Department staff have the training, experience and equipment to conduct investigations to provide field support to the department’s various programs. This involves collecting and analyzing various environmental media, such as air, groundwater, surface water, sediment and soil, and potential hazardous wastes at:
- Superfund sites
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act-regulated facilities
- Leaking underground storage tank sites
- Emergency response incidents
Department staff are proficient with several pieces of specialized equipment used to collect high quality soil, water, and air samples for analysis.
Examples of In-house Equipment
Ground Penetrating Radar
- Can be used to locate underground utilities and other buried objects
- Will detect subsurface soil disturbances and bedrock features
- Applications include petroleum storage tank investigations, landfill investigations, archeological investigations
Flashpoint Tester
- Portable instrument used to determine the flammability of a liquid in assessing potential hazards.
Water Quality Instruments
- Instruments such as pH, specific conductivity and dissolved oxygen meters are used in assessing the water quality of surface water, wastewater and groundwater
Hydraulic Soil Probe
- Direct-push technology equipment used for multiple applications in soil and other unconsolidated materials
- Depth-discrete soil sampling
- Continuous core soil sampling/ profiling
- Monitoring well installation (permanent and temporary) for groundwater sampling
- In conjunction with other equipment to conduct in-situ soil gas investigations
Various Qualitative Air Monitoring Instruments
- Instruments are used to screen atmospheres and provide real-time information to personnel about potential hazards present
Robotic Camera System
- Intrinsically-safe with 500 feet of cable
- Real-time images sent to control module
- 360° camera movement
- Applications include:
- Examining sewer systems (as small as 4-inch diameter)
- Inspecting water well casings (as small as 2-inch diameter)
- Used in any dark confined space in place of live entry for reconnaissance
Thermal Imaging Camera and Monitor
- Imaging based on heat signature
- Applications may include:
- Identifying "hot spots" or leaks from pressurized cylinders
- Determining liquid levels in storage vessels
Infrared Spectrophotometer Sensor HazMat ID
- Identifies organic and some inorganic solid and liquid compounds using infrared spectrophotometry
- 23,000 compound library, with the capability to add additional compounds to the library when encountered
- Wireless remote operation capable
- Applications may include identifying unknown compounds, particularly when used with other available instrumentation
Various Pumps for Water Sampling
- Several types of pumps, such as submersible, peristaltic and small diameter mechanical bladder pumps
- Available to use in groundwater sampling investigations
