Lake Elmo is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 11,335 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 12,899.
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear, colourless non-flammable liquid with a chloroform-like sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which is commonly known as chlorothene.
Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may also be based on assessments of human health and ecological risks where no legislative standards exist, or where standards are advisory.
Lake Elmo Airport is a public airport located just outside the city of Lake Elmo in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, about 12 miles east of the central business district of St. Paul. Although most airports in the United States use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and International Air Transport Association (IATA), this airport is assigned 21D by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA or ICAO. It is also home to a Civil Air Patrol squadron.
Groundwater remediation is the process that is used to treat polluted groundwater by removing the pollutants or converting them into harmless products. Groundwater is water present below the ground surface that saturates the pore space in the subsurface. Globally, between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of the world's drinking water is drawn from boreholes and dug wells. Groundwater is also used by farmers to irrigate crops and by industries to produce everyday goods. Most groundwater is clean, but groundwater can become polluted, or contaminated as a result of human activities or as a result of natural conditions.
Electrical resistance heating (ERH) is an intensive in situ environmental remediation method that uses the flow of alternating current electricity to heat soil and groundwater and evaporate contaminants. Electric current is passed through a targeted soil volume between subsurface electrode elements. The resistance to electrical flow that exists in the soil causes the formation of heat; resulting in an increase in temperature until the boiling point of water at depth is reached. After reaching this temperature, further energy input causes a phase change, forming steam and removing volatile contaminants. ERH is typically more cost effective when used for treating contaminant source areas.
The Lockheed Propulsion Company was a division of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation located at 1500 Crafton Avenue in the Mentone, California area northeast of Redlands, California, adjacent to the Santa Ana River, from 1961 to 1975. It developed, tested and produced solid rocket motors and propellant used in military and National Aeronautics and Space Administration applications.
In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO), a form of advanced oxidation process, is an environmental remediation technique used for soil and/or groundwater remediation to lower the concentrations of targeted environmental contaminants to acceptable levels. ISCO is accomplished by introducing strong chemical oxidizers into the contaminated medium to destroy chemical contaminants in place. It can be used to remediate a variety of organic compounds, including some that are resistant to natural degradation. The in situ in ISCO is just Latin for "in place", signifying that ISCO is a chemical oxidation reaction that occurs at the site of the contamination.
In situ chemical reduction (ISCR) is a new type of environmental remediation technique used for soil and/or groundwater remediation to reduce the concentrations of targeted environmental contaminants to acceptable levels. It is the mirror process of In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO). ISCR is usually applied in the environment by injecting chemically reductive additives in liquid form into the contaminated area or placing a solid medium of chemical reductants in the path of a contaminant plume. It can be used to remediate a variety of organic compounds, including some that are resistant to natural degradation.
The Arrowhead Refinery Superfund site is a 10-acre former waste oil recycling facility, located in Hermantown, Minnesota, within a white cedar wetland. The refining process generated a waste stream of highly acidic, metal-laden sludge which was disposed of in an unlined two-acre lagoon on the site and waste process water which was discharged into a wastewater ditch in a wetland area. Arrowhead Refining Company incorporated in 1961 and continued the re-refining activities until 1977. A public health risk assessment stated that if no action was taken to remedy the site, use or development of the site would result in unacceptable health effects on user populations. It was also determined that there was a future potential exposure risk for offsite drinking water wells across the road from the site and in the pathway of the contaminated groundwater plume. The record of decision (ROD) was issued in September 1986.
The Oakdale Dump is an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site located in Oakdale, Minnesota, and comprises three non-contiguous properties that were used for dumping from the late 1940s until the 1950s by the 3M corporation. The properties are named the Abresch, Brockman, and Eberle sites for their respective property owners at the time of disposal activities. The Abresch site is the largest of the three properties at about 55 acres. The Brockman site is located immediately southwest of the Abresch site and encompasses 5 acres. The Eberle site is located roughly 2,500 feet north of the Abresch site and encompasses 2 acres.
The FMC Corporation is a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site of 18 acres (7.3 ha) in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States, several hundred feet east of the Mississippi River. Solvents, paint sludge, and plating wastes were generated and disposed of in an on-site dump from the 1940s until 1969. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff sampled site surface and groundwater in the early 1980s and confirmed that ground and surface water were contaminated by industrial solvents. In the 1980s, solvents from the site were detected in the city of Minneapolis drinking water system intake that is located downgradient of where the FMC site groundwater contaminant plume enters the river.
The 70-acre Burlington Northern is a former railroad tie treatment plant by Burlington Northern Railroad in northern Minnesota, USA. The unlined creosote and fuel oil lagoons, which had been used to treat the ties contaminated groundwater. In 1985, the site was listed as a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund. Contaminated soils were excavated and capped and a groundwater gradient pump -out well is in place.
The Freeway Sanitary Landfill is a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site that covers 140 acres (57 ha) in Burnsville, Minnesota. In 1971 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MCPA) licensed the landfill to accept 1,920 acre-feet (2,370,000 m3) of household, commercial, demolition, and nonhazardous industrial wastes. The state permit prohibited the disposal of liquids and hazardous wastes; however, heavy metals, acids, and bases were accepted by the landfill from local industries. The landfill also accepted 200 cubic yards (150 m3) of battery casings and 448 short tons (406,000 kg) of aluminum sweat furnace slag. Overall, the landfill contains nearly 5,000,000 cubic yards (3,800,000 m3) of waste. The waste is covered by a low permeability soil cover.
Groundwater pollution occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent, contaminant, or impurity in the groundwater, in which case it is more likely referred to as contamination rather than pollution. Groundwater pollution can occur from on-site sanitation systems, landfill leachate, effluent from wastewater treatment plants, leaking sewers, petrol filling stations, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) or from over application of fertilizers in agriculture. Pollution can also occur from naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic or fluoride. Using polluted groundwater causes hazards to public health through poisoning or the spread of disease.
The Newmark Groundwater Contamination Site is a Superfund site located at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. The contamination was discovered in 1980 and resulted in the closing of 20 water supply wells and intensive cleanup efforts in the following years. More than 25 percent of the San Bernardino municipal water supply has been affected by the water contamination since its discovery. The source of the contamination is attributed to a World War II Army landfill and depot, used from 1942 to 1947.
The Nebraska Ordnance Plant is a former United States Army ammunition plant located approximately ½ mile south of Mead, Nebraska and 30 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska in Saunders County. It originally extended across 17,250 acres (69.8 km2) producing weapons from 1942-45 after which the Army used it as a bomb factory during the Vietnam War. Environmental investigations in the 1980's found the soil and groundwater contaminated with the explosive RDX and the degreaser trichloroethylene. In 1990, federal agencies added the site to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site. Remediation included soil excavation and water treatment, the latter of which has been ongoing since 1997. Water is contained and treated at 4 treatment plants and the known plumes are monitored at hundreds of wells. The latest wells, dug deeper into the bedrock than previously, showed RDX and TCE above desired action levels in April 2016.
The Pohatcong Valley Groundwater Contamination superfund site is located in Warren County, Franklin Township, Washington Township, and Washington Borough in New Jersey. It was recognized in the 1970s but not designated into the National Priorities List until 1989. It is a contamination of the Kittany Limestone Aquifer underlying the Pohatcong Valley. This toxic site stretches across 9,800 acres of land. The chemicals that are polluting the groundwater and soil are trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE). If someone were to be exposed to these harmful toxins for a short amount of time it can result in unconsciousness. Long term effects unfortunately include liver and kidney problems. The plans to clean up this superfund site are costing the companies involved, Pechiney Public Packaging Inc., Bristol Meyers Squibb Company, Albea Americas Inc, and Citigroup Inc, about $92 million, and the situation still has not been completely resolved.
Lawrence Aviation Industries, Inc. was an aircraft parts manufacturer which made titanium parts for military aircraft, such as the Grumman F-14 fighter jet. The former owner of the company, Gerald Cohen, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $105,816 in restitution for illegal storage of more than 12 tons of hazardous waste on the company's grounds. The abandoned remains of the company, located is off Sheep Pasture Road in the hamlet of Port Jefferson Station, Town of Brookhaven, New York is now one of the most contaminated sites on Long Island and may be responsible for a toxic groundwater plume in the region. The site is bounded by the Long Island Railroad tracks and Sheep Pasture Road to the north. A Long Island Power Authority easement runs along the southern edge of the property, separating the site from a residential area. To the east and west are residential areas.
From the 1950s through the early 2000s, 3M disposed of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances produced during the manufacturing process of various industrial products in four dumping sites in Minnesota. These chemicals have contaminated the groundwater of over 170,000 residents of the Twin Cities East Metro Area, culminating in an $850 million settlement with the State of Minnesota in 2018.
