The U.S. General Accountability Office evaluated more than 1500 nonfederal Superfund sites and found that soil and groundwater are the most impacted media at these sites.
The report, “EPA Should Take Additional Actions to Manage Risks from Climate Change,” was published in October. Below are key points that relate to groundwater.
- The National Climate Assessment reported climate change may exacerbate flooding, storm surge, and wildfires.
- The GAO indicated its concern that saltwater intrusion related to sea level rise along coasts may affect sites but did not examine that matter so the connection of a higher saturated zone to Superfund sites was not considered as a possible means of conveyance of contaminants beyond Superfund sites in coastal areas.
- A 1-foot rise in sea level would inundate 97 sites.
- Federal data for Superfund site decisions are based on current or past conditions and do not anticipate extreme weather events.
- Lack of nonfederal site boundary data by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may contribute to an inability to determine impacts from climate change.
- Forty-five percent (713) of sites are in areas of higher flood potential and could be impacted by intense rainfall.
- Based on GAO interviews with EPA regional staff, regional offices are waiting for guidance from EPA headquarters on how to respond to climate change risks and how to translate information related to climate change to site design changes.
- Regional staff also stated that they needed training on managing projects located in floodplains (where the water table may be close to the ground surface at many sites).
Click here to read the GAO report.