In a recently published article, “Development of a default vapor intrusion attenuation factor for industrial buildings,” Bart Eklund, Senior Technical Expert at Haley & Aldrich, shares the results of an investigation at a major industrial facility in the Midwest. The investigation provides insights into the amount of attenuation of sub-surface vapors occurring at industrial buildings. Eklund coauthored the article with Carly Ricondo of ERM, as well as Helen Artz-Patton, Jessica Milose, and Chi-Wah Wong of AECOM.
The evaluation of 718 unique locations across 77 buildings determined that large industrial buildings have a much greater attenuation than what is assumed for single-family residential buildings. As a result, the data suggests that the default attenuation factor (0.03) overpredicts indoor air impacts and that a revised attenuation factor for industrial buildings is needed to develop more defensible soil vapor screening levels for these types of buildings.
Read simplified or PDF versions of the full article on the Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation website. (Haley & Aldrich has obtained open access for this article, so there is no charge to download either version.) Contact Bart Eklund with any questions related to the article or vapor intrusion more generally.
