In the spring of 2008, Garvey Elevators notified the EPA of their impending bankruptcy and indicated that they would no longer operate the groundwater extraction and SVE systems and would discontinue providing alternative water to impacted private well owners. A fund-lead Action Memorandum was signed by the EPA in May 2008, and the agency immediately assumed maintenance of the alternative water provisions.
The Action Memorandum was amended (Amendment) in September to reflect two changes in scope of the removal actions (Amendment is included in the documents folder of this website). Firstly, the Amendment expanded the removal action scope to include extension of Hastings Utilities water mains south approximately 1,200 feet on Wabash Street (to Idlewilde Road) and almost one mile south on Showboat Bolevard (from J Street south to Idlewilde Road). Approximately 13 residences, which currently utilize individual private wells within the contaminated ground water plume, will be hooked-up to these water mains. Secondly, the Amendment included fabrication of an enclosure within the Quonset housing the existing treatment systems. Only a small portion of the Quonset is dedicated to the existing treatments systems. The Quonset was not climate controlled. The Hastings area experiences extreme seasonal variability of climatic conditions, which created maintenance problems with the system components.
The SVE and ground water extraction systems were both nonoperational when the initial Action Memoranda was signed. Since that time, a number of the systems components have been replaced (e.g., ground water pumps and motors) and repaired. The SVE system has been operational since early October and the ground water extraction system was restarted in mid November (with the exception of two extraction wells that require further maintenance).
Engineering of the two water main extensions is in progress by Hastings Utilities. It is anticipated that actual construction will begin in the spring 2009. One residence whose well was impacted by the plume was hooked up to municipal water in November to an existing main. The area of the Quonset housing the treatment systems was enclosed in November, and small heating and air conditioning systems were installed to provide climate control.
EPA will continue to provide alternative water supplies until the water main extensions and hook ups are completed. The SVE and ground water extraction systems will be operated and daily systems checks will be performed. Efforts to repair the two nonoperational extraction wells are ongoing.
See Planned Removal Actions.
Since the recovery systems were reinitiated, a calculated 193 pounds of carbon tetrachloride have been removed.
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