![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
NPL Site Narrative for Kem-Pest Laboratories
KEM-PEST LABORATORIES
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Federal Register Notice: October 4, 1989Conditions at proposal (January 22, 1987): The Kem-Pest Laboratories Site occupies 6.1 acres on Missouri State Highway 177, near Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. The company formulated various pesticides on the site from 1965 to 1975, when it went out of business.
According to information provided to EPA as required by CERCLA Section 103(c), the plant generated wastes containing the following pesticides: aldrin, dieldrin, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), endrin, heptachlor, methyl parathion, and thiuram. On the site was a 1,250-square-foot lagoon used to treat plant waste and sewage. When the company closed the lagoon in April 1981, it was filled in with compacted clay and covered with another layer of compacted clay.
An EPA inspection in May 1983 revealed that the lagoon cover was eroding, and no vegetation was observed on the cover. Heptachlor and endrin were detected in surface soil near the lagoons and in drainage paths leading off-site. In April 1984, EPA detected heptachlor, chlordane, endrin, aldrin, and 4,4-DDD in on-site monitoring wells tapping into the shallow aquifer. This aquifer, which is not currently used, is connected to a deeper aquifer that supplies private drinking water wells within 3 miles of the site. The wells serve an estimated 1,300 people.
The site is in the floodplain of the Mississippi River. A fresh water wetland is within 1 mile. Cape Girardeau (population 34,000) draws drinking water from the Mississippi less than 1 mile downstream of the site.
Status (October 4, 1989): In November 1988, EPA issued an Administrative Order on Consent under CERCLA Section 104. Under the order, the owner/operator of Kem-Pest and Cape Chemical Co., a successor to Kem-Pest, conducted limited sampling in December 1988. In early 1989, EPA installed off-site monitoring wells and collected soil and ground water samples. EPA is currently evaluating potential remedial 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.