NEOCHMM Meeting: Sampling Where It Counts - The Need for Sub-Slab Soil Gas

Presenter: Martin (Mort) Schmidt, CPG

Date: March 19^th

Time: 6:00 for a light refreshments and speaker starting at 6:30

Location: Parma Library (6996 Powers Boulevard • Parma, Ohio  44129)  Room B

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous in soil and groundwater.  Due to concerns over vapor intrusion, an understanding of VOCs has become especially critical in the past decade.  But because we assume we know the source of the problem, we might spend years, and thousands of dollars, sampling in the wrong place.  Instead, we can test sub-slab soil vapors quickly, using hand-held equipment, and zero in on the problem in a matter of hours or days.  On the basis of field data, select points can be submitted for laboratory verification.  This technique has repeatedly allowed us to find previously-unsuspected VOC contamination.  Using the same approach for vapor-intrusion assessments yields a far better picture of what’s really entering the building from subsurface. 

Presenter Bio:

Martin (Mort) Schmidt is currently Practice Leader for Vapor Intrusion for the consulting firm Cox-Colvin, & Associates in Plain City, Ohio, where he has been employed since 1997.  Prior to Cox-Colvin, Mr. Schmidt served as a radon investigator for the Ohio EPA, a geologist for Geraghty and Miller (now Arcadis), and an exploration geologist for Shell International.  Mort received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from the Ohio State University.