ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the sequence of science-based procedures used to evaluate a specific land parcel or larger area for environmental contamination and assess its environmental risk. It defines and presents some basic concepts necessary for understanding and framing the concept of a subsurface environmental investigation. Environmental investigations are generally conducted when the likelihood of certain environmental contaminants exists at a specific property or site having the potential to cause material harm to human health or the environment historically, presently, or in the foreseeable future. Environmental subsurface investigations can collect enormous amounts of geologic and hydrogeologic information, and significant amounts of other information. The environmental subsurface investigations can form the cornerstone of mapping the geology and hydrogeology of an urban watershed. The chapter concludes with specific methods available to environmental professionals for collecting samples from the soil, groundwater, sediments, surface water, and air.
