VOC air sampling report for World Trade Center site, Sep

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

VOC Monitoring Near the World Trade Center Site New York State Department of Health September 28,2001

On September 28,2001, New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and New York City Department of Health (NYCDOH) collected air samples at three locations north, southwest and southeast of the World Trade Cente; to measure community exposure levels to a limited number of VOCs. The locations were selected to represent the commun’‘ies closest to the site that are currently occupied or might be expected to be re-occupied soon. The primary purpose was for screening, i.e. to determine whether additional VOC sampling in the surrounding community is warranted on some regular basis.

The air samples were collected in Svnma canisters over two hours at three locations, and a grab sample was taken on the rubble pile (see table below). The day began sunny but became cloudy as the day progressed. A light rain started just before the evening sampling and was intermittent throughout that sampling period. Light winds were primaiily from the north but shifted somewhat between the northeast and northwest throughout the day.

Location Elevation Time* 75 Park Place roof above 14th floor M.A.E (Park Place and 10th floor balcony M.A Greenwich St.) street M,A.E Parc Place at roof above 24th floor M,A.E 225 Rector street M. A,E 140 Broadway roof above 52nd floor M.A.E (Broadway and street M.A.E Liberty) Top of rubble 8PM"

• M - morning (-6-8AM) ** Grab aampie A-afternoon (-2-4PM) (-25 seconds) E-evening {>6-aPM)

The Summa canisters were returned to NYSDOH Wadsworth Laboratories for analysis by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) following EPA method TO-14.

Environmental Results and Conclusions

1. The air sample collected in the sm^ ke plume on the WTC debris pile contained the highest levels of VOCs. VOCs exceeding 100 mcg/cubic meter were acetone and a number of fuel components or products of combustion, i.e. benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene and chloromethane. None of the reported levels we e unusually high compared to samples from other fires (P.S.J. Lees, 1995). These sample results are generally consistent with similar samples of the smoke plume taken on several occasions by USEPA. However, the benzene

NYC-WTC_000150515