Record kept for fire insurance purposes, showing where underground storage tanks were located on a property, where chemicals were used for certain industrial processes, and the like. Sanborn maps are included as part of the record search in a Phase I environmental audit.

            A spot where a fluid contained in the ground oozes slowly to the surface and often forms a pool.

            The sand or mud found at the bottom and sides of bodies of water such as streams, creeks, rivers, lakes, swamps, ponds, or other body of water. Sediment typically consist of soil, silt, clay, plant matter, and sometimes gravel.

                            Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program

            The legally binding right to acquire the land on terms established in a legal agreement. Types of site control include purchase and sale agreements, options, earnest money contracts, or donation agreements.

            A site inspection involves visually inspecting a property to determine its use and condition, and to identify potential areas of environmental contamination.

            Gradual or rapid downhill movement of soil, rock, or other material due to gravity.

            A highly concentrated solid byproduct of industrial, recycling, or municipal waste treatment processes. Sludge can contain a variety of substances, some useful and some toxic, dependent on their origins.

                            See Condemnation

            Holes drilled in the ground for the purpose of collecting subsurface soil samples for geologic and chemical analysis.

                            Soil Vapor Extraction

            Areas at a facility in which solid wastes have been placed at any time, whether for treatment, storage, disposal, or any other reason, and regardless of whether the area was originally intended for the management of solid waste.

            A letter which is sent by EPA to all identified PRPs announcing the start of a negotiation period. Normally, special notice letters will be sent at two times during the Superfund process. The first is to offer the PRPs a chance to perform the RI/FS and the second is to offer the PRPs a chance to perform the actual cleanup, the remedial design/remedial action (RD/RA). The Superfund Law, CERCLA, establishes set time frames within which each negotiation must be completed. RI/FS negotiations for the Darling Hill Dump were completed in September 1989. The RD/RA negotiations will begin once special notice letters are sent. This usually occurs within one year of the Record of Decision (ROD).

            A sample collected and analyzed for comparison to another sample collected simultaneously at the same location. The two samples are analyzed at different labs to that the results from one can verify the results from the other.

            Bodies of warm water on the earth’s surface that are exposed to the air such as streams, rives, lakes and oceans.

            A test which measures whether an underground storage tank will release its contents under certain test conditions.

                            Technology Innovation Office

            "Treatment, storage, and disposal" describes facilities where hazardous waste is treated, stored and/or disposed.

                            Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility

                            Underground Storage Tank

            A treatment method for removing volatile organic compounds from soils by extracting soil vapor which contains volatile organic compounds in gas form.

            VCP’s are designed to accelerate the cleanup properties, such as brownfields, where there has not been much regulatory attention. They provide incentives for businesses to voluntarily investigate and cleanup, if necessary, potentially contaminated properties. In California, VCPs are established under the authority of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), a branch of the California Environmental Protection Agency. "Volunteers" (who may or may not be the legal responsible parties for the cleanup at those properties) agree to conduct site investigation r other response actions in exchange for regulatory, oversight and "sign-off" upon completion of the actions. Most sites are eligible for the VCP Program. Properties of the DTSC annual workplan (also known as "State Superfund" or Calsites), the Federal "Superfund" National Priorities List, federal facilities, and those not within DTSCs jurisdiction (e.g. petroleum-only sites) are not eligible.

            The upper limit of the ground that is wholly saturated with ground water.