The EPA Duty Officer recieved a call from PADEP Southeast Emergency Response Personnel requesting assistance regarding an illegal dumping incident behind a shopping center in Downingtown, Pennsylvania into a storm water system. Heavy rains are expected, which threatens to push released material into a nearby waterway. The EPA Duty Officer activated an EPA On-Scene Coordinator to respond to the incident and conduct a removal site evaluation.
A truck containing 21 drums was parked near a stormwater culvert adjacent to a No Illegal Dumping sign. Responding personnel indicated that 6 drums of a pickleball court sealant had been emptied into the culvert, and the released material was making it's way into a stormwater management basin. Sorbent boom and hay bales were deployed within stormwater management basins to limit the flow of the material towards the outfall to the nearby waterway.
Response contractors skimmed all visible material using a vac truck, collected the hay bales and sorbent boom for disposal, and vacced out material remaining in the drums.
