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NPL Site Narrative for Hydro-Flex Inc.
HYDRO-FLEX, INC.
Topeka, Kansas
Federal Register Notice: March 31, 1989Conditions at proposal (June 24, 1988): Hydro-Flex, Inc. has manufactured specialized tubing, hoses, heat exchangers, and fittings at 2101 Northwest Brickyard Road in an industrial/commercial area of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, since 1970. A single three-story building occupies the approximately 3-acre site.
During 1970-81, rinse water and sludges from a chromate metal finishing bath were discharged through a septic tank to a series of buried "silos"--open-ended vertical shafts 4 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep filled with porous fill material. The silos terminate within 2 feet of an aquifer designated by EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act as the sole source of water in the area. An estimated 320 gallons per day of waste water were discharged. Periodically, effluent from the third silo was discharged onto adjacent cropland. In 1981, municipal sewers became available and the silos were abandoned.
In January 1987, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment detected chromium, lead, cadmium, and copper in on-site wells. These metals are present in materials used in Hydro-Flex's process. An estimated 6,500 people obtain drinking water from public and private wells within 3 miles of the site. A private well is within 0.5 mile.
Status (March 31, 1989): EPA's preliminary plan for fiscal year 1989 includes a remedial investigation/feasibility study to determine the type and extent of contamination at the site and identify alternatives for remedial action.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.