![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
NPL Site Narrative for Cecil Field Naval Air Station
CECIL FIELD NAVAL AIR STATION
Jacksonville, Florida
Federal Register Notice: November 21, 1989Conditions at proposal (July 14, 1989): The Cecil Field Naval Air Station covers 20,099 acres in rural southwest Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. Established in 1941, the facility is now composed of Cecil Field Proper (9,516 acres), Yellow Water Weapons Area (8,091 acres), and the Outlying Landing Field (2,492 acres). Cecil Field's mission is to provide facilities, services, and material support for the operation and maintenance of naval weapons and aircraft for the Sea Based Antisubmarine Warfare Wings, Atlantic. Tasks performed at this facility include operation of fuel depots, maintenance and repair of aircraft and engines, and special weapons support.
Cecil Field is participating in the Installation Restoration Program (IRP), established in 1978. Under this program, the Department of Defense seeks to identify, investigate, and clean up contamination from hazardous materials. As part of IRP, the Navy in July 1985 identified 18 disposal areas located throughout the base, including landfills, lagoons, waste piles, burn areas, and spill areas. The majority of them received spent solvents, paint wastes, and wastes containing chromium and lead. Both soil and water in the surface and subsurface were potentially contaminated. The Navy then set up a program of soil and water sampling for 10 of the disposal areas. During this program, a 19th disposal area was discovered.
Three aquifers underlie Cecil Field: the surficial, which is used primarily for irrigation and fire fighting; the intermediate or "shallow rock," which supplies water to an estimated 2,200 people via private wells within 3 miles of the disposal areas; and the Floridan, which is the major water source for Cecil Field. The private wells are threatened because no continuous clay layer has been found above the shallow rock aquifer.
The major bodies of surface water on Cecil Field are Yellow Water Creek and its tributaries, Caldwell Branch, Sal Taylor Creek, and Rowell Creek, which is dammed to form Lake Fretwell. Fresh water wetlands are within 450 feet of one of the disposal areas.
The Navy plans to conduct further site investigations of releases and contaminant migration under a permit issued under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) incorporating corrective action.
Status (November 21, 1989): EPA is reviewing a Navy workplan to fulfill requirements for a remedial investigation under CERCLA and a facility investigation under RCRA.
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.