EPA has been asked to investigate tetrachloroethylene (PERC) contamination in Hyattsville (Chillum), Maryland and Washington, DC. PERC contamination was discovered in 2001 during an on-going investigation of a gasoline-products release from a service station located in Hyattsville near the Chillum PERC property. The site under investigation includes a dry cleaning facility and a residential community. The dry cleaning facility is located in Maryland and is immediately adjacent to the Washington, DC border. Groundwater flows from Maryland into Washington, DC, and one or more plumes of groundwater containing PERC may be present beneath the local residential community.
During the early part of 2004, EPA sought the services of a neutral facilitator. The neutral facilitator proposed conducting a communications assessment to determine the status of communications with the community and other government agencies. The neutral facilitator interviewed representatives of all stakeholders, EPA, DC DOH, MDE, Elected officials and residents that are active in the community. The findings were summarized in a report in January 2005 where a number of recommendations for EPA to implement working with all the stakeholders on how to best communicate.
In December 2004, residents received the results of sampling conducted at their homes during the month of April 2004. In December 2004, ATSRD released the second Health Consult.
In February 2005, EPA sampled homes of residents that were unavailable during the 2004 sampling event. One resident was available; another was not available and could not participate.
During the months of March and April of 2005, the neutral facilitator helped residents organize and carryout five block meetings with the streets of 8th , Oglethorpe, Nicholson, Riggs, and Eastern Avenue.
In May 2005, EPA attended a DC City Council Hearing on the Chillum Gasoline and Perc spills.
In June 2005, EPA schedules re-sampling of several homes that had canisters where final pressures were recorded as ambient pressures for the residents were scheduled. Only two residents were available to participate in sampling. At the time of collection of the samples, several canisters were found to have ambient pressure readings on the gauges. The residents were informed that the sampling would have to be repeated at a later date. It could not be determined what the root cause of such result was.
In August 2005, EPA met with residents from Nicholson Street to discuss their results from indoor air sampling done by Chevron as required by EPA. As a result of Chevron’s sampling one home was found to have perc at a level that requires further sampling. EPA requested a health consult from ATSDR on the results of this sampling. Upon receiving the health consult, EPA transmitted the health consult to the resident and suggested re-sampling the property in the near future.
In March 2006, EPA sent letters to six residents requesting access and participation in the next round of sampling of indoor air. These six residential properties include residences where canisters were found with ambient pressure at the time of collection during the past two rounds of sampling and residences that had conflicts in schedules during previous events.
The OSC requested the SLO contact DC DOH on the upcoming sampling event. The CIC will contact the residents via telephone to verify they have received the letters and the access agreements.
The next sampling event is scheduled for the week of April 10, 2006. The OSC will coordinate with DC DOH and the residents for times and schedules of when to conduct the sampling. The result s of this sampling will be transmitted to each resident sampled in about two months. At that time, the OSC and CIC will schedule appointments with the residents to explain their results and determine what the next course of action is.
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