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Potter's Septic Tank Service Pits
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
View of the Potter's Septic Tank Service Pits site.
- Additional Site Photos
- Site Video
Additional Resources
- Site Cleanup Terms - can be found in EPA's glossary
- EPA Guides to Cleanup Technologies
- Superfund Community Involvement (PDF) (17 pp, 130K, About PDF)
Site Summary Profile
EPA ID: NCD981023260Location: Sandy Creek, Brunswick County, NC
Lat/Long: 34.284600, -078.157800
Congressional District: 07
NPL Status: Proposed: 06/24/88; Final: 03/31/89
Affected Media: Ground water, Soil
Cleanup Status: Construction Complete – Physical cleanup activities have been completed.
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Potential for Commercial/light Industrial
Site Manager: Beverly Stepter (stepter.beverly@epa.gov)
Site Background
The 5-acre Potter's Septic Tank Service Pits site is located in Sandy Creek, Brunswick County, North Carolina. In 1976, the U.S. Coast Guard traced an oil spill in Rattlesnake Branch Creek back to one of the four disposal pits at the site. Approximately 20,000 gallons of waste oil had spilled from one of the pits into Chinnis Branch and flowed into Rattlesnake Branch and surrounding wetlands. The owner of the company admitted to having used the pits since 1969 to dispose of waste oil from other spills. Creosote and septic sludge were also placed in the pits. In 1983, the present owner informed the North Carolina Department of Human Resources that he had uncovered sludge in his front yard. The State found contaminants in his well and shut it down.
Threats and Contaminants
Ground water and soil at the site were contaminated by past disposal practices. Ground water and soil are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phenols, and other petroleum compounds. Soil contamination also includes heavy metals and chloroform.
Approximately 1,800 people obtain drinking water from private wells within three miles of the site. People who use contaminated well water may be at risk. Prior to removal of contaminated soil and sludge, direct contact with contaminated soil had been a health threat, especially to children playing in the area.
Site Cleanup Plan
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1992. Major cleanup elements for the site included:
- Extraction of all site ground water currently exceeding cleanup standards and treatment with air stripping to remove VOCs and chemical treatment with precipitation, flocculation, and filtration to remove heavy metals. Discharge of treated ground water to Chinnis Branch.
- Excavation of contaminated soils and treatment with a low temperature thermal desorption unit. Off-gases from volatilization will be treated using thermal oxidation, condensation and concentration for further treatment, or activated carbon filtration.
- Cleaned soils may be used as backfill for excavations, but soils that remain contaminated with heavy metals will be stabilized and taken off site for disposal.
Cleanup Progress
The U.S. Coast Guard and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Economic Resources removed 40,000 gallons of oil from the creek and the disposal pits, as well as 150 truckloads of oil sludge and oil-stained soil. Thick oil sludge that could not be removed was mixed with sand and buried on the site. In 1984, EPA removed approximately three million pounds of contaminated soil from the site and transported it to a federally-approved hazardous waste facility.
EPA began implementing the site remedy selected in the 1992 ROD in late 1994, and soil cleanup has been completed. EPA remediated approximately 32,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils, and removed a very large quantity of the contaminant mass that was once present at the site.
Ground water quality data from June 2000 clearly showed that inorganic and organic contaminants had decreased to concentrations below the ROD-specified cleanup goals. Therefore, EPA amended the original remedy selected in the 1992 ROD on September 27, 2000 to make monitored natural attenuation and institutional controls the new selected remedy for the site.
Ground water remedial actions started in September 2001 and include actions necessary to evaluate the extent of migration of a contaminated plume from the Potter's Pits site, including: the collection of ground water samples from drinking water; the installation and sampling of ground water wells and the monitoring of ground water contaminants.
Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by EPA.
Enforcement Activities
Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the Potter’s Septic Tank Service Pits 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.
Future Work
This site is subject to Five-Year Reviews (FYR). The second FYR for the site was completed in 2007 and recommended that institutional controls be placed on the site. EPA is currently working to put institutional controls in place and anticipated that restrictions will be placed on two property owners by the end of 2009.
The third FYR for the site is anticipated to be completed in 2012.
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.
Leland Public Library
487 Village Road
Leland, NC 28451
Administrative Record Index
- OU-1 (PDF) (24 pp, 1.0MB, About PDF)
- ROD Amendment (PDF) (1 pg, 37K, About PDF)
- ESD (PDF) (1 pg, 24K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.