Vapour & Gas Specialist Interest Group

About VG Specialist Interest Group (SIG)

The Vapour and Gas (VG) SIG is an independent group of industry professionals, consultants, contractors, government, and regulators interested in the regulation, assessment, and mitigation of vapour intrusion and ground gas.

ALGA supports this group to promote best practice vapour and ground gas investigation, risk assessment and mitigation, during the remediation and development of contaminated land.

What is Vapour and Gas Intrusion?

Vapor intrusion is the migration of volatile chemicals from the subsurface into overlying buildings. Similarly, ground gas risks can be presented when explosive, flammable and asphyxiant gases (for example, methane) migrate into overlying buildings and along underground services.

Both vapor intrusion and ground gas risks have become a significant environmental issues for regulators, operators, and building owners.

Vapour and ground gas intrusion and remediation is a rapidly developing research and environmental management topic within Australia and internationally.

Our Mission

The group is committed to the development and promotion of vapour intrusion and ground gas best practices from investigation through to remediation stages for application to land development, contaminated land and landfill projects.

Our Vision

The VG SIG vision is to promote the understanding and application of the vapour intrusion and ground gas investigation, risk assessment and mitigation; to improve the awareness and knowledge of this specialist area.

Our Strategy

In order to achieve our goals, the strategies are:

Engage with regulators, Auditors, and practitioners to improve vapour and gas intrusion policies and guidelines to reflect current best practices.
Promote awareness, need for, and knowledge of investigation and mitigation design best practices for vapour and gas intrusion.
Engage with vapour and gas investigation and remediation technologies.

Our Achievements

The VG SIG specialist interest group achievements include:

2016:

Ground Gas Training Sessions (National)
Ground Gas Current Best Practice in Monitoring, Risk Assessment and Remediation (Closed VIC EPA Session)

2017:

ALGA – Developing Guidance in Soil Gas (Vapour Intrusion Best Practice for Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Chlorinated Solvents – Sydney ALGA and SA EPA, Adelaide)
Vapour Intrusion Workshop (Part A) – Petroleum Hydrocarbons (½ Day Workshop)
A-Z of Ground Gas (National)
2-day Ground Gas Workshop - Current Best Practice in Investigation, Risk Assessment and Protection2018:Vapour Intrusion Short Course – National

2019:

A-Z of Ground Gas (National)
Ecoforum Workshop – VI and GG
Essential Update on Ground Gas Assessment – NZ, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne
Vapour Intrusion and Bulk Gas 101 – Sydney

2020:

Vapour Intrusion 101 – Adelaide, Melbourne

Our Volunteers

ALGA’s current VG SIG volunteering committee:

Adrian Heggie
Aidan Marsh
Alex Gervis
Barton Bauzon
Brent Davey
Daniel Hodges Chair
Dawit Bekele
James Coley
James Lucas
John Russell
Luke Finley
Nick Simmons
Sam Willis
Stuart Thurlow

Would you like to get involved in the VG SIG?

ALGA’s Specialist Interest Groups (SIGs) are available for members to volunteer on a yearly basis to match your area of interest and expertise that you can be part of and get involved.
Come and join forces in your interest area and share knowledge and experience with professionals of the contaminated land and groundwater wider industry. You will help create, manage and deliver a productive and relevant work agenda, and play a leading role in informing, advising and enlightening ALGA, its members, government and/or related industry stakeholders about the interest field.

Recommended Links

V&G Inter-National guidance list of publications

CRC CARE

CRC CARE Technical Report 23: Petroleum hydrocarbon vapour intrusion assessment - Australian guidance
CRC CARE Technical Report 10: Health screening levels for petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater

ITRC
https://itrcweb.org/teams/projects/vapor-intrusion

USEPA
www.epa.gov/vapourintrusion
https://clu-in.org/issues/default2.focus/sec/Vapor_Intrusion/cat/Overview/

CIRIA
149, 665, 682, 716, 735, 748, 795

British Standards
8485

CL:AIRE
RB17, TB16, TB17, TB18
Gas Protection Verification Accreditation Scheme - https://www.claire.co.uk/projects-and-initiatives/gpvs

NSW EPA
Assessment and management of hazardous ground gases (2020)