NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document
SUMMARY OF INITIAL FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED FOLLOW-UP
• Continuing removal activities and fires at the WTC sites may be contributing to high variability
in VOC concentrations. Recent high values on November 7th and 8' suggest an increasing
trend but are also indicative of spiking high concentrations which are followed by noticeably
low values. Trends for VOCs at the WTC North and South Tower sites are not well defined.
• Outside the WTC work zones, VOC and other target analyte concentrations in air are low or
not detected. Relatively few VOC air results, however, are available from sites off the WTC
work areas.
• Lead, total PCBs, PM, and asbestos in air concentrations are decreasing at Lower Manhattan
sites.
• Asbestos in air concentrations at the Landfill are increasing.
• Relatively high concentrations of CDD/CDF, PCBs, PAHs, and metals were detected in the
bulk dust samples and few sample results have been reported since mid-October. The method
of sampling for bulk dust, and the likelihood of future data to demonstrate trends, is unknown.
• Several fields in the database are inconsistently completed, including "Detect" status, the
method used, the method detection limits, location and address information, and several others.
Also, likely due to delays in obtaining fixed laboratory results, we have observed that some
data are not entered until weeks after sample have been collection. These factors, which can
influence the direction of specific analyte trends, add to the challenge of making appropriate
data assessments.
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