VOC sampling locations table for Ground Zero area, Jan 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

VI.b.3. Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force Study of Apartments A “Ground Zero” Elected Officials Task Force convened within days of September 11 to evaluate the environmental safety of apartments that housed an approximate population of 50,000 residents of lower Manhattan who lived within blocks of Ground Zero. A small-scale monitoring study of two residential buildings was conducted by contract (Chatfield and Kominsky, 2001). Surface wipe samples were taken from both exposure residential dwellings characterized as “high” and “low”. The “high” location, so named due to the expectation that higher concentrations would be measured, was in an apartment building located on South End Avenue, close to and southwest of Ground Zero. Apartment lOD, on the East side of this building and which had sustained window damage, was selected for sampling. Heavy dust deposits were in the apartment and were sampled for this study. The “low” location was located four blocks north on Warren Street. The apartment building did not appear to sustain any external damage. Apartments on the 2"^ and 5* floor were sampled. Dioxins, furans, and PCBs were measured in wipe and bulk dust samples. Inorganic metals including arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, and several others, were measured. Asbestos in air and dust was also measured in all sites.

Concentrations of dioxin, PCBs and metals were generally within “background” levels for both the “high” and “low” exposure apartments. However, asbestos readings were elevated in both air and dust, particularly in the “high” apartment. Chrysolite asbestos fiber counts were obtained using TEM analysis and AHERA counting protocols (fibers > .5 pm) and also by PCME (fibers >5 pm). Looking at the TEM analysis using AHERA protocols for this summary, 7 air samples in the “low” site showed 6 indoor exceedences of the 70 S/mm^ AHERA standard at 316, 379, 279, 142,141, and 162, with the last sample being a rooftop sample showing a reading of 6.5 S/mm^. All these samples were obtained at volumes very near the required 1200 liters. The “high” air samples were extremely elevated with asbestos, and most samplers were discontinued before 1200 liters due to high dust on the filter. Counting of structures greater than 0.5 pm was stopped after just one grid opening because of the large number of structures to count. The six measurements equal 10,620; 7,832; 6,277; 6.285; 7,155; and 548 S/mm^ The last sample listed here was an exterior sample; it was taken from just outside a sliding window in the apartment.

Asbestos in indoor dust samples was similarly very high. At the “low” apartment, dust was visible on all surfaces and wipe samples were taken with a wet non-woven cloth in accordance with ASTM D6480-99. At the “high” apartment, furniture and surfaces were coated with a thick coat of dust that could be swept up with a brush. A new toothbrush was used to collect samples in this apartment. At the low apartment, surface chrysotile concentrations up to 470,000 S/cm^ were observed, of which up to 79,000 fibers/cm^ were fibers and bundles longer than 5 pm. In the high apartment, surface chrysotile concentrations of up to 990,000 S/cm^ were observed, of which up to 46,000 were fibers and bundles longer than 5 pm.

Outdoor dust samples and the percentage chrysotile by weight included: a sample collected on the roof of an automobile parked on Church St on the North side of the WTC site - 0.67% chrysotile, on top of an apartment house on Warren St -1.05% chrysotile, and two samples on the southwest side of the WTC site on South End Ave - 2.25% and 2.05% chrysotile.

DRAFT-DO NOT QUOTE OR CITE 133 October 2002

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