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North Belmont PCE

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Site Summary Profile
EPA ID: NCD986187128
Location: Belmont, Gaston County, NC
Lat/Long: 35.273470, -081.051250
Congressional District: 08
NPL Status: Proposed: 04/23/99; Final: 07/22/99
Affected Media: Ground water, Soil
Cleanup Status: Construction Complete – Physical cleanup activities have been completed.
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Continued Commercial and Residential Use – The site includes a shopping center and surrounding residential properties.
Site Manager: Michael Townsend (townsend.michael@epa.gov)


Site Background

The North Belmont PCE site consists of two closed dry cleaning operations located in North Belmont, Gaston County, North Carolina. The main source area was the site of a dry cleaning establishment that operated from 1960 to 1975. A boiler located behind the building was used to "distill" the waste dry cleaning solvents. The spent solvent residue from the boiler distillation unit was reportedly disposed onto the ground surface behind the building, and spent solvents were disposed through the on-site septic tank system. The other source area was also operated as a dry cleaning prior to 1960.

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Threats and Contaminants

In February 1991, a sampling effort by the Gaston County Health Department found significant volatile organic compound contamination in a residential well that supplied drinking water to an elementary school and two homes. Further investigation found that sixteen residential drinking water wells were contaminated with tetrachloroethene (PCE) as well as with PCE breakdown products. Well concentrations of PCE were found to be as high as 15,000 parts per billion (ppb).

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Site Cleanup Plan

The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1997. Major cleanup elements for the site included:

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Cleanup Progress

EPA connected the elementary school and twenty-nine of the neighborhood drinking water wells to the City of Belmont’s municipal water system. Public water supply connections were completed in January 2000.

The construction of the in-well circulation and vapor stripping ground water treatment system was completed in March 2004. The ground water treatment system has been temporarily taken offline while options for discharging treated ground water are evaluated. Investigation of alternatives is currently underway.

Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by EPA.

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Enforcement Activities

 

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Community Involvement

EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the North Belmont PCE site to solicit community input and to ensure that the public remains informed about site activities throughout the site cleanup process. Outreach activities have included public notices, interviews, and public meetings on cleanup activities and updates.

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Future Work

This site is subject to Five-Year Reviews (FYRs). The first FYR for the site is currently underway, and it is anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2009.

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Site Administrative Documents

 

  • First Five Year Review (PDF) (82 pp, 6.78MB, About PDF)
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    Site Repository

    For more information or to view any site-related documents, please visit the site information repository at the following location. As new documents are generated, they will be placed in the information repository for public information.

    Gaston County Public Library-Belmont Branch
    111 Central Avenue
    Belmont, NC 28012

    Administrative Record Index

    For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.

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    For information about the contents of this page please contact Donna Bledsoe.


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