Granville Solvents Inc.
Background
The Granville Solvents Inc (GSI) site is located in Granville, Licking County, Ohio. Starting in 1958, Granville Solvents, Inc. operated a petroleum bulk storage, distribution, solvents repacking business at the site. In 1980, GSI began a solvents recycling operation that it operated until it was ordered by Licking County to cease operations in 1986.
The facility used a total of 15 aboveground and underground steel storage tanks to manage its waste reclamation business and received waste for recycling in 55-gallon drum size or larger quantities. When GSI closed, the company left behind many containers, drums and storage tanks containing an estimated 55,000 gallons of various solvents and waste materials on the property. It was determined that the solvents, including trichloroethene and benzene, leaked into the ground and are a source of contaminants for the groundwater plume beneath the Site.
What Has Been Done to Clean Up the Site?
Prior to U.S. EPA’s involvement at the site, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency began cleanup activities including the removal and disposal of all stored waste material and containers at the site from 1990-91. Ohio EPA also tested the soil for residual contamination and installed 15 groundwater wells on and around the property to monitor groundwater quality at the site. From 1991 to 1994, Ohio EPA periodically sampled some of the monitor wells, detecting levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the groundwater beneath the site and in nearby off-site well. A 1993 water sample showed that contamination from the site had moved to within 400 feet of one of Granville's water supply wells.
Eventually, Ohio EPA referred the GSI site to the U.S. EPA to address any threats to human health and environment under Superfund authority. U.S. EPA performed a site inspection in 1993 and evaluated the groundwater sampling results previously obtained by Ohio EPA. Surface and subsurface soil sampling results showed high levels of VOCs, including trichloroethane (TCE) and benzene, plus lower levels of inorganic contaminants such as lead and chromium. In January 1994, Ohio EPA requested that the village of Granville shut down the production well. The potentially responsible parties (PRPs) installed a new production well for the Granville water supply system in December 1994 to replace the production well that the village had shut down earlier in the year.
Under a legal agreement with the U.S. EPA, the Granville Solvent Site (GSS) PRP Group installed several groundwater monitoring wells in and around the site to fully determine the nature and extent of groundwater contamination. Starting in 1995, the monitoring wells were sampled in accordance with an U.S. EPA approved Groundwater Monitoring Plan.
Also in 1996, the GSS PRP Group performed a soil study under U.S. EPA oversite to identify on-and off-site soil contamination.
What Is the Current Site Status?
Active remediation at the GSI site ended in 2005 following USEPA and Ohio EPA approval; groundwater monitoring is ongoing. The PRP Group has continued groundwater monitoring since shutdown and developed a new closure strategy involving routine monitoring and contingency measures as applicable. To date, more than 600,000,000 gallons have been pumped to the treatment system for processing. Treated water is discharged into Raccoon Creek under discharge requirements issued by Ohio EPA.
Emergency Response and Removal
In 1999, EPA signed an Action Memorandum to conduct a Non-Time Critical Removal action at the site. The primary objective of a cleanup or removal action is to address the potential human health and environmental exposures associated with the elevated levels of VOCs. Removal action objectives for the Granville Solvents site included:
- Monitoring of any water originating from the site that enters the Village of Granville municipal well field drinking water supply, so that it meets all federal and state drinking water standards.
- Design, install and operate a pump and treat system which will halt the migration of groundwater contamination to the Village of Granville municipal wellfield.
- Treat the soils at the site to levels which will ensure protection of human health and the environment.
Enforcement Information
In early 1994, U.S. EPA identified over 100 PRPs that may have brought or may have arranged to have brought the hazardous materials to the GSI site. In February 1994, a number of these parties formed the GSS PRP Group and began to collect site data to perform any necessary cleanup actions at the site. In August 1994, 73 of the PRPs (some of whom comprised the GSS PRP Group) signed a legal agreement with U.S EPA called an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) to clean up the GSI site. Cleanup requirements under the AOC include the periodic monitoring of groundwater quality, pumping and treatment of groundwater to meet certain cleanup goals, performance of a soil cleanup action to both prevent further groundwater contamination and to reduce the risk (if any) associated with the direct contact with site contaminants, and the replacement of the potentially impacted municipal well capacity for the village of Granville due to the groundwater contaminant plume moving off of the site towards the well field.