Air Monitoring During Construction of Marine Bulkhead along Hervey Tichon Avenue, New Bedford
No airborne PCB levels have been detected that pose a health risk to cleanup workers or area business workers after six months of air monitoring during construction of a marine bulkhead. This 700 foot-long bulkhead was constructed as part of the soon-to-be built dewatering facility which will handle contaminated harbor sediment.
From 10/7/02 to 3/19/03: results from 32 individual PCB air samples (listed below) have ranged from 0.4 to 19 ng/m3 (nanograms per cubic meter of air - a nanogram is one-billionth of a gram).
Airborne PCB concentrations below 1,000 ng/m3 for adult workers are considered safe by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
In addition to this work-place standard, EPA tracks the amount of measured airborne PCBs over time and compares these amounts to an action level. Because the airborne PCB levels are extremely low, even the highest results fall far below the level requiring any corrective action.
| Sample Location | Date | Airborne PCB Levels* |
|---|---|---|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
03/19/03
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
03/05/03
|
3 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
02/19/03
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
02/05/03
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
01/21/03
|
0.4 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
01/06/03
|
2 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
12/19/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
12/05/02
|
3 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
11/19/02
|
14 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
11/07/02
|
2 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/30/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/22/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/17/02
|
4 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/15/02
|
12 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/09/02
|
19 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Marine Hydraulics |
10/07/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| Sample Location | Date | Airborne PCB Levels |
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
03/19/03
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
03/05/03
|
2 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
02/19/03
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
02/05/03
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
01/21/03
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
01/06/03
|
6 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
12/19/02
|
2 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
12/05/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
11/19/02
|
17 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
11/07/02
|
1 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/30/02
|
4 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/22/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/17/02
|
2 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/15/02
|
7 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/09/02
|
12 ng/m3
|
| New Bedford - Hervey Tichon Ave. |
10/07/02
|
5 ng/m3
|
| * Airborne PCB concentration (in billionths of grams per cubic meter of air, or ng/m3) | ||