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U.S. EPA PROPOSES PLAN FOR GROUNDWATER CLEANUP AT TEMPE SITE

Release Date: 9/15/1997
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588

 
     (San Francisco)-- Continuing with cleanup at the South Indian Bend Wash Superfund site, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a plan to remove industrial solvents from groundwater in Tempe, Ariz.  

     "It's important to clean up this groundwater so that it can be available to the people of Tempe as a drinking water source," said Keith Takata, EPA's Superfund director.

     The public is invited to attend a community meeting and comment on the plan on Wednesday, September 24, at 7 p.m. at Gililland Middle School, 1025 South Beck Ave., Tempe.
     
     EPA plans to set up an extraction and treatment system that will remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs), trichloroethene (TCE), and perchloroethene from groundwater by air stripping the water and sending it through a carbon filter system. These chemicals are commonly used in dry cleaning and plating operations. EPA will monitor the effectiveness of the groundwater cleanup to determine if further cleanup is necessary. Tempe residents do not currently use this water for drinking.
     
     The treated water will be discharged to either the city of Tempe's storm drain system for recreational use in Town Lake, the Salt River Project's Tempe Canal, or reinjected to the groundwater. EPA will decide on the use of the treated water during the remedial design phase after reviewing public comments and discussing the issue with state and local agencies.

     Currently, EPA is requiring clean up of soil contaminated with VOCs at the South Indian Bend Wash and North Indian Bend Wash sites by extracting contaminated vapors from the soil. At North Indian Bend Wash, TCE-contaminated groundwater from four Scottsdale wells is being treated at the Scottsdale Central Groundwater Treatment facility and used as Scottsdale's drinking water.      

     Indian Bend Wash South is south of the Salt River, bordered by Rural and Price roads and Apache Boulevard. The Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983 following the discovery of industrial solvents in public water supply wells. The NPL is U.S. EPA's list of hazardous waste sites potentially posing the greatest long-term threat to public health and the environment. U.S. EPA identifies and ranks NPL sites according to threats to nearby populations through actual or potential contamination of groundwater, surface water or air.

     Oral or written comments on the proposed plan must be made or postmarked by October 14, 1997, and sent to:  

     Roberta Riccio, Remedial Project Manager
     U.S. EPA, Mailcode SFD-7-1
     75 Hawthorne St.
     San Francisco, Calif. 94105
     (415) 744-2369