Superfund
Sites Lab Project
Many sites used
for numerous reasons years ago still stand in unsafe conditions affecting our
land and ground water depended on by many people for drinking. Below you can
find examples and pictures of the areas that I researched. Some have been
cleaned up and are being monitored regularly for toxins to surface in the soil
while others are still fighting the battle to even start the clean up process.
These are only a few of thousands of abandoned sites that need attention across
the United States.
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970 by President
Nixon to enforce laws in the coming years that were created to protect the
environment. As the population grew and industrial technology progressed, toxic
waste and pollution of several kinds continued to become a harmful issue. Major
companies were disposing of toxins and hazardous waste in unsafe ways that were
not only damaging to the earth, but created detrimental health problems as
well.
The EPA enforces
the environmental policies created
to protect the environment and public health. Many of these policies were
designed years ago to stop or regulate things such as unnecessary amounts of
harmful pollution emitted into the air and water we depend on. It is because of
these laws that many bodies of water have been restored to public fisheries,
but if not closely monitored, they can easily fall back to useless and
dangerous waste water areas.
The Superfund
Act of 1980, also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The goal of this act is to clean up
and restore abandoned, hazardous sites such as gas stations and chemical
plants. The fund’s for clean up come from taxing chemical waste producers.
Anyone with relation to the site will be held responsible for costs but
successfully retrieving all costs incurred isn’t always likely since
remediation costs range from $370 billion to $1.7 trillion. Currently the EPA
estimates over 47,000 sites need cleaned up while 1,600 sites were listed on
the National Priorities List and over 1,000 clean ups have been successfully
completed.
WASAU
Ground Water Contamination
A site in
Wausau, Wisconsin that was responsible for providing water to approximately
35,000 people was found in 1982 to be contaminated with high levels of volatile
organic compounds (VOC). In 1988 the EPA signed off on an interim record of
decision (ROD) to address this area of contamination and remediation began. By
1990 the groundwater contamination system was complete. In 1991 soil vapor
extractions (SVE) systems were began and completed by 1994 at both source
sites. Source of contamination #1 was an old municipal landfill south of City
Well 6 on the Marathon Electric Property and found to be contaminated with
trichloroethlyene(TCE) . The second
source was in the Wausau Chemical Facility Property southwest of City Well 3
and found to be contaminated with tetrachloroethelyene(PCE), TCE, and VOC’s.
Both site
remediation’s were complete by 1996. Reviews are being conducted every 5 years
to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. The last
inspection of this site took place in June 2010 and the next inspection is
scheduled to be conducted in March 2015. Costs involved have been paid for by
responsible parties and continues to be addressed through federal, state, and
potentially responsible parties.
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| http://www.marketplacelists.com/remediation/images/sve_system_2.jpg (5/9/12) |
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| Volatile Organic Compound Effects http://oecotextiles.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/smog.jpgm (5/9/12) |
Davis
Timber Company
In 1972 the
Davis Timber Company began a timber processing and wood preserving operation in
Hattiesburg, Lamar County, Mississippi and continued their business through the
late 1980’s. An onsite storage pond
contained pentachlorophenol, dioxin, and furan contaminates from waste water
discharged by the plant during operations. This pond was reported to have been
capped off and backfilled in 1980. Country Club Lake reported several fish
killings between 1974 and 1987. This lake is located one mile away from the
timber facility catching its runoff water contaminants along with Mineral
Creeks. In 1989 a warning was issued to residents against consuming fish caught
in these waters due to the levels of dioxins found in the fish tissue.
In 2000 the
Davis Timber site was added to the National Priorities List and the Remedial
Investigation (RI) process began immediately following. Although the process
began right away, findings weren’t complete until 2006 and a proposed plan
wasn’t expected to be complete until September 2009. The clean up was expected
to start in 2011 and anticipated to take approximately 14 months, but still
hasn’t began. The warning against consumption of fish was lifted in 2001 due to
the decrease in dioxin levels found in the fish tissue.
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| http://legeros.com/hidden-raleigh/images/map-country-club-lake.jpg (5/9/12) |
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| Furan (5/9/12) http://www.chemeng.drexel.edu/palmesegroup/research/peterson/amy1.jpg |
Alabama
Army Ammunition Plant
Located in
Talladega County Alabama in approximately 5170 acres of land rested an
ammunition plant for the United States Army from 1941-1945. About 45 miles
south east of Birmingham and 4 miles north of Childersburg on Plant Road along
side of Highway 235, this large piece of land was divided into two sections.
Area A consisting of 2714 acres was the former storage and General Service
Administration (GSA) region that is still controlled by the U.S. government.
Area B consists of 2187 acres and was the former manufacturing (industrial)
region of the plant. Contaminants were found in sediments, soils, debris, ground
water, and residuals and were that of explosive material including DNT, TNT,
and tetryl.
Area A is
currently being used as a wildlife preserve and a logging area by a private
owner who purchased the property in 1991. Complete clean up of area A was
finished by 1998. Area B has not been cleared of ground water contaminations
but a proposal for cleanup of soils was submitted in 2008. It is hoped that the
future of this area will include recreational and natural habitat.
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| Ammunition Plant http://www.stillman.ws/shffld2.jpg (5/9/12) |
Iron
King Mine/Humboldt Smelter Superfund Sites (IKMHSSS)
The IKMHSSS consists
of 153 acres in Dewey-Humboldt, Yavapai County Arizona and was an active mine
from 1906-1969 and was expanded in 1936 for mining of other minerals. The
Smelter plant of Humboldt operated off and on from the late 1800’s to the early
1960’s. This area contains soils and
ground water contaminated with lead, arsenic, ore, and other minerals that test
about allowance for safe drinking water in surrounding residential wells as
well. The cause for contamination comes from the massive mine tailings and
smelter ash covering thousands of acres of land. Fourteen Potentially
Responsible Parties (PRP) have been notified but are not listed. Only four
residential yards have been cleaned up at this point but compost was piled on
Iron King tailings and soil sealant on the Humboldt Smelter ash piles to
prevent the spread of dust contaminations. A plan to clean up the entire site
was hope to have been completed by 2011 and implemented between 2012-2015.
Photostabilization is proposed to be used in the IKMHSSS area during
remediation and testing on plants have already been conducted. Plants chosen
were based on visual examination, USDA guidelines for plant habitats, and to
represent trees, shrubs, and grasses for a variety of plant canopy and rooting
depths. Plants decided upon after testing to uphold higher sustainability for
this particular area were: Buffalo grass, mesquite, quailbush, and catclaw
acacia. Adding compost to the soil can help increase the pH level by increasing
the water-hold capacity increasing overall better soil structure and nutrients.
When 10% compost was added to the species the buffalo grass responded the most
to growth with the least amount of compost. The following is the grams dry
weight for each species:
*Fescue & Catclaw= .5
*Mountain Mahogany & Mesquite= 1
*Quailbrush= 1.5
*Buffalo Grass= 4
Neutrophilic heterotrophic bacterial counts indicate an
important portion of the community that is required for normal carbon and nutrient
cycling processes within soil. The neutrophilic heterotrophic counts were very
low, 670 bacteria per gram dry tailings at time zero with 0% compost. After 60
days of plant growth, the presence of plants with associated root activities
further increases heterotrophs to 6.4x10(7) bacteria per gram dry tailings at
both the 15% and 20% compost levels. It appears that 15% compost is the minimum
required in order to diminish the toxicity of the tailings and support
germination and plant growth.
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| https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJxMZu3FmvACFJntWYJ-lToBPAFcJQ3xCr-bJTUGBZT3cNQFL8_Gmc6pPe5jmN9NieesTeEvv01FZ_aiIHLglGryjJxO0H6YmtyWtNsHHJxKrQyQdSA092LY3yoMKcVaxoPDWYizt5c8HQ/s400/Iron+King+Mine+-+Humboldt+Smelter+EPA.jpg |
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| Iron King Mine-http://mountelliotremediationproject.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/m227pc.276112036_large.jpg (5/9/12) |
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| Humboldt Smelter- http://www.sharlot.org/img/wm_images/m218pd.jpg (5/9/12) |
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