Piper Aircraft/Vero Beach Water and Sewer

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (PDF): OU1 (21 pp., 827K)
• Redevelopment Success Story (PDF, 1 pp., 460K)
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:
This active facility manufactures small commuter and business airplanes and is about eight acres in size. The land use around the facility is mostly commercial, but there is a residential area about one-half mile south of the site. The facility is adjacent to the Vero Beach Municipal Airport. Soil and groundwater contamination at the site was due to a leak from an underground tank containing perchloroethene, a volatile organic compound. Perchloroethene, and related breakdown products, were detected in a city well located less than one-half mile south of the site.

Cleanup Progress: Construction Completed

Shortly after the leak was detected, the City of Vero Beach and Piper Aircraft Corporation installed a groundwater pump and treatment system under the oversight of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation. In June 1989, Piper removed the underground storage tank and excavated the contaminated soil surrounding and beneath that tank. Those actions were not sufficient to clean up the groundwater contamination and the site was ultimately placed on the NPL in 1991. EPA and Piper Aircraft signed a Consent Decree in August 1995. The remedial design was completed in 1997, and the new groundwater extraction and treatment system has been operational since 1998.

Currently, Piper Aircraft is working with EPA and FDEP to augment the treatment process by conducting a bioremediation pilot study. The goal of this study is to determine if a more effective and faster cleanup of groundwater contamination can be achieved. Piper has submitted Activity reports for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the pilot study.

EPA completed the Five-Year Review process for the Site on May 5, 2009. The report concluded, "The remedy at the Piper Aircraft/Vero Beach Site is protective of human health and the environment in the short-term because contaminated ground water is not being used for potable purposes without prior treatment, the treatment system is operating as expected, the newly identified benzene is found along the axis of the plume and can be treated by the remediation system, and Institutional Controls are in place. However, in order for the remedy to be protective in the long-term, the following actions are needed: review historic solvent usage areas to determine if there is another source area, evaluate the vapor intrusion pathway, and modify the ROD to include the requirement of Institutional Controls and document the changes in the treated water discharge. Although the remedy is protective, it may not be the most effective means of attaining cleanup goals and is therefore, being re-evaluated through the implementation of a bioremediation pilot study."