If that were feasible at every site, risk assessment wouldn't need to be part of the equation. But now that site managers are working to maximize resources by seeking acceptable endpoints, it's critical to know what chemicals exist at a site, how physical conditions will influence their migration, and how they might affect human or other receptors in the area. The site was formerly owned by BP, which still has cleanup responsibilities. They have linked those maps to a relational database that incorporates results of environmental sampling. Researchers are now working on map-based modeling of surface water runoff, groundwater movement, and potential exposure pathways.
Risk assessment is a wonderful science.
Communicating Risk GIS at Marcus Hook is also turning out to be a good communications tool, a vast improvement over the days when site managers provided regulatory agencies with 500-page reports full of incomprehensible charts and tables. Instead, the research team has put its data on CD-ROM, showed regulators how to use the software, and allowed them to draw their own conclusions. In the past, many organizations have been reluctant to share environmental data. Today, many are learning that communication with all stakeholders is critical to the decision-making process. Risk communication is the most overlooked piece of the process so far.