioritized contaminated sediments. [Puget Sound]
Performance Database: EPA’s Regional office will maintain a database of Puget Sound
contaminated sediment remediation using the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation & Liability Information System (CERCLIS) used by the Agency’s Superfund
program. The CERCLIS database contains information on the types of contaminated sediments/
toxics present in selected sites, as well as some baseline data against which remediation results
may be derived.
Data Source: The CERCLIS database tracks Superfund sites only. Superfund site information
includes remedial designs, feasibility studies and projects at contaminated sediment sites where
remedial actions plans have been implemented. The CERCLIS database also tracks Federal
completions, e.g., Superfund sites where federal clean-up activities have been completed.
Methods, Assumptions and Suitability: The CERCLIS database documents the remedial
actions and Federal completions of projects to clean-up Superfund sites. Within Puget Sound, a
Federal completion could correlate to a specific contaminated sediment site and the number of
acres that were remediated. Actual data on the number of acres remediated will be in
background documents related to the particular remediation project. Activities completed, which
include prioritized contaminant remediation (removal, capping, or other remedial strategies), will
count in terms of acres, or portions of an acre remediated. Other databases, such as the EPA
Brownfields program database and the RCRA-Online database may be useful as additional
sources of contaminated sediment remediation data for the Puget Sound sites. These additional
databases may be considered in the future.
QA/QC Procedures: Primary data are prepared by the Superfund staff based on site documents
related to individual clean-up activities. EPA directly oversees the work at Superfund sites.
There are standard operating procedures and data control procedures applied to CERCLIS data.
Data are reviewed quarterly and the data control plan is reviewed annually. There are Quality
Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs) for individual sediment clean-up projects.
Data Quality Review: Sediment clean-up projects, such as those included under this measure,
are very expensive. Closely managed construction projects are carried out by contractors under
strict oversight by EPA. There is close monitoring of sediment data quality, as this is an
objective of these clean-up projects too. EPA does periodic audits or quality reviews on
Superfund site data and the CERCLIS database.
Data Limitations: At this time, data on contaminated sediment remediation within Puget Sound
in the CERCLIS database are limited to sites where an EPA Superfund remediation plan has
been developed and implemented. The CERCLIS database only recently began tracking the
number of acres cleaned up and the specific sites where contaminated sediment remediation has
occurred. A new module for tracking this site-specific data was added to the database in June
2007.
Error Estimate: No error estimate is available for this data.
New/Improved Data or Systems: At present, the EPA Regional office plans to use the existing
CERCLIS database to manage data for the performance measure.
References: Link to the Superfund Site Information System at
http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm
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