Year
1994
Abstract
For some potential contaminants associated with an environmental release, background concentrations are not zero. These include most metals, many radionuclides, and sometimes other contaminants if there are sources other than the release being investigated that might affect the site. For these constituents it is necessary to develop estimates of the expected range of concentrations with which measured concentrations at the site of a suspected environmental release can be compared. In many cases, it would be desirable to use information from existing studies to generate such background distributions, rather than identifying and collecting background samples for each site. However, substantial measurement biases among different analytical methods and significant trends due to varying geological environments and releases from neighboring sites complicate this approach. This paper presents some examples for which these factors could not be neglected, but suggests that nevertheless the results of general studies may serve if appropriately modified.