Aberdeen Pesticide Dumps

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (All PDF): OU5 (8 pp., 494K), OU3 Amend (6 pp., 349K), OU3 ESD (6 pp., 337K)
• Closeout Fact Sheet, November 2003 (PDF, 4 pp., 32K)
• 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:
The Aberdeen Pesticide Dumps Site (APDS) located in Moore County, North Carolina, consists of five geographically separate areas known as the Farm Chemicals Area, Twin Sites Area, Fairway Six Area, McIver Dump Area and Route 211 Area. The Site consists of an inactive pesticide formulation plant and four areas which were used by the plant operators for disposal of waste generated during the formulation process. The Site was initially discovered in 1984. Contaminants in the soil and those which have migrated into groundwater include, but are not limited to, benzene hexachloride (BHC) isomers, toxaphene, DDT, DDE, dibromochloropropane, xylene, ethyl benzene, and toluene. City of Aberdeen residents rely on groundwater as their sole source of drinking water. Pesticide contamination in groundwater is wide spread, impacting both municipal water wells and private water wells.

Cleanup Progress: Construction Complete, Operation & Maintenance and Groundwater Monitoring Activities Ongoing
Between 1985 and 1989, EPA conducted removal actions at four of the areas of the Site. Contaminated soils removed from those areas were either stockpiled on-site or taken off-site for disposal. Cleanup decisions between EPA and the State were reached in September 1991 (addresses soils at all Areas) and October 1993 (addresses groundwater at the Farm Chemicals, Twin Sites, and Fairway Six Areas). The potentially responsible parties (PRPs) include Bayer Corp., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., Syngenta (formerly know as Ciba Geigy Corp. and then Novartis Crop Protection Inc.), Olin Corp., Shell Oil Co., and Union Carbide Corp signed a Consent Decree with EPA to implement the clean-up which was entered into Federal Court in January 1999. The soil remedy consisted of on-site thermal treatment of pesticide laden soil from all five areas at a central location. The October 1993 Record of Decision (ROD) required groundwater to be pumped and treated at the Farm Chemicals, Twin Sites, and Fairway Six Areas.

Physical onsite work began in November, 1996, with the demolition of 12 buildings at the inactive formulation plant (i.e., Farm Chemical Area). Thermal treatment of over 123,000 tons of pesticide contaminated soil started in October 1997 and continued through April 1998. The groundwater remedial design for Farm Chemicals, Twin Sites, and Fairway Six areas was finalized in 1998. Construction of the groundwater remedies for McIver area and Route 211 were completed in May 2000 and December 1997, respectively.

The groundwater remedy for Farm Chemicals, Twin Sites, and Fairway Six areas was changed via a September 2003 ROD Amendment. Over ten years of groundwater data supported changing the remedy from a pump and treat remedy to monitored natural attenuation along with phytoremediation. Resampling sediment, surface water and fish from Pages Lake in 2004 confirmed that Site related contaminant levels in this lake are not a risk to the public health. Prior to 2008, groundwater at these three areas was sampled on an annual basis. The Agency recently completed the first Five-Year Review of the remedy for the entire Site. After 2008, groundwater samples at the Farm Chemicals, Twin Sites, and Fairway Six areas will be sampled every five (5) years as part of the five-year review process. The exception to this is that the groundwater at Farm Chemical/Twin Sites will be sampled every other year and analyzed for toluene and sodium. Contaminated groundwater at the Route 211 area is continuing to be extracted and treated. The treated groundwater is being discharged back into the aquifer upgradient of the extraction wells. Monitored natural attenuation along with phytoremediation was the selected remedy for groundwater at the McIver Dump area. All future sampling efforts will be governed by the Performance Standards Verification Plan for Monitored Natural Attenuation (May 2004). The Preliminary Close-Out Report (PCOR) was issued by the Agency in September 2003. The first Five-Year Review Report was completed on September 22, 2008 and made the following four recommendations: 1) Prepare Institutional Controls Implementation Plan – This plan should describe the approach for placing restrictive covenants, well drilling ordinances, or other enforceable institutional controls that will prevent the installation of a potable well on a property not under the control of the PRPs at the time the ROD Amendment was issued which overlies the plume where Site related COCs exceed specified performance standards.  2) Reassess impact of phytoremediation zones on hydrology of area, evapotranspiration rate of tree canopy, etc.  Evaluate root growth, biochemical activities of rhizosphere, etc.  3) Update/Revise modeling efforts in calculating timeframes to achieve groundwater performance standards as well as the MNA evaluation presented in the 1999 Farm Chemicals/Twin Sites Second Look Proposal Report and 1999 Fairway Six Second Look Proposal Report.  4) Duplicate 2004 surface water/sediment sampling effort in Pages Lake.