Magnetite mines were operated on the 500-acre Ringwood Mines/Landfill Site as early as the 1700s, and wastes have been disposed of at the Site since the 1960s. The Site is about 1/2 mile wide and 1 1/2 miles long and consists of rugged forested areas, open areas overgrown with vegetation, abandoned mine shafts and surface pits, an inactive landfill, an industrial refuse disposal area, small surficial dumps, a municipal recycling center, the Ringwood Borough garage, and about 50 private homes. Two abandoned mines, Peter's Mine and Cannon Mine, have been used for the disposal of garbage and other wastes over the years. Peter's Mine also contains paint sludges, solvents, and scrap metal. Several drums have been observed in Cannon Mine. Mining ended at the Site in the early 1900s, and the history of the Site is unclear from then until the late 1930s. The Site was purchased by the U.S. Government prior to 1940 and later was sold to a succession of owners. From 1967 until 1974, the Site was owned by Ringwood Realty, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. During this period, Ford Motor Company wastes, including car parts and paint sludges, were disposed of on the ground surface and in abandoned mine pits. In 1970, Ringwood Realty donated 290 acres in the southern portion of the Site to the Ringwood Solid Waste Management Authority, which began operating a permitted municipal disposal area in 1972. The landfill was closed by the State in 1976. Ground water beneath the Site discharges to surface streams and the Wanaque Reservoir, located 1/2 mile southeast of the on-site sludge disposal area. The area around the Site is primarily residential, with about 50 residences located on or near disposal areas and they receive water from a municipal water supply.
The Site was included to the NPL in December 1982 and then deleted from NPL on November 2, 1994 following the cleanup effort made over the years. EPA restored the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Site to NPL in September 2006 to protect its surrounding community by cleaning up contaminated material recently discovered.
Paint sludge and other industrial waste at the site have been addressed through a series of removal actions. From 1987 to 1988, 7,000 cubic yards of paint sludge and associated soils were removed from four on-site areas and disposed of off-site. In early 1990, 60 drums containing wastes were discovered. The drums were removed and disposed of off-site. Additional solidified paint sludge (approximately five cubic yards) discovered in April of 1995 was disposed of off-site. In 1997, fifty (50) cubic yards of paint sludge was discovered at the Site. This paint sludge was removed during December 1997 and January 1998. The excavated paint sludge was containerized and transported for disposal at an appropriate off-site facility. In April 2004, significant amounts of paint sludge were determined to be present at the site. This has prompted additional paint sludge and drum removal activities, which were initiated in Ringwood Mines/Landfill 1 12/4/08 December 2004 and were completed in 2008.
EPA issued an Administrative Order to Ford International Services, Inc. (Ford) to clean up soil contamination and to eliminate health and environmental risks associated with the Site. Ford completed this clean-up under the terms of this order and EPA deleted the Site from the NPL on November 2, 1994. However, since paint sludge has continued to be discovered since the initial removal of this material and removal of the Site from the NPL, Ford has agreed to perform comprehensive investigations including a resurvey of the Site, removal of remaining surficial paint sludge, and groundwater and surface water sampling.
By removing over 45,000 tons of paint sludge and associated soils, and 113 drums of waste materials and disposing of this material off site, the potential for exposure to hazardous materials from the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Site has been partially addressed. In addition, the installation of fencing around the remaining landfill areas should mitigate the potential for exposure while site cleanup continues.
Long-term ground water and surface water monitoring efforts began in 1989 and are ongoing. Surface water at the Site has been sampled on a number of occasions in the 1990s, and in 2000, 2004 and 2005. Results of surface water sampling indicate that surface water has not been impacted by site-related contaminants. Groundwater sampling has shown limited and sporadically elevated levels of some contaminants, including arsenic and lead.
The Environmental Monitoring Program to sample groundwater at the Site was concluded by Ford in 1995. The data showed that elevated levels of lead and arsenic existed in four (4) on-site monitoring wells. Ford resampled those wells using the Low-Flow Sampling and Purging Technique in August 1999 and the data from this event showed an elevated arsenic level in one of the wells. In order to monitor this situation, Ford resampled all four wells and sampled three (3) surface water locations in April 2000. Results of this round of sampling showed that lead and arsenic levels have decreased and were below health-based levels, except for a slightly elevated level of arsenic in one well. In addition, no contaminants were found in the surface water above health-based levels. Since the discovery of additional paint sludge at the site in 2004, groundwater sampling events were performed in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 which included the sampling of all viable wells at the Site. Results of these sampling events indicate the sporadic presence of several contaminants including lead, arsenic and benzene at levels above drinking water standards. Results of surface water sampling continue to indicate that surface water does not contain elevated levels of contaminants.
