Articles Tagged with testing

If you have recently been told, probably by the EPA or a state agency, that there is a possibility of vapor contamination in your neighborhood, what does that mean and what should you do now?

First of all, what is vapor intrusion?

Vapor intrusion can happen when the groundwater in your neighborhood is contaminated with a chemical or chemicals known as volatile organic compounds like TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, benzene, or toluene. These chemicals can turn into a gas and come back up through the soil and get inside homes, contaminating the air that people are breathing. That can be a serious threat to your health and is called vapor contamination.

The threat that chemicals contaminating groundwater are turning into a gas (‘vaporizing”) and drifting upward to intrude into the breathing space of overlying homes exists in many neighborhoods throughout the country. And this threat will remain with us for decades, as we continue to try to deal with nearly a century of the environmental recklessness of companies that spilled, poured, buried and dumped toxic chemicals because it was cheaper to get rid of them that way.

That is why the residents of these neighborhoods are being approached by polluters and government officials who want the homeowners’ permission to come onto their property, and test to see if vapor contamination is present.

If you are approached for this permission, here’s what you should know/do: