The LDCA Site includes two landfills: 1) the Clearview Landfill and 2) the Folcroft Landfill and Annex. The Clearview Landfill is located along the eastern bank of both Darby Creek and Cobbs Creek, near the intersection of 83rd Street and Buist Avenue. The footprint of Clearview Landfill is primarily within Darby Township, Delaware County, PA, but partially within the limits of the City of Philadelphia. OU1 includes the Clearview Landfill, the Eastwick Regional Park (a/k/a “City Park” or “Park”) which abuts the eastern limits of the present-day landfill footprint, and a portion of the Eastwick neighborhood (a residential area) located generally east of the present-day landfill area and the Park.
The Clearview Landfill was privately owned and operated without a permit from the 1950s to the 1970s by the Clearview Land Development Corporation, and used for the disposal of municipal and industrial waste collected from the City of Philadelphia and portions of adjacent Delaware County, Pennsylvania. There is no documentation of an engineered cover or functioning run-on/runoff control system at the Clearview Landfill. In addition, there are few records of the types and volume of waste materials accepted at the landfill during operation.
According to available information, landfill activities occurred in both the Darby Township and the City of Philadelphia portions of OU1. During the mid-1970s when development of the Eastwick neighborhood began, a considerable amount of waste was excavated and moved from the Philadelphia portion of the Clearview Landfill to the Darby Township portion of OU1. This excavated waste was most likely graded and then partially covered with fill. As historical aerial photographs indicate, the historic footprint of the landfill area includes present day property now comprising much of the Park and a portion of the Eastwick neighborhood.
The Record of Decision (ROD) for Operable Unit (OU1) (Clearview Landfill Waste and Soils) was signed on September 26, 2014 and included the construction of an Evapotranspiration (ET) Cover, excavation of contaminated soils outside of the planned ET Cover perimeter, and leachate collection and on-site treatment via engineered wetlands. Soils are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and Metals. The OU1 ROD included soil cleanup levels for several PAHs, PCBs and several heavy metals that are protective of human health and the environment. Cleanup levels were set to achieve a potential cumulative risk no greater than 1 x 10E-4 (1 in 10,000) excess cancer risk.
A Remedial Design for OU1 is currently underway and as such the Remedial Action will not start in the near future. Sampling conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the Remedial Investigation (RI) of OU1 indicated the presence of numerous contaminants, including PAHs and lead in various media. As part of the OU1 Pre-Design investigation (PDI), elevated concentrations of PAHs were also detected in the shallow soils within numerous residential properties within the Eastwick neighborhood located in close proximity to the Clearview Landfill. Elevated lead concentrations were also detected in a limited portion of the same area exhibiting elevated PAH concentrations.
On July 21, 2016, EPA approved a Removal Action that addresses threats posed to a portion of OU1 impacted by the Clearview Landfill referred to as the Eastwick neighborhood (a residential area) in which the elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and/or lead are located within the shallow soils.
EPA finalized a legal agreement with a group of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to have them perform the RI/FS at the Folcroft Landfill. Field work started at the end of November 2006 and continued until summer of 2007. During this time groundwater wells were installed and sampled and soil samples were collected. This environmental data will be included in the RI/FS for the Folcroft Landfill which is currently underway.
