Office of Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response

The EALs are considered to be conservative. EALs based on human health and ecological concerns are well below levels that would cause immediate, acute health effects. Soil, groundwater and/or soil gas data collected at a site should be directly compared to the EALs. Based on this comparison and a review of actual site conditions, potential environmental concerns can be quickly identified. Under most circumstances, and within the limitations described, the presence of a chemical in soil, soil gas or groundwater at concentrations below the corresponding EAL can further be assumed to not pose a significant long-term or “chronic” threat to human health and the environment. Additional evaluation will generally be necessary at sites where a chemical is present at concentrations above the corresponding EAL. Active remediation may or may not be required, however, depending on site-specific conditions and considerations.

This evaluation is documented in an “Environmental Risk Assessment.” An outline of the information that should be provided in the text of the risk assessment is provided in Volume 1. While not required at most sites, an Environmental Risk Assessment may also include a traditional, detailed “Human Health” risk assessment as one part of that document (usually as an appendix). This expedited approach to site investigation, assessment and cleanup has been shown to be especially effective at sites with limited or relatively straightforward types of contamination, where the preparation of a more formal risk assessment may not be warranted or feasible due to time and cost constraints.

The EAL document incorporates USEPA Region IX Preliminary Remediation Goals (“PRGs”) as one of up to five different types of action levels for evaluation of contaminants in soil. As discussed in the accompanying user’s manual, the PRGs are not intended to be used as “stand alone” criteria for evaluation of contaminated sites. The PRGs are only intended to address direct exposure of humans to contaminants in soil. Evaluation of additional concerns must be carried out separately. The EAL document offers one approach to accomplish this.

The EAL document is not intended to establish policy or regulation. Use of the document and associated EALs is entirely optional on the part of the party responsible for the investigation and cleanup of a contaminated site. Reference to updated EALs will generally not be needed at sites where final cleanup levels have already been reviewed and approved by the HEER office, including sites that have already been closed. For sites where investigations based on previous editions of the EALs have been completed but final remedial actions and cleanup levels have not been approved by the HEER office, a review of proposed cleanup levels in light of the updated EALs should be made to ensure that all potential environmental concerns will be adequately addressed. For sites where investigation is currently underway, referral to the most up-to-date EALs is recommended.

For further information, please contact:

ELECTRONIC COPIES

If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you need to install it before you can view and print the downloadable PDF files. The Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded to your computer by clicking on the button:

RELATED HDOH TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

EAL SURFER

Tired of digging through pages and pages of lookup tables for environmental action levels? Try the EAL Surfer, an easy-to-use, Excel-based program that allows you to input the same site-specific information used in the tables and then retrieve soil, groundwater, surface water, indoor air and soil gas screening levels for the selected chemical and site scenario. A Surfer report summary (for use in Environmental Risk Assessments), a glossary and a summary of information on the chemical selected are also included.

To use the EAL Surfer you must have Excel 2000 installed on your computer. Simply download the Surfer from the link below then double click on the file to open the program.

EAL Surfer - includes February 2007 updates (Excel 2000)
or
EAL Surfer - includes February 2007 updates (Excel 2003)

The write protection function for the input worksheet of the EAL Surfer apparently malfunctions when the Surfer is accessed from some servers. If the Excel 2003 version of the Surfer asks you for a password when you try to select a new chemical, try downloading the Excel 2000 version and using it instead. If you still have a problem, open the file, go under the "Tools" pull down list, select "Protection" and then select "Unprotect". The password to unprotect the sheet is "EAL". The EAL Surfer is revised on a regular basis to reflect updates to the lookup tables in the EAL document. Please periodically check this webpage to ensure that you have the most up-to-date edition available.

BOUND COPIES

Bound copies of the document are available for purchase from the following print shop:

Contact the print shop directly and request a copy of the Department of Health document Screening For Environmental Concerns at Sites With Contaminated Soil and Groundwater (Interim Final - May 2005, updated August 2006). Be certain to note the date of the document. The document will be prepared as two bound volumes, Volume 1 (introductory text and summary EAL lookup tables) and Volume 2 (Appendices). Arrangements can be made for shipping. The document is also available on cd from the print shop.

UPDATES AND WORKSHOPS

The EAL document will be revised and updated on a regular basis. The most recent update occurred on February 8, 2007. A summary of all updates to the original May 2005 document is provided in Appendix 11 of Volume 2:

The February 2007 updates have not been included in the November 2006 pdf versions of the full EAL document posted above but have been included in the EAL Surfer. A full update of the EAL document is anticipated in Fall 2007. Comments and suggestions from the general public are welcome at any time. Updates will be posted to this website and notification sent to persons on the EAL mailing list. Workshops to present and discuss the EALs will also be held periodically. To provide comments or be included on the mailing list for updates and workshop announcements, please contact Roger Brewer at roger.brewer@doh.hawaii.gov.

SAIPAN/CNMI ENVIRONMENTAL SCREENING LEVELS

An advantage of the CNMI ESLs is that they are based entirely on USEPA toxicity factors and surface water standards. (The Hawai’i EALs and the California ESLs include State-specific standards that may no t be applicable elsewhere.) The CNMI ESLs also include summary screening levels specifically for commercial/industrial areas and for “deep” (>1 to 3m) soils. The ESLs are a handy tool to informally screen sites outside of the USA as well as areas in the US mainland where comprehensive, local guidance is not available. Screening levels for acute toxicity concerns will be added to the CNMI ESLs in the near future. These should help identify and prioritize heavily contaminated sites that may pose very near-term risks to human health and the environment.