. Health-Based Risk Assessments Risk assessment is an increasingly important tool for determining whether a contaminated site should be remediated, setting remediation goals, evaluating cleanup technologies, and defining the extent to which contaminated properties can be restored to productive use. State environmental agencies and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency recognize the value of risk assessment in the decision-making process for contaminated sites, and risk assessment is now an integral part of investigations and cleanups carried out under major statutory environmental programs such as CERCLA, RCRA, TSCA, and state voluntary cleanup programs. Risk assessment allows us to eliminate benign source areas and to "zero in" on the real problem areas. During this process, computer modeling is often used to study the movements of contaminants in soil and groundwater and to predict contaminant levels at possible exposure locations. Very often, risk assessment results in the decision that no remediation is warranted or that a remediation can be limited to specific site areas and/or contaminants that pose the greatest risk, eliminating or greatly reducing remediation costs. AVANT's risk-assessment expertise sets us apart. You benefit from our emphasis on realistic assessments of risk instead of extreme, worst-case scenarios that artificially inflate risk and escalate restoration costs. AVANT's risk assessments make use of:  U.S. EPA and state-specific guidance for performing risk assessments U.S. EPA's on-line Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database for current toxicological information Computerized spreadsheets for risk calculations, providing flexibility, accuracy, and consistency Computer-based contaminant-transport modeling to examine the fate and movement of environmental contaminants and predict their concentrations at points of future possible exposure  What is Risk Assessment? The risks from exposure to site contaminants include cancer, non-cancerous health effects and ecological impacts such as habitat destruction. Risk assessments help to evaluate whether harmful effects are probable by answering the following questions:  Which site contaminants pose an unacceptable level of risk? Who may be exposed to the contaminants, either now or in the future, and how often? How and where will the exposure occur? Is remediation needed to reduce the risk to an acceptable level? How much contamination can left in place without posing an unacceptable risk? How is Risk Assessment Used? Risk assessment is used not only to identify potential risks from contamination, but to assist in managing them. Risk management combines the results of the risk assessment with regulatory, socioeconomic, technical, political, and other factors to aid clients in deciding whether and/or how much to control future exposure to site contaminants. Risk management most often involves using the results of risk assessment to set site-cleanup goals and identify possible exposure routes that can be modified to reduce or eliminate future risks. If a risk assessment indicates the risks posed by existing contaminants are acceptable, the decision to leave low levels of contaminants in place at a site is an acceptable alternative to what could otherwise be a costly remediation with often unattainable cleanup goals. Environmental regulations also often lack specific guidance for remediating some common contaminants, and risk assessment may be used to establish defensible cleanup goals for these compounds. Other Services for Manufacturers Environmental compliance services Water Resource Design and Management Sanitary and Storm Sewer (Conveyance) Design Industrial wastewater treatment and pretreatment Engineering and construction services Phase I and II environmental site assessments Environmental monitoring UST investigations, closures, & remediations State voluntary remediation assistance Wetland delineation & hydrology Remediation design & construction Operation & maintenance of soil & ground-water remediation systems Hydrogeologic & contamination investigations Asbestos and lead-paint inspections .

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