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NPL Site Narrative for Ace Services
ACE SERVICES
Colby, Kansas
Federal Register Notice: September 29, 1995Conditions at Proposal (February 13, 1995): The Ace Services site is a former chrome plating facility where chrome plating was applied to farm implement parts. The Ace Services facility operated from 1969 to 1989 and was permanently closed in March 1990. The Ace Services site is located on approximately 2.4 acres in the eastern part of the City of Colby, a northwestern Kansas agricultural community with a total population of 6,525 including college students and nearby rural residents. Structural features currently at the Ace Services site include the operations buildings and a former lagoon area. Residences and commercial property surround the site which lies approximately 200 feet west of an unnamed intermittent tributary to Prairie Dog Creek. Prairie Dog Creek is an intermittent stream approximately 2.5 miles northeast of the site.
Ground water from the Ogallala Aquifer represents the sole source of municipal and private drinking water in and around Colby. The Colby municipal well public water supply well no. 8, located 0.2 miles east of the Ace Services site, was closed in 1980 on orders from Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) due to chromium in the ground water at concentrations above the Federal maximum contaminant level drinking water standard for chromium. An estimated 6,180 people are currently served by seven Colby municipal system supply wells. All of the wells are located within a 4-mile radius of the site, and each well draws from the Ogallala Aquifer. The depths of the municipal wells range from 202 to 281 feet below ground surface.
From 1969 to 1975, chrome plating wastewater generated during operations at the Ace Services facility was discharged directly to the ground surface immediately west of the unnamed tributary to Prairie Dog Creek. A citizen's complaint regarding the Ace Services facility was filed with KDHE in March 1971. Analytical data from samples of the discharged wastewater collected by KDHE and EPA in 1971 and 1972 indicated the presence of chromium. In 1974 and 1975, concrete retention vats were installed at the Ace Services facility, and an evaporation lagoon was constructed immediately adjacent to the facility to receive discharged wastewater. However, the evaporation lagoon was not lined, and chromium-contaminated wastewater was allowed to contaminate the soil and infiltrate into the ground. Also on site are chrome plating solutions, bulk hazardous wastes, and caustic acidic processing materials contained in vats and drums that were previously stored inside the Ace Services facility.
KDHE has recommended that a remedial investigation and feasibility study be undertaken to determine what action should be taken to remediate the contaminated ground water in the vicinity of the site. KDHE has also recommended that contaminated soils in the lagoon area should be properly remediated to remove a continuing source of contamination.
In 1981, Ace Services excavated approximately 2,200 cubic yards of chromium contaminated soil and sludge from the Ace Services lagoon area and disposed of it at the Thomas County landfill, a municipal solid waste sanitary landfill. In March 1992, KDHE removed the bulk hazardous liquid and solid wastes stored inside the Ace Services facility. Ace Services installed a recovery well at the site in 1980, to be used to extract contaminated ground water from the Ogallala Aquifer. This recovery system never became fully operational. KDHE installed three monitoring wells at the site in 1990.
EPA completed a removal action in July 1994, which consisted of removing residual contamination (mainly dusts) from the building interior, excavation of a concrete trough and the underlying soil, installation of additional building support columns near the trough, demolition of the wastewater treatment building, excavation of underlying soil, and excavation and stabilization/treatment of lagoon soil. All waste was shipped offsite for disposal, except for approximately 3,000 gallons of wastewater, which was treated onsite and discharged to a publicly-owned treatment works.
Status (September 1995): EPA is currently considering various alternatives for the site.
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.