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EPA Adds Tarrant County Site to Federal Cleanup Priorities List

Release Date: 9/14/2005
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

     The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the Sandy Beach Road ground water plume site in Tarrant County, Texas, to the federal Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) announced today. Because of the listing, EPA can now begin to clean up the site.

     "Listing this site is an important first step in ensuring that public health and the environment will be protected. The EPA and the TCEQ are committed to working together to clean up this site quickly and efficiently," EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene said.

     TCEQ Chairman Kathleen Hartnett White said, "The TCEQ stands ready to assist the EPA in addressing problem sites such as this one. Continued cooperation between our agencies is essential to clean up all contaminated properties, particularly those located in environmentally sensitive areas of our state."

     A plume of ground water contaminated primarily with trichloroethene (TCE) has affected three public water supply wells and as many as 12 residential drinking water wells in and around the cities of Azle and Pelican Bay, Texas. The plume is about a half-mile wide and a mile long, centered in a rural residential area in Pelican Bay, along Sandy Beach Road at the intersection of Allison Avenue.

     Tests show two of the municipal supply wells and nine of the residential wells have TCE concentrations above the acceptable health-based level.  The aquifer is the only drinking water source for Pelican Bay residents.  EPA and TCEQ have not yet identified the source of contamination.  

     The city of Pelican Bay closed the contaminated wells in its well field and is continuing to supply its 1,500 residents with potable water from other wells.  Filtration systems have been installed on the impacted private residential wells.

     The EPA Superfund program works closely with state agencies to clean and restore uncontrolled contaminated properties. Superfund cleans sites when the work required is beyond the resources of state and local agencies.

     The site was proposed to the NPL in April 2005 as the "Pelican Bay Ground Water Plume." More information about this site is available on the EPA web site at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm.  Information on the health effects of TCE is available at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts19.html.