*>EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency You're invited EPA will hold an informational open house for the Hartford site Tuesday, Aug. 12, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Hartford Community Center, 715 N. Delmar Ave., Hartford. For more information If you want to know more about the work in Hartford, contact: Michelle Kaysen U.S. EPA Site Manager 312-886-4253 kaysen.michelle@epa.gov Kevin Turner U.S. EPA On-Scene Coordinator 618-525-3665 turner.kevin@epa.gov Teresa Jones U.S. EPA Community Involvement Coordinator 312-886-0725 jones.teresa@epa.gov Tom Miller Illinois EPA Project Manager 618-346-5120 tom.miller@illinois.gov Mara McGinnis Illinois EPA Community Involvement 217-524-3288 mara.mcginnis@illinois.gov Or visit: www.epa.gov/region5/cleanup/liartford/ index, htm To see copies of documents related to the site, visit the document repository at: Hartford Public Library 143 W. Hawthorne St. Community Open House; Update on Gasoline Cleanup Hartford Area Hydrocarbon Plume Site Hartford, Illinois August 2014 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing several oil companies while they clean up gasoline pollution lying beneath the village of Hartford. The oil companies are both removing gasoline and studying the most effective ways of eliminating more. A vapor removal system was installed in the village for that purpose. The Hartford Working Group, or HWG, is the name of the three oil companies that installed the vapor system and currently runs it. In-home monitoring performed by a fourth oil company, Apex Oil, also verifies residents are safe from fumes. Apex is the company responsible for designing the final cleanup plan. U.S. EPA would like to invite you to an open house (see box, left) to learn more about our cleanup in the Village of Hartford. Federal and state agency staff will be available to discuss the cleanup and answer your questions. Gasoline collected Although a final, comprehensive cleanup plan is not yet ready, various activities have been successful at recovering the gasoline beneath the village. Through 2013, an estimated 2.25 million gallons of gasoline was removed and properly disposed of. The removal activities include skimming the gasoline off the groundwater and operation of the vapor- removal system located throughout the village. "Groundwater" is an environmental term for underground supplies of fresh water. Much of the activity you see on a day-to-day basis in the village is to keep these removal systems running effectively. U.S. EPA and the companies continue to study methods to efficiently remove as much gasoline as possible. For example, the parties responsible for the pollution are planning to expand the current vapor-removal system. Enlarging the system will provide further protection to homeowners from gasoline vapors. It will also work to clean up the soil where gasoline is trapped in the small spaces between the dirt particles. Expanding the vapor removal system will require more construction around the village. U.S. EPA responders will do all they can to minimize the disruptive nature of the work. However, the expansion project is an important step forward to finally cleaning up the contamination that has plagued Hartford for years. As effective as the vapor removal system has been at protecting residents and removing gasoline, it eliminates only the gasoline in vapor form. A significant portion of the gasoline beneath Hartford is liquid and removing that gasoline through vapor recovery alone could take a very long time. To accelerate the cleanup, U.S. EPA and the responsible parties are working to design a system that will remove deeper gasoline in its liquid state. The deeper gasoline is difficult to remove because it is 30 feet below the ground and trapped between soil and water. ------- Vapor control and removal The vapor removal system currently contains 120 wells. This method alone has collected almost 1 million gallons of gasoline from 2005 - 2013. The system operates like a vacuum by pulling gasoline vapors out of the soil and properly disposing them. The chart below shows the daily and total gallons of gasoline removed by the vapor system since 2005. This system protects houses and continues to remove gas. We believe expanding this method, by targeting certain areas, will remove a significant amount of contamination. The system covers a large portion of the village. However, we have found areas where additional wells could be installed for better results. Pumping tests Last fall we told you about the pumping test that was being conducted to learn how best to remove the deep liquid gasoline. We learned several things from that test. When water was removed from an area holding deep liquid gasoline by using focused pumping, some of the deeper gasoline moved into vapor form and fume recovery in that area increased more than 10 times. During one day alone, the pumping test removed a maximum of 550 gallons of gasoline using the five wells in a section called Area A. The treatment method we used was also successful at cleaning the water prior to discharge into the village of Hartford sewer system. Unfortunately, the test was inconclusive as to recovery of liquid gasoline. That is why we will be continuing pumping tests in the near future. Through testing, we learned liquid gasoline recovery will work best when the river and groundwater are not rising. Upcoming work This summer and fall will include the following activities: • The pump tests will be continued when groundwater and river conditions allow. • A work plan to optimize and expand the current vapor removal system will be developed. • Houses will continue to be monitored to confirm vapors are not affecting indoor air. U.S. EPA is using all of the lessons learned from various studies to make sure a comprehensive final cleanup plan is developed. The conditions in Hartford are unique and challenging. We appreciate the community's patience and understanding as we try to develop the best plan possible. U.S. EPA staff will continue working with the oil companies, the village, and the community to push the cleanup forward. We will continue to communicate our progress with you. 1,200 ! Daily Vapor Recovery (gallons) Cumulative Vapor Recovery (gallons) 800,000 600.000 i g £r. 400,000 ^ (8 "3 F 3 300,000 ° This chart shows daily and total gallons of gasoline removed by the vapor system in Hartford since 2005. ------- |