The Alum Creek Bike Path Drum Site, is located on the eastern portion of, and adjacent to, 2101 Integrity S. Drive, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.
The Site is 1.3 acres and is a portion of a bike path presently under construction by the Franklin County Metropolitan Parks System. The bike path runs along the western edge of Alum Creek. Large portions of the bike path have already been completed including a bicycle and pedestrian bridge which crosses Alum Creek.
An estimated 15-30 partially buried and subsurface waste drums are located on the Site. The subsurface drum area is located directly in the proposed bike path route. The proposed bike path will provide unrestricted access to the drum area by pedestrians and cyclists. A residential neighborhood is located immediately southeast and northeast of the Site.
The 1.3 acre property is owned by the Franklin County Metropolitan Parks System (Metroparks), with a small portion of the Site abutting the Ohio Department of Transportation (Ohio DOT) embankment for Interstate 70 (I-70). Alum Creek runs along the eastern edge of the Site and I-70 is to the north. The Site is bordered to the west and southwest by Ohio Soil Recycling, LLC, and to the northwest by Midwest Underground Technologies. Alum Creek flows south-to-north less than 50 feet to the east of the Site. Residential areas are located on the east side of Alum Creek southeast and northeast of the Site. The Site is located in a mixed industrial and commercial park in the western flood plain of Alum Creek.
The Site was initially investigated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) on August 30, 2006, following a report that an equipment operator for the Metroparks had struck a drum and the contents had sprayed onto the operator, equipment, and onto the ground.
An OEPA OSC arrived on the Site and observed the excavated drum and the conditions at the Site. The OSC noted that the drum that was struck by the bulldozer was buried only slightly below ground surface and that other drum parts were scattered on the ground indicated that additional drums may be present. The OSC observed a black viscous liquid with a distinctive odor on the ground, in an adjacent ditch, and on the bulldozer.
OEPA’s District Office Investigation Report (DOIR), stated that the ditch carried runoff water under the bike path and looked like it was constructed through an historical disposal trench on the Site. The OSC observed other lids and parts from drums, iron-rich material that looked like foundry sands, lumps of solidified paint, glass, plastic bits, and a tire.
Pro-Terra Environmental Services (Pro-Terra), a local environmental company responded to the Site. Using a mini-excavator, Pro-Terra employees scraped the contaminated soils and punctured drum into a pile. The OSC collected a sample from the drum for laboratory analysis and waste characterization. Laboratory results documented that the liquid contents of the drum contained high concentrations of trichloroethylene (329,000 ppm). Ohio DOT agreed to complete the removal of the drum and contaminated soil.
The Alum Creek Bike Path Drum Site has an historical connection to another U.S. EPA funded-removal action in the general area. In 1995, U.S. EPA conducted a removal at the Integrity Drive Drum Dump Site. This Site was used for industrial waste disposal from the 1950’s until the 1970’s. During the 1995 removal action approximately 300 surficial drums were removed from an adjacent parcel, however, no underground contamination was discovered.
On October 30, 2006, the OEPA requested assistance from the U.S. EPA Region V, Emergency Response Branch 1 to determine whether a time-critical removal was warranted at the suspected waste burial area (aka Alum Creek Bike Path Drum Site).
On November 1, 2006, U.S. EPA OSC Jim Augustyn and Weston Solutions, Region V START conducted a site inspection at the Site. OEPA representatives Fred Myers and Ken Schultz, and Franklin County Metroparks representative Steve Studenmund were present at the Site. OEPA brought aerial photos of the Site from the early 70’s that showed the location of the former landfill on the adjacent property and the trenches that extended onto the Site and in the area in which the drum was found. The trenches were part of the old Franklin County landfill on the property in the 1950s and 60s. These trenches were filled with trash and covered over.
During the walkthrough, OSC Augustyn observed lids from 30-gallon and 55-gallon drums, mangled pieces of drums, cracked battery casings, glass, dried paints and material that looked like foundry sands. In addition, deer tracks were observed in the mud on the Site. OEPA representatives mentioned that ducks were recently observed in Alum Creek near the Site. The topography of the Site would allow liquids to flow down towards Alum Creek, located approximately 50 feet away.
On November 8, 2006, OSC Augustyn, Weston START, and Ohio EPA representatives met at the Site to conduct a site assessment. A START subcontractor arrived on the Site with a backhoe to dig exploratory trenches.
The START subcontractor dug three exploratory trenches at the Site at the direction of OSC Augustyn to define the extent of contamination.
The initial materials that were removed included a blue green dried paint. Two 55-gallon drums were removed during trenching operations from trench #1. Several other drums were observed in the sidewalls of the excavation. A mixture of household and industrial trash and soils were excavated from the trench. The trench was refilled with the contaminated materials and then topped off with the existing over-burden.
The second test trench was dug through an historical landfill trench, parallel to I-70 and through the middle of the Site. The second trench had approximately 4-6 feet of over-burden and household and industrial trash in the bottom portion of the trench. At the bottom of the second trench, ground water was observed seeping into the excavation. The household and industrial trash contained tires, bottles, pieces of 5-gallon pails, and the parts of at least one 55-gallon drum.
The third trench on Site was parallel to I-70 approximately 10 feet to the south of the second trench, and through an historical disposal trench. The third trench contained over-burden on top of household and industrial trash. The household and industrial trash contained many glass bottles and metal cans as well as three crushed 55-gallon drums.
Drum samples from all three test trenches documented elevated levels for several SVOCs and VOCs above Risk-Based Concentrations (RCB) for residential soils. In addition, lead (10,400 ppm) and PCBs (21 ppm) were documented on the Site. No samples exceeded the TCLP regulatory levels for hazardous waste characterization.
