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ARCADI S GERAGHTY&MILLER <br /> All work will be performed under the supervision of a geologist registered in the State <br /> of California. In addition, all field work will be performed in accordance with Gettler <br /> Ryan's(GR) Site Safety Plan 424004202.ssp,dated May 8, 1998(GR, 1998). <br /> Focused Subsurface Investigation <br /> SJCPHS requested, in meetings with UNOCAL, that the vertical extent of <br /> impacts at the site be delineated by advancing a soil boring at the center of the plume <br /> and taking depth discrete soil samples until a depth is reached at which sample <br /> chemical analysis indicates concentrations that are nondetect for the constituents of <br /> concern. <br /> It is the opinion of ARCADIS Geraghty and Miller that drilling through the <br /> center of the area of known soil contamination is not advisable and would <br /> unnecessarily present the risk of cross-contaminating lower geologic strata with liquid <br /> petroleum hydrocarbons which, although not previously detected, could potentially <br /> exist in strata higher up in the geologic profile. Such cross-contamination, if it <br /> occurred, could increase the degree of impact to groundwater quality and significantly <br /> increase the cost and time to achieve site cleanup. Saturated zone soil sample results <br /> also do not provide a superior basis for determining potential impacts to groundwater <br /> quality beneath the site. The most accurate and representative method of assessing <br /> impacts to groundwater quality is to sample the groundwater. Soil sampling in a <br /> borehole placed in the center of the plume will also not provide a superior data set with <br /> which to formulate a cost-effective method of cleanup at the site. A groundwater <br /> cleanup strategy should be formulated based on an evaluation of sampling data from <br /> the medium that is the target of cleanup, groundwater. Lastly, uncertainty is associated <br /> with the actual vertical flow path that the potential deeper hydrocarbon release may <br /> have followed. This uncertainty is related to differences in soil type and heterogeneity <br /> that occurs in the subsurface. There is no way to know that any given spot selected for <br /> drilling will be the actual location where the potential vertical migration of the <br /> hydrocarbons occurred. <br /> One soil boring is being proposed in this investigation to be advanced using <br /> hollow-stem augers at the approximate location provided on Figure 1. Based on <br /> available groundwater data, this location is downgradient of the known potential <br /> source area and within the dissolved-phase hydrocarbon plume. This approach will <br /> provide samples taken from a location designed to intercept dissolved constituents <br /> migrating and dispersing immediately downgradient of the location of the area of <br /> release while incurring a much reduced risk of cross contaminating lower strata of the <br /> geologic profile. Further, because of the broadening of plume width that typically <br />