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The Masterwear site is located at 28 N. Main Street, Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana. The site is situated in the downtown commercial area and is bordered on all sides by commercial properties. The county courthouse is located east of the site.
Masterwear was a commercial dry cleaner that used large amounts of tetrachloroethene (PCE) in its operations during the 1980s. The main building is a two-story building with an elevator connecting the two floors. The second floor contains an overhead walkway that spans over an alley (toward the east) connecting with an upstairs storage area. The business was operational from January 1986 to November 1991; however, the current owner of the property subdivided the buildings connected to the former dry cleaner building and leases space to business tenants.
In early 2003, Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) Office of Water Quality received data from water samples collected from the Municipal well field. Sample concentrations of one well exceeded the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PCE. IDEM started to investigate the area for a source of this contamination. Through interviews and review of historical information IDEM believed that the Masterwear site could be the source of PCE contamination and conducted a site investigation consisting of indoor air, groundwater, and soil sampling. IDEM collected 15 indoor air samples at the site with PCE concentrations up to 1,836 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3). IDEM collected 28 soil samples in the site area with PCE concentrations up to 270,000 micrograms per kilogram (mg/kg). IDEM collected 18 groundwater samples at the site with PCE concentrations up to 20,000 micrograms per liter (mg/L). PCE and its breakdown product, trichloroethene (TCE), were detected in groundwater samples collected from municipal wells located near the Masterwear site. Soil samples collected from a nearby parking lot and indoor air samples collected in the businesses currently leasing space in the former Masterwear building and nearby residential buildings contained elevated levels of PCE. IDEM contacted Linda Nachowicz, U.S. EPA Section Chief, Emergency Response Section 3, on August 8, 2003, for support in addressing the PCE indoor air contamination.
Between September 25, 2003, and February 3, 2004, U.S. EPA, IDEM, and START mobilized to the Masterwear site to collect four rounds of indoor air samples at the site and the surrounding residential and commercial properties. Indoor air samples were collected for volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis, with PCE as the main contaminant of concern. Sampling was conducted to define the extent of PCE contamination in indoor air at the site.
START obtained laboratory analytical results for 38 investigative indoor air samples collected from the Masterwear site and surrounding area.
The combined efforts of both the U.S. EPA and IDEM delineated a plume of PCE vapor contamination emanating from the contaminated ground water at 12 locations. Air values at theses locations exceeded the IDEM sub-chronic value of 110 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air sampled).
In addition, the data from IDEM also indicates the area under and directly adjacent to the former facility has concentrations of PCE in soil up to 270,000 ppb (parts per billion). These concentrations constitute a "point source" and will be remediated, as part of the cleanup action. It has been proven by soil investigation work conducted by IDEM using a Geo-Probe, that the City of Martinsvilles' well field has been imnpacted by this point source of contamination.
On April 19, 2004, a Unilateral Administrative Order was signed by Richard Karl, Acting Director of the Region V Superfund Division, ordering the building owner and the former operator of Masterwear to eliminate or reduce the vapors of PCE identified in the site investigation, thus eliminating the public health threat and threat or remove the contaminated soils as identified as the "point source" of contamination.
The Order was complied with, as insurance companies for both the owner of the building and the operator agreed to comply with the Order.
The RP's insurance company hired an environmental remediation firm out of Indianapolis to do the cleanup and the work to be performed as stated in the Order commenced immediately with sampling (vapor) and ground water work relative to the installation of a SVE (Soil Vapor Extraction) system. It is anticipated the vapor reduction systems will be installed in the individual homes and businesses by late fall, with the SVE system operational this winter.
It is unknown at this time how long the vapor reduction systems or the SVE system will have to be operational.
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