A former industrial building located in Berkeley, California was acquired by a developer with plans to revitalize it. The development plan was to repurpose the existing structure and convert the underutilized 400,000 square feet industrial building into light-industrial, retail, office, and commercial space.
Historical industrial operations at the site dated back to 1958, and the property was originally developed to manufacture mechanical calculators. The manufacturing operations performed within the building included a machine shop, paint booth, drying oven, and assembly areas. The degreasing operations resulted in the release of trichloroethene (TCE) at the site. The groundwater at the site was also affected with TCE breakdown compounds such as cis-1,2-dichloroethylene which resulted from biodegradation. Total petroleum hydrocarbons as gasoline, metals, dense non-aqueous phase liquid, and light non-aqueous phase liquid were present at the site.
Environmental investigations at the site were initiated in 1986 and multiple environmental consultants identified the chemicals of concern, delineated the extent of affected soil and groundwater, prepared a remedial action plan, and obtained approval from the lead regulatory agency.
After the developer acquired the property, a voluntary cleanup agreement was signed with the lead regulatory agency. Due to changes in site conditions, changes to the selected remedy were required for the site. The remedy modifications were permitted and the remediation systems were constructed.
The following activities were performed as part of this project:
- Permitted a new groundwater (basement underdrain) treatment system with the regional boards to operate in compliance with NPDES regulations
- Worked with the Publicly Owned Treatment Works to modify the permitted water disposal from a sewer discharge to a storm drain discharge
- Designed and constructed a groundwater treatment system
- Performed operation, maintenance, and reporting of groundwater treatment systems
- Prepared a pilot test work plan for dual-phase extraction and obtained regulatory approval
- Performed pilot testing of the dual-phase extraction system, and prepared the corresponding reports
- Prepared and obtained approval of a Remedial Action Workplan Amendment
- Supported regulatory activities to obtain the corresponding California Environmental Quality Act Negative Declaration documents
- Designed a dual-phase extraction system (subsequently constructed by others)
- Provided oversight of the operation and maintenance
- Performed groundwater sampling and prepared workplans to expand the groundwater monitoring program
- Installed monitoring wells and extraction wells
- Prepared soil gas investigation workplans in accordance with state guidance
- Performed regular soil gas investigations and reports to monitor remediation progress
- Prepared a land use covenant to restrict property uses
- Prepared long-term cost estimates to support financial assurance
- Provided the associated regulatory and compliance support associated with air emissions, stormwater discharge, and site remediation
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