Katie Bell attended the Association of Vapor Intrusion Professionals AVIP conference from the 5th to the 8th of November 2023 and found it incredibly informative. Here is a little bit of what she had to say:
“Wow, what a whirlwind of a week! With technical talks, breakout sessions, Q&A panels, mixers, and vendor booths galore, AVIP really packed in as much as possible into four days.
I was really impressed by the variety of topics that were presented. Personally, one of the most memorable presentations was delivered by Alex Mandell of the EPA. His talk centered on the importance of community outreach in the environmental industry and how it delivers dividends when working in any communal space. Many times, when confronted with data sets, big words, and industry jargon, the average person can get overwhelmed and even upset. We learned how vital it is to include and empower the people impacted by our projects. That means communication, simple and direct. People only care about what you know when they know that you care. Those were powerful words.
Another memorable talk was given by Laura J Trozzolo from TRC Companies, Inc. She talked about the difficulties in assessing the risk associated with atmospheric transport of PFAS. Although PFAS has been around for decades, the regulatory framework is still being created. Vapor Mitigation as an industry has just picked up steam in the past decade and together these two subjects make for a tricky problem to tackle.
A vital talk about outliers in summa canister data was given by Sigrida Reinis of Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. She called for more passive sampling to be utilized in vapor intrusion investigations.
Finally, one of the most practical presentations was given by Jennifer Borski with the Wisconsin DNR. She is the Vapor Intrusion Team Leader and exhibited multiple projects and data sets she personally worked on in Wisconsin. It was great to hear about her coordination efforts with the local governmental authorities and where she recognized holes in her own organization. It was proof that there is always room for improvement. It also exhibited that pilot testing and the data it yields are vitally important to protecting human health, especially our underserved populations.
All these presentations were juicy and eye-opening. It made for an intensely interesting few days in the French Quarter. I really look forward to attending next year’s conference and in the meantime, connecting with the people I have met and implementing what I have learned into Leaaf’s operations.”
What an incredible conference and thank you, Katie, for attending!
Here are a few snaps from the conference:
