Episode 1 - The Pilot Study - Seinfeld and the Engineer
Do you remember the show Seinfeld? There was a
great two part episode at the end of Season 4. It was called “The
Pilot”. In that episode, Jerry and George pitched to NBC executives
a concept for a new show called “Jerry”; they described it as a
“show about nothing”. Their intent was to show the executives that
they had a good concept for a television show by producing one
episode for NBC’s consideration. As you can imagine, it didn’t go
well and Jerry and George missed their shot at fortune and fame. The
television industry uses pilots to predict the success of a new show
or to gather suggestions on how to make changes to the show’s
concept. Well, the television industry got this age old approach
from engineers who have been using pilot studies for decades to test
design concepts or to gather data to scale up projects.
In the environmental remediation world, bench-scale and/or
field-scale pilot projects are designed as small scope, short
duration tests to determine if a technology can be effective in
remediating a known pollution or to gather specific design data
necessary for a full-scale technology design and implementation.
Unfortunately, the technical consultants in practice at times misuse
the concept of pilot studies and have created confusion around the
purpose and utility of this engineering practice. To further
complicate matters, regulatory agencies have done a poor job
clarifying the objectives and application of this engineering tool
during the remedial investigation (RI), feasibility study (FS), and
remedial design (RD) phases of work. For example, a field-scale
pilot study may be conducted during the RI process with the
objective of gathering design parameters for a presumptive remedial
approach. The timing of the field-scale pilot study introduces
confusion as to its purposes since it is being conducted during the
investigation phase of the project. However, the nature and purpose
of the pilot study is clearly related to the remedial design phase
of work.
Insurance claims managers will often come across technical documents
and costs related to “pilot tests” and may wonder whether the
purpose, scope and nature of the work being proposed or conducted
are appropriate and how these costs should be categorized. In our
next Environmental Update, we will describe how pilot studies fit
into the larger RI/FS/RD process.
For more information, please contact
Paul Nuti at
(925) 403-6200.
