ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the risk-based framework for site remediation, which is used to guide site assessment sampling, pollution investigation, remediation, and post-remediation monitoring. It presents applications of human health risk assessment in the site remediation process. A dose-response relationship describes how the likelihood and severity of adverse health effects are related to the amount and condition of exposure to a chemical. Exposure assessment is the process of determining the magnitude, frequency, duration, and route of human exposure to chemicals in the environment. Exposure can be measured directly, but more commonly, it is estimated through measured concentrations in the environment, models of chemical fate and transport within and across the environmental media, and estimates of human intake over time. The chapter demonstrates that human health risk assessment and risk management play important roles throughout the site assessment and cleanup process. Hazard identification, dose-response data are often unavailable for humans or cover only a portion of the possible range of exposure.
