Peer Review Panel for a Superfund Site

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HydroAnalysis founder Dr. Peter Shanahan served as a member of a panel of independent modeling experts convened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to examine EPA’s model predicting the transport and bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Housatonic River below where the East and West Branches join.  We reviewed the proposed modeling study of contamination of the river by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Reviewed were the Modeling Framework Design (MFD) and its accompanying Quality Assurance Plan (QAPP), as well as supporting documentation and data provided by the EPA. Also influential to the work was the Peer Review Workshop held in April 2001 in Lenox, Massachusetts. Upon close examination of the models, we concluded that the Modeling Framework Design for the Housatonic River was premature because of the lack of an adequate conceptual model. There was not enough available information to create an accurate conceptual model upon which to base the selection of modeling tools. The HSPF, EEDC, and AQUATOX models were examined, and each was found to be flawed. Also, the complexity of the modeling framework necessarily implied considerable uncertainty in the calibration of model parameters.

The project was completed for the U.S. EPA through a subcontract from the Marasco Newton Group, Ltd.