Risk assessments are frequently a focal point for environmental projects. Through the risk assessment process, virtually all available information for a site is distilled into a few values, representing human health or ecological concerns. Since these values are a dominant factor in determining the path forward for most environmental projects, confidence in the final result is critical. Through careful management and understanding of the entire process, Locus can minimize uncertainty and assure that your decisions are based on reliable and defensible conclusions.

Locus has completed risk assessments under several regulatory programs, and has successfully adapted to the required risk assessment methodology and factors adopted by USEPA, SWRCB, CA DTSC, and other agencies. Where needed, Locus has also incorporated transport models (such as the Johnson-Ettinger model) to quantify point-of-exposure concentrations and has had those model results validated and approved by the overseeing regulatory agencies.

In some circumstances, the risk assessment process can be inverted to derive risk-based cleanup goals for soil, groundwater, or air. Where appropriate, this type of evaluation can result in more realistic and achievable goals than the default cleanup standards. For these projects, Locus has experience implementing Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) and other inverse risk analyses.

Communication of risk information to stakeholders can often be as important to the success of a project as the analysis itself. Careful verbal and written presentation of the risk assessment results is essential to gaining consensus from the stakeholders. Locus has successfully presented risk assessment results to diverse audiences including regulatory agencies, community groups, and property owners and occupants. Depending on the circumstance, Locus can address the concerns of these parties with one-on-one communications, public meetings, or plain-language fact sheets.

Fate and Transport Modeling

Fate and transport modeling can be an important tool for assisting interpretation of conditions and simulating remedial technologies for comparative evaluation. Locus is a leader in computer modeling and contaminant transport studies. With a highly trained staff of geologists, geochemists, hydrogeologists, engineers, and computer scientists, our expertise ranges from simple computer-based analytical solutions to complex 3-D numerical models. Locus has direct experience using a variety of environmental modeling software for air, surface water, and groundwater.

Some of Locus' previous work on groundwater flow modeling is available on YouTube:

Locus Technologies Groundwater Modeling: Plume Particle Tracking

Locus Technologies DBCP Groundwater Plume Visualization

Locus Technologies Plume Visualization