North Railroad Avenue Plume

Site Description

The North Railroad Avenue Plume site is located in Espanola, New Mexico, within the boundaries of the Santa Clara Pueblo. The site of a former dry cleaning operation, the groundwater is contaminated of perchlorethylene (PCE). Approximately 11,000 people living in the city and on the pueblo receive their drinking water from wells within two miles of the site. Although no existing wells are contaminated, two water supply wells were removed from service in 1989 due to PCE contamination.

Current Site Status and Cleanup Actions to Date

• In September 2001, EPA decided to cleanup the groundwater through solvent flushing to remove pure the PCE from the groundwater and biological treatment, in place, to remove dissolved PCE from the groundwater. In 2003, EPA completed the cleanup design. The cleanup will restore the contaminated groundwater to be within the federal drinking water standard.
• EPA and the New Mexico Environment Department have participated in numerous open houses with the community and the pueblo throughout the Superfund process. A Technical Assistance Grant of $50,000 was awarded to the El Rio Arriba Health Association in July 2000.
• EPA also provided funds to the Santa Clara Pueblo for their participation the project site team and to evaluate potential impacts to cultural resources from the contamination.
• EPA continues to monitor the site to ensure that there is no immediate threat to human health or the environment pending the start of long-term cleanup work.

Current Funding Status

• To date, EPA has spent approximately $2,000,000 for investigation and design work at this site.
• EPA has determined that this site does not pose an immediate threat to human health, and will continue to monitor this site for any changes that may trigger additional action. EPA will consider funding for this site in Fiscal Year 2004.

EPA Funding Process

EPA funds cleanup work at sites that fall into three categories: sites that pose immediate danger to human health; sites where specific cleanup projects have already begun, and sites with the highest relative risks to human health that are near-term construction completion candidate sites. Sites that fall into the first two categories receive the highest priority for funding. Sites in the third category receive funding based on the availability of funds, the relative risk to human health and the environment as determined in part by the National Risk-Based Priority Panel, and other programmatic factors including the potential availability of responsible parties to conduct the work.

For more information on this site, please read the Fact Sheet (PDF 152KB, 5 pages) on the Region 6 Superfund Web site.

Key Accomplishments