| USACE Remediation System
Evaluation (RSE) Checklists
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste Center of
Expertise (EM CX) seeks to increase the effectiveness of
existing long-term remediation systems. A major step toward that
goal is the preparation of checklists to evaluate these systems.
Our thanks to U.S. Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence
for assistance in formatting these documents.
Background
Remediation System
Evaluations (RSEs) are meant to
achieve a number of goals, including:
- Assuring there is a clear system objective (an end to the
project),
- Reducing costs and optimizing the system performance
considering current conditions and new technologies,
- Evaluating the protectiveness of the system in accordance with
the National Contingency Plan (the NCP and CERCLA 121(c)
requires reviews at least every five years), and
- Assuring adequate maintenance of government-owned equipment by
operators.
The RSEs can be conducted quickly and at
a reasonable cost (typically under $25,000). The RSEs include evaluation of design,
operational, and cost data, by the EM CX, a USACE district or
their contractor. RSEs include a
site visit and interviews with the installation or customer, the
operator, and possibly the regulator(s) and the public. The
checklists are meant to be prompts for the system evaluators in
conducting the evaluation and interviews.
The EM CX has conducted many RSEs. More information on
EM CX Support on RSEs can be found here.
Available RSE Checklists and Other Tools
The available
checklists include a general checklist, applicable to every
site, which describes the RSE team, needed data, suggested
report format, and interviews with the owner, operator, and
regulator. The checklists guide the evaluation of the operations
and maintenance of equipment and processes; provide suggestions
on identified problems; and assist evaluators in identification
of possible cost saving alternatives. An example report and general instructions to the checklists are also
available. A guide scope of work has been prepared to be used to define
the effort required of the district or a contractor in
performing an RSE.
A guide contract
clause for operations and maintenance contracts has been
prepared that outlines the subsurface performance data
collection requirements for pump and treat systems. These data
would greatly support conducting RSEs and the guide clause is an excellent reference for what data are
needed for adequately reporting and evaluating subsurface
performance of ground water extraction systems. The clause is
meant to be revised to reflect project specific requirements by
filling in blanks and deleting unwanted items."
Checklists are available in the links shown below. A guide for
their use and a sample report prepared for one of two original
test sites are also available. As the checklists are living
documents, the EM CX is seeking comments on the checklists and
welcomes any feedback about their content or use. The
multidisciplinary team preparing the checklists at the EM CX , 402-697-2655,
These documents are in
Portable Document Format (PDF), they
require Adobe Acrobat Reader software for use.
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