United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
(2201)
EPA 520-F-95-008 l>
Summer 1995
&EPA Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
Colbert Landfill
Site Profile
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State:
Congressional
State and county efforts ensured safe
drinking water for area residents.
Success in Brief
Alerting Environmental Officials:
The Community's Role
Citizen participation is a key element in environmental protec-
tion. Every day, someone acts as the "eyes and ears" of enforce-
ment officials by reporting violations of various laws. In Spokane
County, reports of industrial waste dumping were taken seri-
ously by Washington state officials. Complaints from a group of
local citizens led to the discovery of contaminated aquifers which
had fouled private drinking water wells. In turn, the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) used Superfund authority to
leverage private resources and build a modern ground water
treatment facility.
The Superfund law is unique in that public participation is
relied upon for important decisions. Citizen insight and perspec-
tive are essential when selecting the cleanup remedy for a site.
At the Colbert Landfill, EPA and state officials met frequently
with area residents to share information about contaminants and
explain the technical process. Group leaders helped rally other
citizens to ask for alternative water supplies and a long-
term monitoring program. Many long hours went into
promoting communications among residents and the
various government agencies involved. EPA's regional
office in Seattle later commended local efforts with a
Citizen Participation Award to the chairman.
The Site Today
Spokane County operates the ground water treatment
plant, treating 2.3 million gallons of water per day ex-
tracted from 10 wells in two aquifers. A computer-based
system runs the extraction system, and the treated water is
tested before discharge to the Little Spokane River. State
officials monitor the water quality at the outfall as part of
the project's continuing compliance program. State and
county funds are now directed at designing a permanent
landfill cover. . . , r,,^¥^^'mn flc^nrv
U S. Environment?! Protection Agency
Region 5, Library (PL-12J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
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Superfund At Work • Colbert Landfill Site, Colbert, WA • Summer 1995
A Site Snapshot
The 40-acre landfill is two
miles north of the City of
Colbert, Washington. About
1,500 people live within three
miles of the site boundaries.
Spokane County owned and
operated the landfill for mu-
nicipal and commercial gar-
bage from 1968 until 1986. In
the early '70s, a variety of
contaminated liquid organic
solvent wastes, primarily
volatile organic compounds
(VOCs), trichloroethane (TCA),
and methylene chloride, were
dumped in unlined, open
disposal trenches. These
chemicals were used as clean-
ing solvents in numerous
industrial processes. Over the
years, seasonal precipitation
filtered through the wastes,
leaching toxic chemicals into
the aquifers.
Ground water samples from
some residential wells con-
tained concentrations of TCA at
unsafe levels. VOCs can cause
central nervous system disor-
ders and increase the risk of
cancer, but no one has reported
health problems related to the
site. The Little Spokane River
flows a half-mile away, but
studies have not found any
environmental degradation in
the river ecosystem.
Colbert Landfill Site
Colbert, WA
EPA Helps Lc
When local residents com-
plained to the Washington
Department of Ecology (Ecol
ogy) about discharges of
industrial waste into open
disposal trenches, Congress
had just enacted the Compre
hensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980
(CERCLA). This law autho-
rized the Superfund prograi
to address abandoned or
uncontrolled hazardous wa;
sites throughout the nation.
EPA asked the states to norr
nate sites for a National Pri<
ties List (NPL), and Ecology
proposed Colbert Landfill ii
1982. When early ground
water samples revealed TG
contamination, the Spokane
County Health District
1 landfill closed
Colbert
Site
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Timeifte
Bottled water provided to residents
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Superfund At Work • Colbert Landfill Site, Colbert, WA • Summer 1995
Contamination
warned residents to obtain
bottled water.
Shortly thereafter, EPA
began a search to identify waste
contributors and notify them of
their potential liability. In
addition to the county, other
parties included Keytronic, Inc.,
the Fairchild Air Force Base, and
Alumax, Inc.
From the fall of 1983 through-
out 1984, Ecology conducted
extensive field investigations
and analyzed various cleanup
methods. In the fall of 1985,
area residents formed the
Colbert Landfill Cleanup Action
Committee (CLCAC) to collect
and distribute information
about the actions planned for
the site. CLCAC presented
several requests to county
officials, including extending
municipal water hook-ups to
affected homes and long-term
monitoring of private wells.
Spokane County and Keytronic,
Inc. provided bottled water to
those residents whose wells
showed contamination and in
1985, paid to have the public
water supply extended to the
homes.
Ecology also found extensive
soil contamination at the site
with the potential for toxic
runoff an additional concern.
Workers laid two feet of clean
soil over the entire landfill
when closing it in 1986. EPA
then proposed a cleanup plan to
the community to address the
site contamination.
Phase 1: Ground Water
Treatment
Following town meetings
and a period of public com-
ment, EPA selected a cleanup
plan for the site in September,
1987. Subsequently, EPA and
Ecology began negotiations with
Spokane County to conduct the
remedy, including ground water
monitoring and operation and
maintenance. Keytronic, Inc.
provided $4.2 million and
Fairchild Air Force Base commit-
ted $1.45 million. EPA and
Ecology agreed to contribute $2.2
million for the effort but planned
to recover costs at a later date
from non-settling parties. A
settlement with Alumax, Inc.
added another $750,000 in Janu-
ary, 1993. The combined $7.85
million was used to design and
construct a state-of-the-art
ground water treatment system.
Four wells were subsequently
drilled in the shallow upper
continued on page 4
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continued from page 3
Superfund At Work • Colbert Landfill Site, Colbert, WA • Summer 1995
aquifer and six wells in the
deep, lower aquifer. Crews
constructed a network of ap-
proximately 3.4 miles of under-
ground piping to convey con-
taminated ground water to the
treatment plant. Efforts contin-
ued in 1992 to construct an air
stripping tower to remove, or
"strip", VOCs from ground
water by forcing an airstream
through the water, causing the
compounds to evaporate and
biodegrade. Tests of the air
stripping tower began shortly
thereafter and construction of
the plant was completed in
December, 1994.
As part of the agreement
with EPA and Ecology, 24
monitoring wells were located
down- and cross-gradient from
the extraction wells. Samples
are analyzed frequently to
confirm the interception of the
aquifer plumes. Other pri-
vately-owned drinking water
wells continue monitoring as
well.
Phase 2: Permanent Landfill
Cover
Efforts are under way to
engineer a multi-layer cap with
low permeability that will meet
state standards. The design will
include surface contouring and
mounding because the area is
completely flat; rainfall must be
diverted from the surface of the
cap. Methane gas, a by-product
of decomposing garbage that
will build once the cap is in-
stalled, will be collected using
an underground venting system
and flared at the surface.
County and state programs will
fund the landfill cap construc-
tion, which is scheduled for
completion by 1999.
Success" at
and
'waste, lawdiE
with waste ounfributors to
ground wafer 0ctr
stripping continue by the
strict coortpli&nee. schedule,
and slated for construction starting
EPA reaffirmed Ae
real peopfe who live near
extension of mwddpal water
ongrateg tnonitaring ^
predoos natural resouice^-iDo €asf^
fouled l^ contaminants. B?r tf*e
soupa^ and '|gO¥«rnma^l
inherits a tisaWe'~ water
Recycled/Recyclable
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contains at least 50% recycled fiber
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