This book is included in the Medical Specialties, Veterinary Medicine & Emergency Situations section.
US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ENGINEERING MANUAL
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
1. Purpose
The overall objective of this manual is to provide U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (HTRW) managers and technical proponents with
the recommended basic/minimum requirements for planning, evaluating, and conducting ecological risk
assessments, consistent with USACE principles of good science and in defining expected quality and
goals of the overall program.
2. Applicability.
This manual applies to ecological risk assessment aspects for all USACE HTRW
investigations, studies, and designs under the Department of Defense, Defense Environmental
Restoration Program (DERP), Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Superfund Program, Civil Works, and Work for Others. EM 200-1-4, Risk Assessment
Handbook, Volume I: Human Health Evaluation, provides guidance on human health risk assessments
performed for all HTRW projects.
3. General.
Chapter 1 of this manual presents the purpose, scope, concept, and policy considerations,
and the use of risk assessment in HTRW programs. It provides a description of the USACE HTRW
program, the quality required for performance of ecological risk assessment, and an understanding of
how risk assessments serve management decision needs. Relevant Federal statutes/regulations, agency
guidance and directives and state requirements are also highlighted in this chapter. Chapter 2 presents
the major scoping and project planning elements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as amended by the Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as
amended by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984. Particular emphasis is
placed on the early development of an Ecological Conceptual Site Model (ECSM). utilizing the data
quality objectives planning process presented in EM 200-1-2, Technical Project Planning Guidance for
HTRW Data Quality Design, to identify data needs and optimize data collection efforts. Chapters 3
through 8 are intended to provide the risk assessor with the minimum content expected to be included
in an ecological risk assessment to adequately serve site decision requirements. They summarize the
key components of a Screening Ecological Risk Assessment (Chapter 3), the four tiers employed for
Baseline Ecological Risk Assessments (Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7), and Ecological Risk Assessment of
Remedial Alternatives (Chapter 8). These chapters stress the importance of properly identifying the
receptors and chemicals of concern and a thorough understanding of the dynamics of interrelationships
of multiple receptors and pathways in the development/refinement of an ECSM before embarking on
estimating exposure point concentrations. They also highlight the need for characterizing site hazard
or risk objectively and realistically to satisfy the regulatory requirement of protection of the
environment. Chapter 9 concerns presentation of the risk assessment results for use in risk
management and decision-making, focusing on the decisions and criteria needed for making those
decisions. Both risk and nonrisk factors are presented for consideration by the manager. This chapter
emphasizes the need for balancing protection of the environment with other project constraints based
on the level of confidence and uncertainty in the risk assessment results. Risk results are used for
evaluating the need for a removal action, interim corrective measures, or remediation, and to provide
the decision criteria and rationale for the selection of remedial alternatives, if required for site closeout.
The chapter concludes that the HTRW project team has the responsibility to present risk information
as management options to the customer, documenting the uncertainty and rationale.
FOR THE COMMANDER: Robert H. GGriffin
Colonel, Corps of Engineers
Chief of Staff
This handbook will be reviewed on an annual basis for revisions, and updates issued accordingly.
Chapter 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE 1.1.1 Objectives 1.1.2 Scope 1.1.3 Intended Audience and Use 1.1.4 Contents of the Handbook 1.2 USACE ROLE IN THE HTRW PROGRAM 1.2.1 DERP 1.2.2 BRAC 1.2.3 Others 1.2.4 HTRW Program Organization 1.3 OVERVIEW OF HTRW RESPONSE PROCESS 1.3.1 CERCLA Process 1.3.2 RCRA Corrective Action Process 1.3.3 Functional Equivalency of the CERCLA and RCRA Processes 1.3.4 Role of Risk Assessment in the HTRW Process 1.4 CONCEPT OF RISK ASSESSMENT AND GOOD SCIENCE 1.4.1 Basic Concepts 1.4.2 Risk Assessment as Decision Criteria in the HTRW Program 1.5 POLICY CONSIDERATIONS AND RISK MANAGEMENT 1.5.1 Relationship Between Policy Considerations and Risk 1.5.2 USACE Policy Considerations 1.5.3 EPA Headquarters, Regional and State Policies 1.5.4 Risk-Based Management Decisions for Site Actions 1.6 REGULATORY DIRECTIVES AND GUIDANCE 1.6.1 EOs and Federal Statutes/Regulations 1.6.2 DOD Directives 1.6.3 EPA Headquarters and Regional Guidance 1.6.4 State Requirements/Guidance 1.6.5 Others 1.7 FEDERAL FACILITY AGREEMENT 1.7.1 Basis for Interim Remedial Action (IRA) Alternatives 1.7.2 Requirements for RI/RFI and FS/CMS 1.7.3 Expedited Cleanup Process 1.7.4 Units Excluded from the Agreement Chapter 2.0 Ecological Risk Assessment Scoping Considerations 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 SCOPING CONSIDERATIONS 2.2.1 Objectives of the Ecological Risk Assessment 2.2.2 Definition of Ecological Risk Assessment 2.2.3 Planning for an ERA 2.2.4 The HTRW Policy and TPP Process 2.2.5 The HTRW TPP Process 2.2.6 Approaches to the conduct of an ERA 2.2.7 Establishing the Level of Effort 2.3 INTRODUCTION TO THE ERA PROCESS 2.4 INTRODUCTION TO THE FOUR-TIERED APPROACH Chapter 3.0 EVALUATING THE SCREENING ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 3.1 INTRODUCTION 3.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 3.2.1 Chemical Data Collection and Review 3.2.2 Ecological Conceptual Site Model 3.2.3 Problem Formulation Summary 3.3 EXPOSURE AND EFFECTS ANALYSIS 3.3.1 Exposure Characterization 3.3.2 Effects Characterization 3.4 PRELIMINARY RISK and UNCERTAINTY CHARACTERIZATION Chapter 4.0 EVALUATING THE TIER-1 BASELINE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 4.1 INTRODUCTION 4.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 4.2.1 Ecological Site Description 4.2.2 Chemical Data Collection and Review 4.2.3 Selection of Preliminary Chemicals of Ecological Concern 4.2.4 Selection of Key Receptors 4.2.5 Ecological Endpoints Identification 4.2.6 Ecological Conceptual Site Model 4.3 ANALYSIS PHASE - EXPOSURE CHARACTERIZATION 4.3.1 Exposure Setting Characterization 4.3.2 Exposure Analysis 4.3.3 Exposure Profiles 4.4 ANALYSIS PHASE - ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS CHARACTERIZATION 4.4.1 Objectives 4.4.2 Sources of Literature Benchmark Values 4.4.3 Selection of Literature Benchmark Values 4.4.4 Development of Reference Toxicity Values 4.4.5 Additional Considerations in Developing RTVs 4.4.6 Special Chemicals 4.5 RISK CHARACTERIZATION 4.5.1 Risk Estimation 4.5.2 Characterization of Uncertainty 4.5.3 Risk Description Chapter 5.0 EVALUATING THE TIER-II BASELINE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 5.1 INTRODUCTION 5.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 5.2.1 Field Studies 5.2.2 Laboratory Studies 5.3 DATA COLLECTION and ANALYSIS 5.4 REVISION OF THE TIER 1 ERA Chapter 6.0 EVALUATING THE TIER-III BASELINE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 6.1 INTRODUCTION 6.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 6.2.1 Field Studies 6.2.2 Modeling Studies 6.2.3 Laboratory Studies 6.3 DATA COLLECTION and ANALYSIS 6.4 REVISION OF THE TIER II ERA Chapter 7.0 EVALUATING THE TIER-IV BASELINE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 7.1 INTRODUCTION 7.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 7.2.1 Field Studies 7.2.2 Ecosystem Modeling Studies 7.2.3 Laboratory Analysis 7.3 DATA COLLECTION and ANALYSIS 7.4 REVISION OF THE TIER III ERA Chapter 8.0 EVALUATING THE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT OF REMEDIAL ALTERNATIVES 8.1 INTRODUCTION 8.2 DEVELOPMENT OF REMEDIATION ALTERNATIVES 8.3 COMPARATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT OF REMEDIAL ALTERNATIVES 8.4 OTHER APPLICATIONS OF ERAs Chapter 9.0 RISK MANAGEMENT - INFORMATION NEEDED FOR DECISION MAKING 9.1 INTRODUCTION 9.2 DETERMINING REQUIREMENTS FOR ACTION 9.2.1 PA/SI and RFA 9.2.2 RI/RFI 9.2.3 FS/CMS and RD/RA 9.2.4 Nonrisk Issues or Criteria as Determining Factors for Actions 9.3 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 9.3.1 Potential Risk Mitigation Measures 9.3.2 Risk Management: Degree of Protectiveness Glossary Exhibits Appendix A. References Appendix B. Information Sources for ERA Appendix C. Framework Appendix D. HTRW Technical Project Planning Process Appendix E. Monte Carlo Analysis Appendix F. Ecotoxicity Profiles for Munitions Compounds Appendix G. Benchmark StudiesEnd of Preview.
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