Superfund Construction Project - Funding Pending North Penn - Area 6 Superfund Site Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania vvEPA Site Description The North Penn - Area 6 site is located within the North Penn Water Authority (NPWA) service district in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Five other National Priorities List (NPL) sites (North Penn Areas 1, 2, 5, 7, and 12) and a state Superfund site (North Penn Area 4) have also been identified in the NPWA area. The site is in the Borough of Lansdale and small portions of Hatfield, Towamencin and Upper Gwynedd townships. The site's preliminary boundaries were determined based on groundwater data. In 1979, high levels of trichloroethene (TCE) were detected in several wells within the Lansdale area. This discovery led EPA to add the site to the NPL in 1989. The site is situated over a large area with commercial, industrial, and residential uses. The J.W. Rex Property is one of the site's identified ten "source locations" where industrial operations, including disposal, occurred in the past. The northern edge of the J.W. Rex Property was used as a dump by Lansdale Borough until 1954, at which time the J.W. Rex Company purchased the property. The former dump is currently an open field. EPA identified impacts to soil and groundwater as a result of the historic industrial and disposal operations at the J.W. Rex Property. Site Status and Cleanup Actions to Date • The site is being addressed through federal, state and potentially responsible party actions. Cleanup of the site is divided into three operable units. The project awaiting funding is at Operable Unit 2 (OU2). • EPA initially identified 26 properties as potential site contamination sources under Operable Unit 1 (OU1). Beginning in 1993, EPA evaluated 20 of the properties as part of OU1. Based on the OU1 remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS), EPA determined that soil contamination at four of the properties may have contributed to groundwater contamination and required remedial action. In 1995, EPA issued the OU1 record of decision (ROD), which required soil remediation at the four properties. Cleanup activities associated with the OU1 soil remedy have been completed. • OU2 consists of six properties identified initially as having contributed to site soil contamination but which were not addressed in the OU1 effort, including the J.W. Rex Property. Under OU2, the owners or operators of these six properties conducted soil investigations in accordance with an administrative order on consent (AOC) for RI/FS under EPA oversight. The potentially responsible parties (PRPs) at four of the properties have completed the work required at their respective properties under the RI/FS AOC. EPA assumed responsibility for the FS, remedial design, and remedial action at the J.W. Rex Property under an "ability to pay" consent decree with the property owner. • EPA selected a remedy for OU2 at the J.W. Rex Property in a 2018 ROD consisting of excavation and offsite disposal of contaminated soil and institutional controls. The remedial design for the J.W. Rex Property was completed in September 2019. * Groundwater at the site is being addressed as OU3. EPA issued a ROD for OU3 in 2000 which requires groundwater extraction and treatment at ten properties, residential well monitoring and long-term groundwater monitoring. To date, EPA has installed groundwater extraction and treatment systems at five properties. • Multiple vapor intrusion investigations have been performed at various site properties, and a comprehensive vapor intrusion investigation was performed in 2019. The investigations concluded that vapor intrusion is not a current site concern. EPA included institutional controls in the 2018 OU2 ROD to evaluate and mitigate vapor intrusion for future construction at the J.W. Rex Property. Project Pending Funding, as of the end of Fiscal Year 2019: The remedial action includes excavation and offsite disposal of contaminated soil for OU2 at the J.W. Rex Property. Funding Through Fiscal Year 2019: EPA has provided approximately $21 million for cleanup activities at the site. May 2020 ------- |