Technical Assistance 

Contact
Elizabeth Weldin, Technical Assistance Coordinator
Elizabeth.Weldin@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-7094

Advice for Developers
Arsenic and lead in soils puts people at risk, especially children.  Development is a great time to test soils for contamination and clean them up!  Arsenic and lead from the plume are usually in the top six inches of soil.  Digging, grading, and scraping can be part of the cleanup. 
 
How Do I Know If My Soil Is Contaminated?
Ecology has draft guidance for sampling your soils.  You do not need special equipment or expertise.  Samples cost around $30-$40 each to analyze for arsenic and lead.  The number of samples depends on the size of the area, past uses, and how you plan to develop it.
 
How Do I Clean Up My Land?
Ecology strongly recommends digging up soils and sending them to a landfill.  This cleanup method best protects human health and is permanent.  In some cases, you can cap over soils with cleaner soils or pavement.  Where arsenic and lead levels are fairly low, you can mix with cleaner soils to dilute the contamination.  
 
See Ecology’s draft Model Remedies Guidance for more details on how to do cleanup.  From October 20 – December 20, 2011, you can comment on the guidance, which is part of a larger cleanup plan..  Ecology needs feedback before finalizing it in 2012.  Let us know if it is user-friendly or how we could improve the guidance.
 
I Need Ecology Approval of My Cleanup
We offer a pay-as-you-go program called the Voluntary Cleanup Program.  For a fee, you get advice on sampling and cleanup, review of your work, and an opinion letter.  This letter, also known as a No Further Action letter, shows that you completed cleanup meeting Ecology’s standards.