Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
MARION COUNTY
MARION COUNTY

Congressional District # 04

LITTLE SCIOTO RIVER

EPA ID# OHN000509950
Last Updated: September, 2009

Site Description

The Little Scioto River (LSR) is located in Marion Township, Marion County, Ohio, just west of the City of Marion, Ohio. The LSR feeds into the Scioto River, a major tributary to the Ohio River.

The LSR is a small river where the sediments are contaminated with coal tar creosote due to historic discharges from the former Baker Wood Preservation/Creosoting (BWC) facility.  The former BWC preserved lumber products from approximately 1890 through the late 1960s.  Railroad ties were preserved with coal-tar creosote and then stacked to dry on the western portion of the property.  In 1946, the Ohio Department of Health notified BWC that chemicals (likely creosote) were being discharged from BWC into the combined sewers that drain to nearby North Rockswale Ditch and Little Scioto River. BWC is currently vacant.

Site Responsibility

The site is being addressed through state and federal actions.

Threats and Contaminants

The sediment in the LSR is contaminated with creosote and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  PAH compounds present direct contact and ingestion threats to people, fish, and to animals in the area.  On March 20, 1992, the Ohio Department of Health issued an advisory against swimming, wading, and eating fish caught in the four-mile stretch of Little Scioto River, west of the City of Marion from Holland Road south to State Route 739.  This advisory is still in effect.

Cleanup Progress

After EPA cleaned up the Baker Wood property, workers drained and dredged a 1 1/4-mile stretch of river. The area was backfilled with clean soil. Contaminated sediment was removed and dried on a pad just east of the cleanup area. It was eventually shipped to Bucyrus, Ohio for proper disposal.

During the most recent phase, about ¾ mile of river was cleaned up. Work ended near the intersection of State Route 95 in November 2006. It was funded by EPA ($2 million) and Ohio EPA ($1 million). Additional funding to complete the cleanup along the river to State Route 739 was no longer available.

The project was originally started in 2002 and paid for by U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Oil Pollution Act funds. About ½ mile of North Rockswale Ditch and ½ mile of the river was dredged at that time. When that portion of the cleanup was complete, USCG and EPA agreed that Superfund money was a more appropriate way to pay for the rest of the cleanup.


The Little Scioto River was proposed as a federal Superfund site to be placed on the National Priorities List (NPL).  A notice explaining this approach appeared in the April 9, 2009, Federal Register.  EPA's Washington D.C. office also ran a 60-day public comment period on the proposal.  On September 14, 2009, the site was listed on the final NPL.  EPA will continue its investigation of the Little Scioto River through the Superfund process.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
margaret gielniewski (gielniewski.margaret@epa.gov)
(312) 886-6244

 

Site Profile Information

This profile provides you with information on EPA's cleanup progress at this Superfund site.