Environmental and Water Resources Engineering

Level: M.S.
Student: Lisa Gwiazdowski
Advisor: A. Scott Weber Ph.D.

The concern regarding the health threat posed by the use of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) wood in playgrounds has recently increased. Currently, there is no accepted procedure to analyze data to characterize site contamination. To clarify the information presently available, this thesis is dedicated to analyzing data from three recently conducted studies for Western New York playgrounds. The data was compared with soil and wood surface screening levels that have been developed, and the results were used in a decision framework that lays out the remedial options available for each playground site. Soil and wood surface screening levels were developed using risk-based methods. Considering background concentrations and regulatory standards, the soil screening developed was 20 rng/kg. The wood surface screening level was 5 _g/100cm2. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all data, and data was fit to the appropriate population distribution to determine what type of test would be used when comparing the data with a screening level. The wood surface dataset was of low quality due to the quantity of censored data, but the soil dataset was of higher quality. Wood surface concentrations were low due to the maintenance programs implemented at the schools; only one measurement from the Maplemere playground exceeded the screening level. Additional analysis showed the effects of different sampling protocol on the magnitude of the measurements. Sampling with moistened wipes, and rubbing the wood surface aggressively with multiple passes results in the highest CCA residue concentrations removed from the wood. Soil concentrations were compared with the screening level and all schools had mean concentrations below the screening level, with the exception of soil at the Willow Ridge playground, where additional samples are required.