Every spring, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst welcomes all ''Soils Conference" Scientific Advisory Board members with open arms as we begin the planning process responsible for bringing you quality conferences year after year. With this "homecoming" of sorts comes the promise of reaching across the table and interacting with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, each of them bringing their unique perspective in support of a successful Conference in the fall. This year marks the 20^^ anniversary of what started as a couple of thoughtful scientists interested in developing partnerships that together could fuel the environmental cleanup dialogue. Since the passage of the Superfund Law, regulators, academia and industry have come to realize that models that depend exclusively on ''command and control" mandates as the operative underpinning limit our collective ability to bring hazardous waste sites to productive re-use. It is with this concern in mind that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection privatized its cleanup program in 1993, spurring the close-out of over 20,000 sites and spills across the Commonwealth to date, in a manner that is both protective of human health and the environment while also flexible and responsive to varied site uses and redevelopment goals. So we gather together again, this year, to hear our collective stories and share success and challenges just as we share stories at a family gathering. Take a read through the stories contained in these proceedings.
Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Water: Successes and Challenges, Volume 10 contains a valuable collection of success stories (and challenges) in the areas of environmental fate, heavy metals, modeling, MTBE and oxygenates, regulatory, remediation, risk assessment, site assessment and sampling methodology. It demonstrates the progress that has been made in working together toward the optimization of established approaches, as well as embracing departures from traditional regulatory models in order to address the threats to our natural resources.
The book is divided into eight sections: Part I: Environmental Fate; Part II: Heavy Metals; Part III: Modeling; Part IV: MTBE and Oxygenates; Part V: Radionuclides; Part VI: Regulatory; Part VII: Remediation; Part VIII: Risk Assessment and Remedial Approaches Towards Restoration and Management of Contaminated Rivers.
Contributing authors to Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Water: Successes and Challenges, Volume 10 are from government agencies, academic institutions, the consulting community and industrial companies. They document the state of environmental science and provide perspective on the progress that has occurred.
