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Groundwater Home The Site Resident Concerns Repository Photos West of Fourth More Information | The Site Background of the ProblemSince the 1940s, the property where Philip Services Corporation (“PSC”) is located (on Lucile Street near Airport Way) has housed several different companies: a lumber treatment plant, a paint manufacturer, and a hazardous waste facility. One or more of those companies installed underground storage tanks on the property to store solvents and other potentially toxic chemicals. Over the years, those tanks corroded and the chemicals leaked into the groundwater. The contaminated groundwater — called a “plume” — has spread, and is traveling toward the Duwamish River. Part of the plume is now under some of the homes and businesses near PSC. Some of the chemicals in the plume are volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can turn to vapor and come up through the soil and into the air. This can be a problem if a home or business is directly over the plume. Any structure with a crawlspace, a basement with a dirt floor, a cracked concrete floor, or one that is constructed slab-on-grade could allow the vapors to enter the structure — this is called “vapor intrusion.” Buildings with basements are of most concern because when people are in the basement they are closer to the source of the VOCs — the groundwater. Who is Responsible? When PSC purchased the property in the 1990s, they took on the responsibility for cleaning up the contamination. PSC is required by law to protect the health of all of the people living over or near the plume. The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) must ensure that PSC cleans up the contamination properly. (Ecology is the “lead agency” overseeing the process.) The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also been involved in directing the investigation and cleanup, and the Washington State Department of Health is involved in making sure that human health is protected. What Has Already Been Done? All of the underground storage tanks were removed several years ago. Some of the surrounding contaminated soil was removed, and a concrete slab or “cap” was poured over the surface to prevent further contamination. This cap is also designed to minimize the infiltration of rainwater that would make it easier for the contamination to spread. An underground barrier wall, or “slurry wall,” was constructed around most of PSC’s and neighboring properties. The slurry wall encircles the property from the ground surface down to nearly one hundred feet, where an underground silt layer acts as a floor to contain contaminants that sink. Combined with the concrete cap already in place at PSC, the slurry wall should keep any contaminants that remain in the soil and groundwater below PSC’s property from migrating off the property and into the community. Some contamination, however, remains outside the slurry wall. PSC has taken samples of the groundwater around the neighborhood and has taken samples of air from inside several of the homes and businesses over or near the plume. Sampling wells are in place throughout Georgetown, and water samples are taken every three months. This sampling has been done to determine what kinds of chemicals are in the groundwater, how far the contamination has spread, and how the chemicals react in the environment. With the help of a Public Participation Grant from Ecology, the Georgetown Community Council hired Environment International Ltd., a consulting firm experienced in contaminated site cleanups, to monitor the cleanup process. Environment International Ltd. is working with the Community Council to educate the community about the contamination, and to make sure that community interests are considered as the cleanup progresses. The cleanup of the groundwater is still an open issue. PSC is required to submit a report called a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) to Ecology. This report will contain information that PSC has gathered over the past several years of groundwater sampling and will be used to determine what other work PSC needs to do to clean up the groundwater contamination that still exists outside of the slurry wall. The RI is finished, and the FS report is in the final stages of approval. It will soon be available for public comment, and will contain an analysis of cleanup alternatives for the site. Timing of the Process Most of the indoor ventilation systems have been installed in homes where access has been granted. However, this process has been held up by a low rate of response by residents to requests for access. Since August 2001, PSC has been following a schedule for the investigation and cleanup. Although documents are usually on time, it appears the timeline could sometimes be shortened in order to better protect human health. For example, in 2002 the Georgetown Community Council’s consultant, Environment International Ltd., identified an opportunity to condense the schedule for installing the slurry wall and, with the help of DOE, convinced PSC to begin construction a year ahead of schedule. Demolition of the facility structures began in July 2003 and the slurry wall was completed in January 2004. Because the original FS report was rejected by Ecology, PSC has been submitting a revised FS in sections. As of June 2007, all revised sections have been submitted and are pending Ecology approval. The next step will be to allow public comment on the FS report and for PSC to write a Cleanup Action Plan detailing the specifics of the selected cleanup alternative.
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