Evaluation of Environmental Hazards at Sites with Contaminated Soil and Groundwater, Pacific Basin Edition
Published by: Guam Environmental Protection Agency
Evaluation of Environmental Hazards at Sites with Contaminated Soil and Groundwater – Pacific Basin Edition (EHE guidance, October 2008) is a technical report with accompanying electronic lookup tables and environmental models prepared for the Guam Environmental Protection Agency. The guidance represents an update to guidance prepared for the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, Division of Environmental Quality in October 2005 (CNMI 2005).
The Pacific Basin edition of the EHE guidance follows similar guidance prepared by the Hawai‘i Department of Health (“Hawai‘i Edition,” HDOH 2008). A comparison of the two guidance documents is provided in Volume 1 of the Guam EPA document. The Hawai‘i guidance in particular makes allowances for low-quality groundwater in some coastal zones, especially in the Honolulu area. No such allowances are made in Guam, however, where all groundwater is considered to be a valuable source of drinking water that warrants a high degree of protection.
The Pacific Basin edition of the EHE guidance relies heavily on published USEPA toxicity factors and water standards. Within the limitations noted in Volume 1 of the guidance (especially with regards to vapor intrusion hazards in cold climates), this helps make the Pacific Basin edition of the EHE guidance useful across a broad geographic area.
The guidance can be downloaded from the links provided below. Comments, suggestions and questions are welcome at any time and should be provided to the contact noted below.
| Guam |
Guam Environmental Protection Agency
Administration Building
17-3304 Mariner Avenue
Tiyan, Guam 96913 |
Telephone: 1-671-475-1658/59 |
| Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands |
Ray Masga
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Division of Environmental Quality
Saipan, MP 96950-1304 |
Telephone: 1-670-664-8500
E-mail: ray.masga@saipan.com |
| Hawai‘i |
Attn: Roger C. Brewer
Office of Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response
Hawai‘i State Department of Health
919 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 206
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96814 |
Telephone: 1(808)586-4328
E-mail: roger.brewer@doh.hawaii.gov |
Pacific Basin Environmental Hazard Evaluation (EHE) Guidance
Supplemental Models and Guidance
ESL Surfer 
(March 2009) (1.36 Mb) – The Environmental Screening Level (ESL) Surfer is a searchable, electronic version of the ESL lookup tables. Use of the ESL Surfer to screen site data and expedite preparation of EHE reports is highly recommended. The Surfer automatically generates a summary page that can be included in reports. The Surfer also includes a glossary, a summary of information on the chemical selected and an overview of options for more advanced evaluations of environmental hazards. To use the ESL Surfer you must have Excel 2003 or newer installed on you computer. Simply download the Surfer from the link below then double click on the file to open the program. If you have trouble using the pulldown menus on the Surfer then remove the write protection (under the Tools menu). The password to unprotect the Surfer worksheets is “ESL.” The ESL Surfer is revised on a regular basis to reflect updates to the lookup tables in the ESL document. Please periodically check this webpage to ensure that you have the most up-to-date edition available.
Note – The write-protect password for all Excel file worksheets is “ESL.”
Additional Resources
DOH FTP Site – A number of additional documents and presentations are available for downloading from the HDOH file transfer (ftp) web site. The URL for the site is: dohcolab.doh.hawaii.gov/sites/ftpeha
If the login ID does not automatically appear, input “eha”. The password is “aloha”. Look for the folder titled 
“RBrewer’s Folder” and then look in the subfolder noted below. Refer to the overview file for a summary of posted files. Files posted to the ftp site but not noted below are also available for public use.
- Example EHEs: Examples of Environmental Hazard Evaluation reports.
- EHE Related Presentations: Powerpoint presentations presented by HDOH staff at national or local conferences on various EHE related subjects.
References
CNMI, 2005, Screening For Environmental Concerns at Sites with Contaminated Soil and Groundwater: The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Division of Environmental Quality, October 2005.
GEPA, 2008, Evaluation of Environmental Hazards at Sites with Contaminated Soil and Groundwater - Pacific Basin Edition (Summer 2008 and updates): Guam Environmental Guam Environmental Protection Agency, www.justice.gov.gu/CompilerofLaws/gar.html 
.
HDOH, 2008, Evaluation of Environmental Hazards at Sites with Contaminated Soil and Groundwater - Hawai‘i Edition (Summer 2008 and updates): Hawai‘i Department of Health, Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response.
USEPA, 2008a, Screening Levels for Chemical Contaminants: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, May 2008 (updated September 2008), prepared by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, www.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/prg .
