United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region X
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

Franke's Laundromat operated as a laundry and dry-cleaning facility from the early 1960's until the business closed in March 2000.  The site has been unoccupied since.  Site investigation activities conducted by the property owners and City of Caldwell since 1999 have revealed high concentrations of tetrachloroethene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE) in soils and groundwater at and downgradient of the site.  PCE was detected in shallow groundwater at the site as high as 155,000 ug/l.  PCE is in the lower aquifer 400 feet downgradient from the site at 120 ug/l.  PCE in soils at approximately 9 foot depth are as high as 450 mg/kg.

On June 24, 2003, EPA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent with the property owners for removal site investigation activities, to characterize the lateral and vertical extent of PCE contamination and investigate appropriate removal action.  The property owners refused to enter into additional negotiations for removal cleanup activities.  EPA, therefore, is initiating a removal action to remove PCE contaminated soils that present an on-site human health exposure threat, or threat of continued migration off-site in groundwater and soils.  In order to access highly contaminated soils beneath and adjacent to the former laundromat, the unoccupied building must be demolished and removed.

See Polreps #1 through #3 for work performed prior to June 7.

June 7, 2004
Personnel on site:
ERRS Contractor - 6
START Contractor - 2
EPA OSC - 1
Weather:  Sunny, high in 60s.
Work Performed:  Pumped 500 gallons accumulated groundwater out of excavation pit and ran water through carbon filter for storage in 20,000 gallon tank until batch sampling/analytical results and planned discharge to City of Caldwell POTW.  Completed excavation of third shoring box.  Excavation pit measures 23' x 51' x 16' deep.  Collected 11 samples from excavation pit floor and side walls and analyzed on field GC/MS, to determine progress toward acheiving established cleanup levels.  Also collected two 5-point composite samples from excavation stockpiles for TCLP analysis at off-site lab, for disposal purposes.  Loaded out two trucks (66 tons) excavated soil for disposal at US Ecology facility in Grandview, ID.  

June 8, 2004
Personnel on site:
ERRS Contractor - 6
START Contractor - 2
EPA OSC - 1
Weather:  Sunny, high in 70s.
Work performed:  Pumped accumulated groundwater (600 gallons) out of excavation pit through carbon filter into 20k gallon holding tank. Began backfilling of excavation pit with clay, from 16' up to 7' depth.  Compacted with a sheeps foot compacter every 12" to 18" depth.  Tested every lift to ensure that we were acheiving IDT compaction specifications (95% compaction).  

June 9, 2004
Personnel on site:
ERRS Contractor - 6
START Contractor - 2
EPA OSC - 1
Weather:  Partly cloudy, windy, high in 60s.
Work performed:  Continued backfilling of excavation pit with 3/4" minus clean fill.  Compacted and did compaction tests in 12-18" lifts to ensure proper compaction.  Loaded out three trucks (99 tons) excavated soil for disposal at US Ecology facility in Grandview, ID.

Continue excavation of contaminated soils. Install slide rail shoring as necessary.  Field screen during excavation using PID and samples collected for on-site GC/MS analysis.  Collect and analyze samples of excavation pit walls and floor to determine necessary extent of removal.  Stockpile excavated soils in 50 yard piles for TCLP analytical and disposal.  Send contaminated soils off for proper disposal based on analytical results.  Backfill excavation pit, compacting each lift, and restore site.

The concentration of PCE remaining in the excavation area after removing soil from the intial 23'x51'x16' area are at or near established cleanup levels for PCE in soils with the exception of the middle of the pit floor.  Concentrations of PCE in the middle of the pit floor at a depth of 16' were above cleanup levels; however, the OSC determined that continued excavation below 16' in this area was not practicable because of limitations of equipment and excessive groundwater.  This area where PCE contamination remains is believed to be located where the southwest corner of the building was situated.  Additional excavation will be required on both sides (NW and SE) of the existing pit once the existing pit is backfilled and the shoring is removed.

Also, limited space at the site is causing the removal action to go slower than originally anticipated.  There is very limited space for stockpiling excavated soils, so the process of coordinating the excavation, the sampling and TCLP analysis of stockpiled soils, receiving TCLP results, and shipping excavated soils off-site is very delicate. Any hiccup in that process causes delay in moving forward with continued excavation.