Related Research Articles
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which is commonly known as chlorothene.
The View-Master factory supply well in Beaverton, Oregon, was evaluated for public health effects by the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Workers there were potentially exposed to the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE), classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a probable human carcinogen. At the factory, which closed in 2001, it had been estimated by ODHS that up to 25,000 workers may have been exposed to TCE via the factory's drinking water, which was drawn from a well on-site. However, further investigation showed that the actual number of employees who can be identified from employment records for the site is approximately half that number. In addition, the number of employees identified as having worked at the site for more than five years is likely to be less than 1,000. The site is now considered safe.
The Indian Bend Wash area is a Superfund cleanup site in Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona. It was declared a Superfund site in 1983 after industrial solvents were discovered to have contaminated the groundwater in an approximately 13-square-mile (34 km2) area. It is one of the largest EPA sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion US gallons (232,000,000 m3).
The Omega Chemical Corporation was a refrigerant and solvent recycling company that operated from 1976-1991 in Whittier, California. Due to improper waste handling and removal, the soil and groundwater beneath the property became contaminated and the area is now referred to as the Omega Chemical Superfund Site. Cleanup of the site began in 1995 with the removal of hazardous waste receptacles and a multimillion-dollar soil vaporization detoxifying system.
Cooper Drum Company recycled closed top, steel drums on a 3.8-acre (15,000 m2) facility in South Gate, California from 1976 to 2003. They used strong chemicals to recondition the drums, leading to public concern about health impacts on the surrounding community. In particular, staff and students from Tweedy Elementary School, which borders the Cooper Drum site to the south, complained of health problems that may have resulted from exposure to toxic chemical coming from Cooper Drum Company. In June 2001, the Cooper Drum site was placed on the Superfund list, marking the site as one of the most high priority toxic cleanup sites in the United States.
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.
The Baytown Township Groundwater Plume is a Superfund site located east of the village of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, United States. The plume extends into Baytown and West Lakeland Townships and continues eastward approximately four miles to the St. Croix River. Baytown Township is a rapidly developing rural/suburban residential area on the eastern edge of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The contaminated groundwater is primarily in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer, which is the major source of drinking water for many residents in the area through private and residential wells. The Lake Elmo Airport is located near the western end of the plume and is administered by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). An estimated 8,000 people live in the area; 80 percent of the residents use private wells for their water supply.
The 18-acre FMC Corporation is a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site located in Anoka County, Minnesota, 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 Capitol City Plume, which also is referred to as the Capital City Plume, is an area of contaminated groundwater located beneath the western downtown area of Montgomery, Alabama. The contamination was discovered in 1993 by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) which was investigating soil contamination at the Retirement Systems of Alabama Energy Plant in the city. After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was proposed for inclusion in the National Priorities List (NPL) in May 2000.
The Koppers Co., Inc. (KCI) Superfund Site is one of three Superfund sites in Oroville, California, along with Louisiana Pacific Sawmill and Western Pacific Railyard. The KCI Superfund Site is a 200-acre site which served as a wood treatment plant for 50 years. Wood was treated with many chemicals to prevent wood deterioration. The accumulation of these chemicals from spills, fires, and uses has caused this site to be contaminated with the hazardous waste material. Due to soil and groundwater contamination, the site was placed on the National Priorities List in 1984 for remedial action plans to clean up the site to protect surrounding residential areas concerning environmental and human health risks.
Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Bethpage (NWIRP) -- also known as 'Northrop Grumman Site Facility' -- was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility established in 1941, with the mission to design, fabricate, and test prototype aircraft for the US Navy and the NASA in the town of Oyster Bay in Bethpage, New York. Two groundwater plumes of toxic chemicals, mostly volatile organic compounds migrating from property were discovered in 1986 and in 2009, affecting the water district well fields. The site is subject to state Superfund cleanup plans. Special water treatment plants were established in the early 2000s.
Groundwater pollution occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way down 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.
The U.S. Army's Camp Ono existed from 1942 to 1947 in Southern California on 300 acres of land. Camp Ono was 4 miles northwest of the City of San Bernardino, California. It was used for housing of 499 Italian Prisoners of War and as an US Army Depot. Nearby and connected with the camp was the San Bernardino Engineer Depot, Base General Depot and Mira Loma Quartermaster Repair Sub-Depot. Lt. Col. Charles E. Stafford was the commander of the Depot and camp. The depot supplied parts of the vast Desert Training Center. Italian Service Units of the 101st, 106th and 318th Italian Engineer Base Depot Company worked at the San Bernardino Engineer Depot. The Italian Service Units maintain army vehicles, tanks, did tent repair and tent dyeing. The depot also trained troops on how to run supply depot overseas. The only supplies not handled at the depot was ordnance. At it peak the depot had 15,000 field troops and a field hospital with 1,100 beds. The depot have an AT & SF and Union Pacific track station to serve the depot. The Depot has only dirt road and was primitive. Many of the Italians at the depot came from Cucamonga, California were they picked oranges and grapes for the local farmers. The Italian Service Units returned to Italy in November 1945. All operations were closed on June 30, 1947. and was later converted to a truck and munitions cleaning site. Several of the solvents used in the cleaning process were later discovered to be toxic. and the contaminated site is now part of the Newmark Ground Water Contamination Superfund site.
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 Rockaway Borough Well Field is a Superfund Site that came into place in 1981 after the soil was suspected of being contaminated with toxic chemicals. The site is located in Rockaway Borough, Morris County, New Jersey. It was first found to be an official Superfund site after it was discovered that tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) were contaminating the soil. Studies suspected that the chemicals were coming from the area of two companies in the town of Rockaway. In 1985, the residents of Rockaway were advised not to drink the tap water and the National Guard had to come and supply water supplies for the community. The town soon installed a water filter system in order to try and reduce the amount of pollution in the water. After finding that the system was not effective the NJDEP came to the scene to investigate the soil. NJDEP found that the soil tested positive with chemicals and from there the EPA were contacted. The EPA found chemicals in different areas of the borough and found that the soil was contaminated and began to install a groundwater treatment system that functioned to purify the ground of chemicals. The system was soon pumping up to 900,000 gallons of water from the boroughs wells. Today, the pump is still functioning and has since reduced the amount of chemicals and the chance of pollution in the water to appear again. The final project to completely purify the water is still in production.
Emmell's Septic Landfill (ESL) is located at 128 Zurich Ave, Galloway Township, New Jersey and takes up about 38 acres of space. The landfill was in operation from 1967 until 1979. ESL disposed of liquid and solid waste including many chemicals such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Trichloroethene and Vinyl chloride which all had their own effect on the environment and community. These chemicals affected the groundwater required millions of dollars to reconstruct the groundwater pathways and provide clean water to residents. The landfill holds a Hazardous Ranking Score of a 50/100, qualifying for the Superfund National Priority List. In August 1999, the state acknowledged the site's contamination and held town meetings and provided research upon the site such as groundwater samples. In July 1997, a sitewide investigation was called upon by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In total the clean up was estimated to cost $5 million to fund this superfund site, and a grant of $3.9 million was given by the Federal Government under the Recovery Act Funding (Previti). Today, the project is still ongoing however, greatly improved since the landfill was discovered.
The Orange Valley Regional Groundwater Superfund site is a group of wells in Orange and West Orange, two municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The groundwater in the public wells are contaminated with the hazardous chemicals of Trichloroethylene (TCE), Dichloroethene (DCE), Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethene), 1,1-Dichloroethene (1,1-DCE), and 1,2-Dichloroethene (1,2-DCE). These chemicals pose a huge risk to the towns nearby population, as the wells are a source of public drinking water. In March 2012, the site was added to the National Priorities List (NPL) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site list.
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.
The White Chemical Corporation Superfund site is 4.4 acres of contaminated industrial land in Newark, New Jersey, about a half mile away from Newark Airport. The Newark site operated from 1983 to July 1990, selling small amounts of chemicals. Some of the chemicals sold there were Trichloroethylene and 1-2-Dichloroethane. These chemicals were being improperly stored and leaked into the soil and groundwater. The EPA placed the property on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1991, declaring it a Superfund site.
The Dorado Ground Water Contamination Site is one of 18 sites listed on the EPA’s National Priorities List in Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, identified as posing a risk to human health and/or the environment because of a contamination plume in the underlying karst aquifer. Located in north-central Puerto Rico, 20 mi (32 km) to the west of the capital city, San Juan, the Dorado Ground Water Contamination site is located within the Maguayo and Dorado Urbano public water systems, and is the source of drinking water for more than 67,000 people. This site first came under scrutiny by officials in the 1980s and it was officially added to the EPA's Superfund list on September 9, 2016. The EPA is in the process of examining the precise extent and location of this contaminated groundwater plume and, at this time, the contaminants cannot be attributed to any specific source. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the site has come under increased scrutiny because locals desperate for a source of safe drinking water have been using wells on the superfund site.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Superfund, US EPA, Region 9 (2015-09-04). "Site Overviews,Newmark Groundwater Contamination, US EPA, Pacific Southwest, Superfund". yosemite.epa.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
- ↑ "U.S. EPA, City of San Bernardino, Sign Newmark Superfund Site Consent Decree | Water Quality Products". www.wqpmag.com. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
- 1 2 "TOXIC SITE: Final cleanup OK'd for San Bernardino site". Press Enterprise. 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
- 1 2 Wilson, Janet (2004-08-17). "City Wins Millions for Toxic Cleanup". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035 . Retrieved 2016-02-08.
- ↑ Standards, US EPA, OAR, Office of Air Quality Planning and. "Trichloroethylene | Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Web site | US EPA". www3.epa.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-08.