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NPL Site Narrative for Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek
NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE LITTLE CREEK
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Federal Register Notice: May 10, 1999Conditions at Proposal (July 1998): The Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek facility is located in the Tidewater region of Virginia, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The naval base is located within the city limits of Virginia Beach and consists of 2,147 acres. It is surrounded by residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational developments. On the western portion of the naval base are Little Creek Cove and Desert Cove, which empty into Little Creek Channel, and Little Creek Channel, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay. There are several lakes on or adjacent to the naval base, including Lake Bradford, Lake Chubb, Varian Lake, Little Creek Reservoir, Lake Smith Reservoir, and Lake Whitehurst. Overland drainage from the sources at the Little Creek facility flows into Little Creek Cove, Desert Cove, and the Chesapeake Bay.
The Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek grew out of four bases constructed during World War II - the Amphibious Training Base, Naval Frontier Base, and Camps Bradford and Shelton. It consisted of three annexes named for the former owners of the property-Shelton on the east, Bradford in the center, and Whitehurst to the west. A Secretary of the Navy letter in July 1945 disestablished the separate bases and established the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek with a commissioning date of August 10, 1945. In 1946 Little Creek was designated a permanent base. Little Creek personnel provide support services to 27 homeported ships and more than 80 tenant commands. The combination of operational support and training facilities are geared predominantly to expeditionary warfare operations.
The Little Creek facility employs approximately 12,500 personnel. The population of the base increases during the summer when a significant number of midshipmen and Navy and Marine Corps reservists train in amphibious/expeditionary warfare. Some 3,650 military personnel and their families live in base housing. In addition, approximately 3,000 civilians are employed at Little Creek Facility.
Operations that have occurred at the Little Creek facility include: vehicle and boat maintenance, boat painting and sandblasting, construction and repair of buildings and piers, mixing and application of pesticides, electroplating of musical instruments, laundry and dry cleaning, medical and dental treatment, and generation of steam for heat.
The seven sources that were evaluated are the Naval Amphibious Base Landfill, Driving Range Landfill, Sewage Treatment Plant Landfill, School of Music Plating Shop Contaminated Soil and Debris, School of Music Plating Shop Neutralization Tank, Exchange Laundry Waste Disposal Area, and the PCP Dip Tank and Wash Rack Area. Wastes that have been generated and disposed at the Little Creek facility include: pesticides, paints, solvents, inorganics, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, mixed municipal wastes, nickel plating baths, chromic acid, silver cyanide, copper cyanide, lacquer, lacquer stripper, perchloroethylene sludge, soap, dyes, and degreasers.
Contaminants migrating from the facility have impacted or might impact fisheries and sensitive environments located downgradient of the facility.
Status (May 1999): EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality continue to work with the U.S. Navy to investigate and clean up 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.