Hazardous Waste

Groundwater Conditions at Many Land Disposal Facilities Remain Uncertain Gao ID: RCED-88-29 February 18, 1988

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) problems the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states experienced in obtaining and using hazardous waste facility groundwater monitoring data; and (2) actions EPA took to address the problems.

GAO found that: (1) 39 of the 50 land disposal facilities it reviewed had not achieved the groundwater monitoring goals EPA established for facility operations; (2) EPA program managers did not develop data quality objectives for groundwater monitoring until 1986; (3) after internal review, EPA set funding for the development of data quality objectives, training, and quality assurance at $270,000; (4) although a task force report recommended actions to improve the groundwater monitoring program, including the development of technical guidance, EPA has not issued any new technical requirements; and (5) EPA has established few quality control mechanisms to ensure the accuracy of the operator-provided data.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.