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| CHEM-FAB | Doylestown, Pennsylvania | |
| Bucks County |
Site Location:
The Chem Fab facility is located between 300 through 360 North Broad Street in a mixed residential and commercial area of Doylestown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Site History:
Chem Fab, Inc. previously operated an electroplating processing facility from 1965 to 1978 and a metal processing facility from 1965 to 1994 at this location. An insurance office is currently operating at this location.
Site Contamination/Contaminants:
The contaminants are trivalent chromium, hexavalent chromium, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethylene, tetrachloroethene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and trichloroethene (TCE). Concentrations of TCE, which had been detected in drinking water wells located near the site, were above EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant level for TCE in drinking water. Currently, three municipal wells have been contaminated by TCE.
Potential Impacts on Surrounding Community/Environment:
Ground water underlying the Chem-Fab facility and adjacent properties is contaminated with TCE. TCE migrated from the facility to residential wells and municipal wells located within 0.5 mile of the facility. There is the potential for TCE to vaporize and enter homes located within the area of the TCE-contaminated ground water.
Response Activities (to date):
In 1991, EPA connected eight residential households and two businesses to a public water supply due to contamination of their wells. A contaminated public water supply well was also closed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. From 1994 to 1995, EPA removed and disposed of 117 drums of wastes and 8,400 gallons of liquid wastes.
Need for NPL Listing:
The State of Pennsylvania referred the site to U.S. EPA, because the state has exhausted all of its funding resources to remediate the site and the TCE ground water plume. Other federal and state cleanup programs were evaluated but are not viable at this time, because they can not address the full scope of the environmental problem. EPA received letters of support for placing the site on the NPL from the state and from citizens of Doylestown.
[The description of the site (release) is based on information available at the time the site was evaluated with the HRS. The description may change as additional information is gathered on the sources and extent of contamination. See 56 FR 5600, February 11, 1991, or subsequent FR notices.]
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.