EPA Proposes Groundwater and Soil Cleanup for Superfund Site in York, Nebraska

April 5, 2021

Contact Information

Ben Washburn (washburn.ben@epa.gov)

913-551-7364

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., April 5, 2021) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Proposed Plan that outlines the proposed cleanup strategy to address contaminated sitewide groundwater and soil associated with the PCE Southeast Contamination Superfund Site in York, Nebraska. The proposed cleanup plan follows the 2018 announcement of a cleanup plan for the 7th Street source area soil contamination.

The Proposed Plan describes the cleanup options that EPA considered to address groundwater and soil contamination at the site, and identifies EPA’s Preferred Alternatives along with the rationale for these alternatives. EPA proposes to address the contaminated sitewide groundwater through an extraction and treatment system, and the 5th Street source area soil contamination by thermal treatment.

EPA will hold a virtual Public Meeting to explain the Proposed Plan and all the alternatives presented in its Feasibility Study. The Agency will accept oral and written comments at the meeting.

The meeting will be held via Microsoft^® Teams video conference:

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2021

Time: 6 to 7:30 p.m. CDT

Phone number: 1-913-608-8349

Conference ID: 412 704 172#

See meeting link at: www.epa.gov/superfund/pcesoutheastcontamination

EPA discovered the site in September 2010 when the Agency collected private well samples in residential and rural areas of southeastern York. Tetrachloroethene (PCE) was detected in five of the private wells at levels exceeding the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), which is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. EPA installed whole-house water filtration systems, or connected homes to city water, at residences with private well water above the MCL. EPA installed vapor mitigation systems at residences where the indoor air exposures posed a potential health risk.