Mid-Atlantic Superfund

Contacts

Bulletin Board

• Community Update - May 2013 (PDF) (4 pp, 454k)

Questions

The EPA is dedicated to providing you with timely and accurate information about our work at this site. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact:
Ruth Wuenschel
215-814-5540
Vance Evans
800-553-2509
215-814-5526

Site Status

• On October 5, 2011 EPA presented to the Community Advisory Group an overview of the recent damage to work areas caused by Hurricane Irene/Tropical Storm Lee flooding. EPA is currently working with Whitpain Township and Borough of Ambler officials, as well as U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, to repair the damaged areas. EPA has also installed a guardrail and floodgate to prevent any future flood damage.
  
  
• EPA completed stream bank stabilization on the Wissahickon Creek, which runs along the perimeter of the park and pile, and Tannery Run Creek, which runs alongside the pile.  The stream bank stabilization materials on Rose Valley Creek, which runs between the reservoir and pile, will have to be repaired, due to the flood damage from the hurricane and storm.

EPA’s Investigation

• The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) that started in November 2009 is studying the nature and extent of contamination, health risks, and potential cleanup options.
  
  
• The first phase of Remedial Investigation started with field work, which included collecting surface water, sediment, soil, and waste samples. This field work started in the fall of 2009 and was completed in the winter of 2010. EPA sampled the pile, the reservoir, the park and the three creeks (Rose Valley, Tannery Run, and Wissahickon Creek) that flow through the Site. Various contaminants, including asbestos, were detected at the Site.
  
  
• A second sampling program (Phase II) began in October, 2010 and concluded in the summer 2011. EPA collected ambient air data throughout the community over a one year period. EPA installed and sampled six groundwater monitoring wells. Additional soil samples were collected from both on-site and off-site locations.
  
  
• Activity-based sampling (ABS), the process of collecting air samples from the breathing zone of samplers engaged in realistic activities (e.g., raking, mowing,) that may disturb asbestos-contaminated sources, was conducted in the summer of 2011.

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Background

• The BoRit asbestos site was used to dispose of asbestos-containing material from the early 1900s to the late 1960s that came from a nearby asbestos-manufacturing plant. The site is divided into three parcels: an asbestos waste pile, a reservoir owned by Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve and a former park and playground owned by Whitpain Township.
  
  
• The site is divided into three parcels: 1) an asbestos waste pile, approximately 25-feet high at some points, on a six-acre piece of land owned by Kane-Core, Inc.; 2) a 15-acre reservoir, owned by Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve, whose berm is believed to be constructed of asbestos-containing material (ACM); and 3) an 11-acre closed park owned by Whitpain Township.
  
  
• The waste pile covers approximately two acres of the six-acre parcel, and is about 25 feet above the ground surface. The berm of the 15-acre reservoir was constructed of asbestos shingles, millboard and soil. Asbestos product waste, such as piping and tiles, is visible surrounding the reservoir and stream banks. The third disposal area, which covers about 11 acres, was filled, and eventually used as a park and playground. In the mid-1980s, the park was closed and fenced due to asbestos contamination.
  
  
• The BoRit site was added to the EPA's National Priorities List of most hazardous waste sites on April 9, 2009, making it eligible for cleanup, using federal Superfund program funding.
  
  
• The site is on the National Priorities List for cleanup because the nearby residential population could potentially be exposed to airborne asbestos and to asbestos contamination along Tannery Run, Rose Valley Creek and the Wissahickon Creek.

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