A Sampling Strategy for Remedial Action at Hazardous Waste Sites: Clean-up of Soil Contaminated by Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin

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Abstract
This paper presents a sampling approach that can determine, with high levels of confidence and economical numbers of analyses, that an area meets acceptable criteria of cleanliness. The sampling strategy consists of the following: (1) Divide the area into suitable cleanup units of a practical size (20 by 250 feet, for example), (2) Set up two sampling lines parallel to the long axis of the unit, 10 feet apart and 5 feet from each side of the unit, (3) Form a total of three or more (n) composite samples by collecting and pooling 200 small soil samples from each unit into each composite, (4) Homogenize the composite and randomly select m aliquots of soil from each of the n composites and analyze each for the pollutant (this procedure gives mn = N data for each cleanup unit) and (5) Estimate the arithmetic mean, x̄, and the standard deviation, s, of the n composite means. Use x̄ and s to compute an upper confidence limit on the true mean concentration for the cleanup unit. If this upper limit is lower than the decision criterion, the area is clean. The sampling strategy is illustrated for the excavation of soil contaminated by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, an acutely toxic chemical that is difficult and costly to analyze.

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