FY2002 OSWER Innovation Pilot Results Fact Sheet v>EPA Entering Institutional Controls into One-Call Systems The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response initiated a series of innovative pilot projects to test ideas and strategies for improved environmental and public health results. This series of fact sheets highlights the innovative approaches, results, and environmental and economic benefits from the pilot projects that may be replicated across various sectors, industries, communities, and regions. PROJECT description/innovation EPA awarded an Innovation grant to the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) to test the viability of including sites with institutional controls (ICs) into state one-call systems. States established one-call systems in the 1960s to help excavators identify the location of buried utility lines. States recognized the need for these systems to prevent damage to underground facilities and to protect the public and environment from uncontrolled excavation. The pilot set out to determine whether the one-call infrastructure might work to notify these same excavators of underground environmental considerations protected by ICs. This was the first time such an idea had been implemented. Building on existing state and federal authorities, the pilot focused on the areas where the potential merits of adding IC elements into one-call systems were widely agreed upon. BACKGROUND At many environmental cleanups under federal, state and local agency jurisdiction, residual contamination and engineering controls remain after cleanup has been completed. In such situations, the lead environmental agency typically requires legal or administrative tools to be implemented on a site. Known as institutional controls, these tools limit usage so that contaminated areas or cleanup components already in place are not disturbed. While these ICs perform a vital function, the protections they provide may be disturbed during major land use changes or transactions, but not during more routine site activities. Therefore, future construction activities, including site excavation, well construction and grading pose a risk of unknowingly disturbing the contaminated area and jeopardizing the efficacy of ICs. Although ICs are important components of the cleanup plan, they often are implemented, monitored and enforced by an entity other than the one completing the cleanup. This separation of responsibility for the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of institutional controls requires active management to ensure awareness of the controls. • Identified and screened a total of 1,124 potentially conflicting land use activities within or near areas of concern in California from February to June 2004. • Identified and prevented 21 land use activities that could have directly conflicted with areas of contamination, remedy components or ICs. These included proposed excavations reported through the California one-call system as well as building permit, real estate, water well and construction activities identified through a combination of local agencies and public sources. PROJECT SUMMARY Phase I of the pilot was initiated in 2002 when OSRTI partnered with EPA Regions 3 and 5, and the States of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, to test the viability of including sites with institutional controls (ICs) into state one-call systems. The pilot conducted focused research on how sites were entered into the state one-call systems of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. This information was then used to test the entry of sites with ICs into one-call systems; test one- call system variations; and test various methods to receive, manage and respond to location requests. EPA worked with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to further evaluate whether the one-call infrastructure could also work to notify the state and EPA of planned excavations at sites where ICs exist, and notify site excavators of the presence of environmental contamination or underground cleanup remedy components, prior to excavation activities. In Phase II of the pilot, EPA worked with Terradex, Inc (Terradex) in 2003 to enhance the lessons learned from Phase I by combining the one-call system with other types of pre-emptive notifications in California. An informal selection ------- team consisting of EPA, Terradex, and the California State Water Resources Control Board selected 18 sites to be evaluated under the pilot. After the pilot sites were chosen, members of the selection team organized stakeholder meetings with state representatives, contractors, responsible parties (RPs), and regulatory agencies to provide an overview of the Terradex monitoring service and of the pilot program as a whole. RESULTS This project indicated that the one-call system can be utilized as an effective means for IC notification. The pilot developed information that will help prevent excavation, grading, well drilling and other future site activities from compromising contaminated soil, ground water or cleanup-related components—reducing risks to the health and safety of site excavators, government personnel and the public. Some of the more specific results of the pilot included: • Provided specific examples of where one-call systems successfully informed excavators of ground water contamination issues. • Detected 21 potentially damaging activities in California before they occurred, demonstrating the ability of a monitoring service—participating as a member of the local one-call system and obtaining permitting and other land transaction information—to effectively monitor use activities in restricted areas. The pilot also demonstrated that the monitoring and response system can identify—and in many cases prevent—actions that could interfere with ICs and other remedies where contamination remains onsite. • Confirmed that one-call systems, the real-estate Multiple Listing Service (MLS), county permits, and other public sources of information were very useful in providing information about site conditions to multiple parties prior to the initiation of activities at a site. In general, states with properties that have contamination onsite, underground remedy components and/or ICs could benefit from the approach used in this pilot project. Additional work is necessary to replicate this approach nationwide. The pilot partners have continued to work with the one-call industry and states to develop best management practices and refine costs and benefits. Lead and Sponsor: U.S. EPA Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) Other Partners: U.S. EPA Region 3 U.S. EPA Region 5 U.S. EPA Region 9 State of Wisconsin State of Pennsylvania California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) California One-Call System Terradex, Inc. OSWER Innovation Projects: www.epa.gov/oswer/iwg/pilots/ EPA Institutional Controls - Superfund: www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/ic/index.htm EPA Land Use & Institutional Controls - Brownfields: www.epa.gov/brownfields/tools/tti_lucs.htm EPA IC Tracking Network: www.epa.gov/oswer/onecleanupprogram/init2-IC.htm 2010 UPDATE The pilot raised awareness of ICs and one call systems and initiated a national conversation about these systems. For example, Mississippi drew upon the lessons learned from the pilot to develop a conceptual model for incorporating institutional and engineering controls into the Mississippi One-Call System. Several states such as California have implemented one-call systems that include ICs. In February 2006, EPA developed a summary report on Phase II of the pilot that can be found at: www.terradex.com/PublicPages/ Download/USEPAOneCallTerradexReport.pdf. A United States Environmental Protection * m Agency OSWER Innovation Pilot Results Fact Sheet — July 2010 Entering Institutional Controls into One-Call Systems ------- |