Superfund sites, U.S. EPA Region 5
BEHR DAYTON THERMAL SYSTEM PLUME — Includes contamination from current or former operations at the facilities located at: 1600 Webster Street, Dayton; 1287 Air City Drive, Dayton; and 1200 Webster Street, Dayton. The site is located in an area with mixed residential, commercial, and industrial land use. It is approximately 2 miles north of downtown Dayton.
VALLEYCREST LANDFILL — The site is roughly 100 acres, split into two sections by Valleycrest Drive. The site is above the Great Miami Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for the city of Dayton.
EAST TROY CONTAMINATED AQUIFER — The East Troy Contaminated Aquifer site is located in the eastern portion of Troy. The site boundaries and all contamination source(s) have not yet been identified.
LAMMERS BARREL FACTORY — The Lammers Barrel property is now a vacant lot, approximately two acres in size, in Beavercreek. The property is bisected by Little Beaver Creek, which flows west to east through the site. The property is bordered to the west and south by Grange Hall Road and East Patterson Road.
MIAMI COUNTY INCINERATOR — The 65-acre Miami County Incinerator site contains the South Landfill, the North Landfill, the Liquid Disposal Area, the Ash Disposal Pit, the Ash Pile and the groundwater. The incinerator and landfills were opened in 1968 to process and dispose of municipal and industrial wastes.
MOUND PLANT — The U.S. Department of Energy's Mound Plant is in Miamisburg. It is a 306-acre site located approximately 2,000 feet east of the Great Miami River and partially overlying the Buried Valley Aquifer, a designated sole-source aquifer.
NEW CARLISLE LANDFILL — New Carlisle Landfill is located at 715 North Dayton-Lakeview Road, about 1.5 miles south of New Carlisle.
POWELL ROAD LANDFILL — The Powell Road Landfill site is a former gravel pit that was converted into a landfill in 1959. It operated until 1984 under various owners. The current owner is SCA Services of Ohio, a subsidiary of Waste Management of North America, Inc. Commercial, industrial, and non-hazardous domestic wastes were disposed. Industrial wastes disposed include ink waste, paint sludge, strontium chromate and benzidine.
SANITARY LANDFILL CO. (INDUSTRIAL WASTE DISPOSAL CO.) — The 36-acre Cardington Road Landfill Site (also known as the Sanitary Landfill Superfund Site) is a former solid waste landfill located about 1 mile south of Dayton. The site originally was developed as a sand and gravel mine, and subsequently used for solid waste disposal from 1958 until 1980. The landfill accepted municipal wastes and various types of industrial wastes, including solvents.
SOUTH DAYTON DUMP & LANDFILL — The South Dayton Dump & Landfill Superfund site contains an 80-acre, old industrial landfill located at 1975 Dryden Road in Moraine. Early U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio EPA reports indicate that the landfill was 25 acres in area, but more recent information indicates that it covers 80 acres, with about 40 acres having been built over and/or being used for other commercial/industrial purposes.
Source: U.S. EPA
Local Superfund sites
Dayton — Behr Dayton Thermal System Plume; North Sanitary Landfill; Powell Road Landfill; Valleycrest Landfill
Moraine — Sanitary Landfill Co.; South Dayton Dump & Landfill
Beavercreek — Lammers Barrel Factory
Miamisburg — Mount Plant
Miami County — Miami County Incinerator
New Carlisle — New Carlisle Landfill
Troy — East Troy Contaminated Aquifer
Source: U.S. EPA
Concerns escalated this week about two Montgomery County sites deemed public health hazards — groundwater contamination in a Riverside neighborhood and dangerous lead levels found in the soil of a Miami Twp. park.
Groundwater contamination in Riverside is enough of a threat to make the cleanup eligible for funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program. Officials have proposed adding the Riverside project to the list of most hazardous cleanup sites in the country.
Meanwhile, state officials are asking for a fast response to their request for federal help to clean up Miami Twp.'s Layer Park after county health officials posted warnings signs on the closed grounds, which decades ago featured a shooting range.
Some of the 180-plus soil samples taken by the Ohio EPA at the 7-acre park have tested at levels “hazardous to human health,” said Thomas Hut, supervisor of the bureau of special services for Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County.
On Tuesday, the state requested help from the U.S. EPA.
“From a health perspective, the higher the number, the greater the risk,” Hut said.
Decision by fall?
A decision from the EPA to add the Riverside site to the Superfund program could come by fall. If the area is added, it will join a list of polluted locations in the region and be eligible for money that could be spent over years or decades.
The Superfund appropriation for fiscal year 2015 was $1.088 billion, officials said.
The U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA began a groundwater and indoor air sampling investigation in July 2013. Patrick Hamblin, an EPA coordinator based in Chicago, said the problem is serious enough to make it a priority.
“There have been several rounds of investigations by the Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA,” he said. “A plan is in place to deal with short-term problems, but there is not a long-term plan to investigate the site.”
There’s no way to estimate how long a cleanup would take, Hamblin added.
“It’s a tough one. Initially a remedial investigation takes a couple years to determine the nature and extent of contamination, then there’s a feasibility study of remedies and recommendations for a final cleanup plan.”
The contaminating chemicals are PCE, or perchloroethylene, and TCE, or trichloroethylene. PCE is considered a likely carcinogen and TCE is a known carcinogen. Fumes from both are showing up under the slabs of homes in the area.
In March, the U.S. EPA announced that the source of the vapor intrusion in Riverside’s Valley Pike neighborhood was traced to Mullins Rubber Products and Mullins Land Co.
The company has since the mid-1960s molded heavy duty truck trailer suspension bushings. Chemicals were used to degrease metal parts.
The EPA in March announced it had reached an agreement with Mullins to conduct removal actions and pay for certain costs.
To date, 417 homes have been tested and the EPA has installed 89 air evacuation systems on 92 homes found with hazardous levels of fumes. A few of those homes are vacant and have not received the systems. More testing will check 573 homes.
Nearby is a similar groundwater pollution area that is in the Superfund program. The EPA said engineers are in the design phase of a soil vapor extraction system to address the Behr Dayton Thermal Systems groundwater plume. Homes in the area of 1600 Webster Street have been fitted with air extraction systems.
Park still closed
Meanwhile, Layer Park in Miami Twp. has not reopened since it closed Dec. 24 for the winter. While the township traditionally opens parks in April, the Cordell Drive location will remain closed until it is cleaned up, officials said.
The state EPA’s request for federal assistance indicates the potential for the contamination to become airborne, and there is uncertainty whether homes near the park — which is owned by the township and county — are at risk.
“We put emphasis on a quick response and quickly bringing all federal resources to reassess the site,” said Ohio EPA spokesman James Lee.
The state EPA has asked permission to test the property of at least six homeowners with land abutting the park. Meanwhile, the township is working to distribute letters to hundreds of homes in the area.
Said Hut: “I can’t speak to what risk the adjoining property owners have with regard to airborne contamination or whether or not they have soil contamination as a direct result of the firing range or the skeet shooting area impacting their private properties. We don’t know what that risk is.”
The request for federal aid by Michael Proffitt, acting chief of the Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization, noted “elevated levels of lead, a hazardous substance, are present in surface soils at the park and could become airborne as contaminated dust. Park visitors, including children, have the potential to ingest contaminated soils. Dry, warm conditions can result in airborne suspension of contaminated dust.”
Lead levels are a concern because of the effects they can have on a child’s development as well as pregnant women.
The park land was the site of a shooting range from the 1930s through the 1950s. The county acquired it through a donation in 1972 and reached an agreement with the township for a portion of the land in 1992, said Amy Wiedeman, assistant county administrator.
“We don’t know to what level any exposures occurred in the past,” Hut said. “So there’s no way that we can predict any sort of ill effects as a result of this finding. If people have health concerns, they should go see their doctor.”
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