Jump to main content.

Triana/Tennessee River

National Information

Photos/Multimedia

Diversion ditch on the Triana/ Tennessee River site.
- Additional Site Photos
- Site Video

Additional Resources
Site Summary Profile
EPA ID: ALD983166299
Location: Huntsville, Madison/Limestone Counties, AL
Lat/Long: 34.508880, -086.638190
Congressional District: 05
NPL Status: Proposed: 12/30/82; Final: 09/08/83
Affected Media: Sediment
Cleanup Status: Construction complete - physical cleanup activities have been completed
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: In continuous use - part of the current use Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and the Redstone Arsenal RSA
Site Manager: Brian Farrier (farrier.brian@epa.gov)


Site Background

The Triana/Tennessee River site is located approximately five miles southwest of Huntsville, Alabama. The site consists of an 11-mile stretch of two tributaries – the Huntsville Spring Branch and Indian Creek – which both lie almost entirely within the confines of the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge and the Redstone Arsenal. The flow of both streams empties into the Tennessee River near the town of Triana, Alabama.

The future land use of the site is not expected to change from its current use as the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and the Redstone Arsenal.

From 1947 to 1970, the Olin Corporation (Olin) operated a dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) manufacturing plant within Redstone Arsenal and discharged wastewater into Huntsville Spring Branch. Fish in the vicinity became heavily contaminated with DDT from the estimated 408.8 tons of contaminated stream sediments.

Top of page

Threats and Contaminants

DDT contamination was identified in fish species, soil, sediments, ground water and surface water.

Top of page

Site Cleanup Plan

In 1983, the State of Alabama, EPA, and Olin entered into a Consent Decree (CD) requiring Olin to implement a cleanup plan to meet a performance standard of five parts per million (ppm) of DDT in fillets of channel catfish, largemouth bass, and smallmouth buffalo fish.

The CD also provided for a Review Panel responsible for technical overview of Olin's proposals to meet the performance standard. The Review Panel consists of EPA, Tennessee Valley Authority, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of the Army, the State of Alabama, and nonvoting participants from the town of Triana and from Olin.

The CD identified the following three phases for the project:

404/26a Permit Application for the Huntsville Remedial Action Plan (PDF) (29 pp, 3.0MB, About PDF)

Top of page

Clean-up Progress

Cleanup actions began in 1986 and were completed in 1987. Cleanup actions addressed DDT contamination in fish species, soil, sediments, ground water and surface water.

Cleanup actions consisted of:

Ten years after the completion of the cleanup action, only one species – largemouth bass – had attained the performance standard in the identified stream portions set forth in the CD. In December 1998, the Review Panel granted Olin a five- and ten-year extension to attain the performance standard for channel catfish and smallmouth buffalo, respectively. In 2003, channel catfish met the continued attainment requirement in all identified stream portions. Smallmouth buffalo have not met the performance standard but were expected to do so by 2006-2007.

Surface water and sediment continue to be sampled but ground water has not been sampled since 1997 as DDT concentrations have consistently been below action levels.

The 2004 Five-Year Review (FYR) found that the implemented cleanup approach is functioning as intended by the CD.

Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by potentially responsible parties with oversight by EPA.
Additional Cleanup Information

Review Panel Activities (Report on the Remedial Action to Isolate DDT from People and the Environment), 1983-1986 (PDF) (178 pp, 8MB, About PDF)

Second Report on the Remedial Action to Isolate DDT from People and the Environment, November 1990 (PDF) (216 pp, 29.1MB, About PDF)

Third Report on the Remedial Action to Isolate DDT from People and the Environment, September 2000 (PDF) (83 pp, 205K, About PDF)

Huntsville Long Term Monitoring Report June 2009 (PDF) (14 pp, 1.3MB, About PDF)

Top of page

Enforcement Activities

In 1980, EPA and the State of Alabama filed complaints against Olin. The complaints alleged that DDT discharged from the manufacturing plant had created an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.

In 1983, the United States District Court entered a CD to develop and implement a remedial action for DDT contamination in the Huntsville Spring Branch-Indian Creek system. This was part of an overall order settling litigation between the United States, the State of Alabama, and four sets of private parties against Olin.

Top of page

Community Involvement

EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the Triana/Tennessee River 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 and information meetings on cleanup progress and activities .

Top of page

Future Work

Sampling of one fish species – smallmouth buffalo – will continue until the DDT performance standard is met. 

The next FYR for the Triana/Tennessee River site is required by September 2009.

Top of page

Site Administrative Documents

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.

Town Clerk of Triana
640 South St.
Triana/Madison, AL 35758

Administrative Record Index

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

Top of page

For information about the contents of this page please contact Brenda Lane.

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.