T.H. Agriculture & Nutrition Company (THAN) was a California chemical company. It operated a pesticide-formulating facility from 1962 until 1981, and is now a Superfund site. [1] Other companies formulated pesticides on the site from 1950 to 1962. During the 1950s and 1960s, on-site landfills were used for disposal of wastes generated from site operations, including pesticides from cleaning equipment. Waste was spilled on the surface of the site and left in piles on the ground. Sampling at the site conducted by the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) detected pesticides in soil and groundwater. The site was listed on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1986.
Cleanup activities at the site were completed in 2003 and included soil vapor extraction; demolition and removal of various structures; excavation and management of impacted soils; construction of a low-permeability containment cover to minimize the potential for movement of residual chemicals from Site soils to other media; implementation of access controls and land use restrictions; demonstration and maintenance of appropriate financial assurances; monitored natural attenuation of groundwater; provision of as-needed alternative drinking water supplies; and performance of ongoing operation, maintenance, and monitoring activities. Approximately 30,000 people live within 3 miles of the site, with the closest resident being 500 feet from the site. Approximately 35,000 people depend on groundwater as a source of drinking water.[ citation needed ]
Cleanup activities at the site began in 1981 and were completed in 2003 and included soil vapor extraction; demolition and removal of various structures; excavation and management of impacted soils; construction of a low-permeability containment cover to minimize the potential for movement of residual chemicals from Site soils to other media; implementation of access controls and land use restrictions; demonstration and maintenance of appropriate financial assurances; monitored natural attenuation of groundwater; provision of as-needed alternative drinking water supplies; and performance of ongoing operation, maintenance, and monitoring activities. The remedy for the site has been implemented, and the site was delisted in 2006 from the EPA's site. [2]
Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be required by regulations before development of land revitalization projects. Developers who agree to voluntary cleanup may be offered incentives under state or municipal programs like New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Program. If remediation is done by removal the waste materials are simply transported off-site for disposal at another location. The waste material can also be contained by physical barriers like slurry walls. The use of slurry walls is well-established in the construction industry. The application of (low) pressure grouting, used to mitigate soil liquefaction risks in San Francisco and other earthquake zones, has achieved mixed results in field tests to create barriers, and site-specific results depend upon many variable conditions that can greatly impact outcomes.
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal was a United States chemical weapons manufacturing center located in the Denver Metropolitan Area in Commerce City, Colorado. The site was completed December 1942, operated by the United States Army throughout the later 20th century and was controversial among local residents until its closure in 1992.
Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a physical treatment process for in situ remediation of volatile contaminants in vadose zone (unsaturated) soils. SVE is based on mass transfer of contaminant from the solid (sorbed) and liquid phases into the gas phase, with subsequent collection of the gas phase contamination at extraction wells. Extracted contaminant mass in the gas phase is treated in aboveground systems. In essence, SVE is the vadose zone equivalent of the pump-and-treat technology for groundwater remediation. SVE is particularly amenable to contaminants with higher Henry’s Law constants, including various chlorinated solvents and hydrocarbons. SVE is a well-demonstrated, mature remediation technology and has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as presumptive remedy.
AMCO Chemical was a chemical distribution company located in Oakland, California. The land the company operated on is designated as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund cleanup site.
Havertown Superfund is a 13-acre polluted groundwater site in Havertown, Pennsylvania contaminated by the dumping of industrial waste by National Wood Preservers from 1947 to 1991. The state first became aware of the pollution in 1962 and initiated legal action against the owners in 1973 to force them to cleanup the site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and designated as a Superfund cleanup site in the early 1990s. Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013.
Diamond Alkali Company was an American chemical company incorporated in 1910 in West Virginia by a group of glass industry businessmen from Pittsburgh. The company soon established a large chemical plant at Fairport Harbor, Ohio, which would operate for over sixty years. In 1947, the headquarters of the company was moved from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. Later the company established a plant in Redwood City, California, that produced ion-exchange resins. In 1967, Diamond Alkali and Shamrock Oil and Gas merged to form the Diamond Shamrock Corporation. Diamond Shamrock would go on to merge with Ultramar Corporation, and the combined company, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, would in turn be acquired by Valero Energy Corporation in 2001.
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.
The Omega Chemical Corporation was a refrigerant and solvent recycling company that operated from 1976 to 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.
Brown & Bryant Inc. was a chemical distribution company located in Arvin, California in Kern County. The land the company operated on is designated as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund cleanup site. The company was a formulator of agricultural chemicals including fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and fumigants.
The Del Amo Superfund Site is located in southern Los Angeles County between the cities of Torrance and Carson. It is a U.S. EPA Region 9 Superfund Site. The waste-disposal site of a rubber manufacturer is one of 94 Superfund Sites in California as of November 29, 2010.
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 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.
Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems, decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.
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 Federal Creosote Superfund site is a 50-acre (20 ha) property located in Manville, New Jersey. It was used as a wood treatment facility. Starting in 1919, the site was contaminated with creosote. Creosotes are a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and by pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. It took the EPA about 18 years to cleanup the site.
Brook Industrial Park (BIP) is an industrial area occupying 4.5 acres of the Borough of Bound Brook, New Jersey, in the United States of America. It is located on the northern bank of the Raritan River. Industrial, chemical and pesticide operations began in 1971 and eventually lead to the contamination of groundwater and exposure of workers to harmful dioxins. Throughout 1980 to 1988 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) conducted studies to determine if there were any threats being posed on the workers, community or environment by the BIP companies in their disposal of processed and stored chemicals.
The K & L Avenue Landfill, also known by the spelling K&L Avenue Landfill, is an 87-acre (35-hectare) Superfund site accessed from KL Avenue in Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It is one of six Superfund sites in the Kalamazoo River watershed.
Thermo-Chem, Inc., also referred to as Thermo-Chem, is a 50-acre Superfund site located in Egelston Township near Muskegon, Michigan.
The G&H Industrial Landfill is a Superfund site located in Shelby Charter Township near Utica, Michigan. The 60-acre (24-hectare) landfill, with about 10 to 20 acres of adjacent property, operated as a waste oil recovery facility from 1955 to 1967. From 1955 to 1974 the site was used as an industrial and municipal landfill. Contaminated soil, surface water, and groundwater with hazardous chemicals have been left behind as a result of the disposal of waste solvents, waste oil and paint sludge. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing following the cleanup.
Ohio River Park is a Superfund Site located in Neville Island, Pennsylvania. Between the 1920s-1970s, the Site was used for municipal waste, pesticide manufacturing, coke sludge disposal, cement manufacturing disposal, and pesticide waste. In 1977, Neville Land Company donated the Site to Allegheny County who started developing the Site as a community park. In 1979, Allegheny County found various hazardous contaminants on the Site. On August 30, 1990, the Site was determined to be a Superfund Site due to VOCs, SVOCs, inorganics, and pesticides being present in the surface soil, subsurface soil, surface water, river sediment, and groundwater. Soil remediation began in February 1998 and ended in September 1999. Today, Ohio River Park has the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center and Coraopolis Bridge on top of it. Additionally, benzene continues to be monitored because it is still present in the Site's groundwater.