Site
Update - March 22, 2024
This week, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began indoor air
sampling at homes around the former Williamson Polishing & Plating site in
the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis. The EPA anticipates
sampling to be complete by the end of the month.
Groundwater near the former Williamson Polishing & Plating shop
is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Multiple contamination
sources in the area are contributing to the commingled (blended) groundwater
plume. The primary VOCs include tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene
(TCE). Both chemicals dissolve easily in water and can stay in groundwater for
a long time.
When chemicals such as PCE and TCE or petroleum products spill or
leak into the ground, they may give off gases or vapors that can get inside
buildings, such as homes. The vapors can move through the soil and seep through
cracks in basements or foundations, sewer lines, and other openings. Common
products that may cause vapor intrusion are gasoline or diesel fuel, dry
cleaning solvents, and industrial degreasers. Some vapors have a gasoline odor,
and others are odorless and tasteless, such as PCE and TCE. Therefore, the only
way to determine if vapor intrusion is happening is to sample the air within
and underneath a home or business.
Vapor intrusion is a concern because vapors can build up to a point
where the health of residents or workers may be at risk. Health risks vary
based on the type and amount of chemicals, although how healthy you are and how
long you are exposed are also factors. Until these vapors are vented from the
indoor air, some people may experience symptoms that could include eye and
respiratory irritation, headaches, or nausea. Low-level chemical exposures over
many years, however, may lead to chronic disease, including cancer. Long-term
exposures are especially dangerous for children, pregnant women, or people with
underlying health conditions.
Save
the Date:
On Saturday April 6, 2024, the EPA will attend the
Martindale-Brightwood Community Health Service Day Event at Martin University
to provide information about vapor intrusion to the community. If you live
within the area of concern, you may be eligible for indoor air sampling. Stop
by our booth between 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. to sign up.
Background
The site is two
miles northeast of the Indianapolis central business district in a primarily
commercial and industrial area, with some nearby residential properties.
Groundwater contamination at the site comes from multiple former industrial
facilities.
Removal
Action and Vapor Intrusion Studies
On October 31
and November 1, 2016, the EPA took emergency actions to secure the facility. On
November 29, 2016, the EPA signed an action memorandum to conduct a
time-critical removal action from December 2016 to May 2017. Cleanup involved
removing and disposing abandoned hazardous waste inside the Williamson
Polishing & Plating property. The EPA also decontaminated plating equipment,
vats, tanks, piping, and other parts used for plating.
As part of
the cleanup, the EPA received and evaluated analytical results from groundwater
and soil gas sampling conducted in April 2017 to evaluate the vapor intrusion
pathway near residential properties.
The EPA
previously detected TCE above the vapor intrusion screening level (VISL) in
soil gas samples at the former facility. Concentrations of chemicals above the
VISL are considered to be sufficiently volatile and toxic to warrant an investigation
of the soil gas intrusion pathway. In the samples collected from the
residential area, TCE was detected above the groundwater vapor intrusion
screening in four groundwater samples. TCE was detected in three soil gas
samples, but all concentrations were below the soil gas VISL. The EPA did not
take any additional action at the time because a completed vapor intrusion
pathway could not be established.
Sources of Contamination
Several investigations were
conducted between 2017 and 2020 and identified likely VOC sources located above
a commingled (blended) chlorinated hydrocarbon plume (mass of contaminants)
which migrates in a generally southwest orientation beneath the site area.
The blended
plume is thought to originate from the following locations:
Major Tool and
Machine property at 1458 East 19th Street
- This property encompasses the combined parcels
formerly occupied by Ertel Manufacturing Corp., Zimmer Paper and Custom
Made Packaging, and Moran Motor Shop and Dynamometer Building. The former
Ertel facility located at 2045 Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue (formerly
Martindale Avenue), located adjacent to the east and up-gradient from the
site, generated hazardous wastes including spent halogenated solvents used
in degreasing. This facility is no longer in operation and is no longer
generating hazardous wastes.
Former
plating property at 2104 Dr. AJB Avenue
- The former plating facility to the north of the site
may be the cause of the groundwater and soil gas impacts observed beneath
and to the west/southwest of the site. Various metal plating companies
operated on the property from the 1950s to approximately 2006. This
location is considered a potential source of groundwater contamination
based on the extended period of time that metal plating facilities
operated on this property, the lack of information regarding the soil and
groundwater conditions on the property, the hydraulically up-gradient
location of the property relative to the site, and soil and groundwater
impacts observed.
Williamson
Polishing & Plating
- The contribution of the Williamson shop to the site
impacts is not fully known. Williamson Polishing & Plating was a
plating shop in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis,
Indiana. The business began operating in 1937 and operated until 2016 when
the company went out of business. The facility conducted job shop
polishing and electroplating services by plating brass, cadmium, copper,
chrome, silver, tin, zinc, bronze, and nickel finishes on various
substrates for its customers.
