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NPL Site Narrative for Devil's Swamp Lake
DEVIL'S SWAMP LAKE
Scotlandville, Louisiana
Federal Register Notice: March 8, 2004The Devil's Swamp Lake site is located near Scotlandville, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, about ten miles north of Baton Rouge, and is bordered by the northern portions of Bayou Baton Rouge to the north, U.S. Highway 61 - (Scenic Highway), the Ewell farm, the former locations of Rollins Environmental Services (LA), Inc., and the Baton Rouge barge harbor to the east, and the Mississippi River to the south and west. This site is being proposed to the NPL based on a release of PCBs to fisheries and wetlands located on the site.
Prior to the 1950's, the Devil's Lake area consisted of agricultural farms, pasture land, and timber land. Numerous industrial facilities were constructed around the area in the 1960's through the 1970's. Rollins Environmental Services operated a RCRA commercial hazardous waste disposal facility that began receiving waste in 1971. Throughout the 1970's approximately 108 solid waste management units were active on the original 202 acre site. Noncombustible and nonrecoverable wastes were incinerated, stabilized, and/or landfilled at the site. The Rollins facility was also permitted under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), allowing Rollins to discharge treated wastewater and storm water through two outfalls. Historically, both outfalls discharged effluent into the Rollins outfall ditch. Since the early 1990s, Rollins now discharges the treated wastewater to the Mississippi River via pipeline, and uncontaminated storm water runoff is discharged through the Rollins outfall ditch.
EPA has conducted numerous investigations in the area. In 1985 and 1986, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) collected sediment samples from the Rollins outfall ditch and Devil's Swamp Lake. LDEQ reported that these samples contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In 1986, LDEQ also collected fish tissue samples from Devil's Swamp Lake. Analysis of these samples indicated the bioaccumulation of PCBs and other hazardous substances in fish tissue. As a result of these analyses, LDEQ and the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources (LDHRR) issued a fish consumption advisory and posted warning signs around Devil's Swamp Lake.
EPA Region 6 has conducted expanded site inspections (ESIs) of Devil's Swamp Lake, Devil's Swamp, and Bayou Baton Rouge. Sediment sample data obtained during the ESIs indicated concentrations of PCBs in the Rollins outfall ditch, Devil's Swamp Lake, southern Devil's Swamp, and southern Bayou Baton Rouge ranging from 76 to 13,200 micrograms per kilogram (ug/kg). Other hazardous substances were also detected in the sediments. The most distant sediment sample was located 2.09 miles downstream of the Rollins outfall ditch, and this sample met the criterion for an observed release. Therefore, the downstream extent - beyond 2.09 miles - of PCB contamination attributable to Rollins has not been determined.
The main area of concern at the Devil's Swamp Lake site is an area of contaminated sediments located in portions of the Rollins Outfall Ditch. PCB contamination has been documented in contaminated wetlands and fisheries located downstream of the site. It is noted that Clean Harbors now owns and operated the former Rollins facility. Cleanup activities under RCRA corrective action are being implemented with the State approval on portions of the Rollins Outfall Ditch, up to a point where a railroad track and bridge crosses over the old outfall ditch.
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.