Region 2 Superfund

EPA added the RCA del Caribe Superfund site in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico to the National Priorities List (NPL) on September 8, 1983 because of hazardous chemicals found in the soil and ground water.  The 20-acre site contained a facility that manufactured masks for television screens. Manufacturers discharged wastes – which contained selenium, as well as the metals chromium and iron – into four lagoons. Sinkholes developed in two of the lagoons, discharging approximately one million gallons of waste into the ground water. At the time the site was proposed to the NPL, approximately 12,000 people residing within three miles of the site depended on ground water for drinking water. A public water supply well is located less than a mile from the site.

General Electric Co., which acquired the site in 1987, conducted a remedial investigation to determine the nature and extent of contamination. From that investigation, EPA determined that the site did not pose a significant threat to public health or the environment, and no further actions were needed. This site is no longer a threat to human health and was deleted from the NPL on June 17, 2005.