Unit 4 Science DB - Essay Example

Superfund sites are the properties or locations, identified by U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous wastesites, such as abandoned warehouses or landfills, which are having hazardous wastes that may affect local ecosystems or people. Congress established Superfund program in 1980 to locate, investigate, and clean up such worst sites nationwide. Under this program EPA maintain a National Priority List (NPL) of “national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories” (EVA Website).

This list serves as guide for EPA determining which sites warrant further investigation.It was painfully surprising to know that even Florida is also having as many as 49 such sites. Though, with EPA’s efforts, 21 sites have already been cleaned up.One such site in our nearby was BMI-Textron with EPA ID as FLD052172954. It is situated at 1211, Silver Beach Road in the Tri-City Industrial Park, Lake Park, Florida. It was proposed in NCL list on 06/24/88 and it was deleted from it on 11/18/04 after cleanup.

BMI-Textron (BMIT) was in business of making of chrome backed glass plates, used for manufacture of electronic components. Materials and chemicals that were used for this product included cerium oxide, ceric ammonium nitrate, chromium, acetone, potassium ferrocyanide and possibly fluoride (EVA website).Various processes of manufacturing operation like chromium stripping operations, glass cleaning, coating, polishing, rinse waters and reverse osmosis water purification etc., generated liquid wastes.

These wastes were disposed of on site. Initially BMIT used percolation ponds under a Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (FDER) permit for disposing of cyanide wastes and later installed additional drain field to dispose of wastewater from a Reverse Osmosis plant. As per terms of FDER permit four wells were constructed on site to monitor permit compliance. A monthly report of sample was also to be taken. One monthly report of sampling data showed higher than permitted standards for nitrate, total dissolved solids and pH.

Accordingly in 1983, FDEP issued a violation notice BMIT. Later investigations determined concentrations of arsenic, cyanide, fluoride, and sodium contamination in the soil and groundwater. It was affecting approximately 106,000 people in Lake Park, Riviera Beach, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Shores, and Palm Beach Gardens. These contaminations can cause various health problems to human being like sore throat, irritated lungs, skin disorder, breathing difficulties etc. (ATSDR).To remove these contaminations, FDEP entered into a consent order with BMIT and effected excavation and transportation to a hazardous waste facility of approximately 680 cubic yards of cyanide contaminated soil.

Later BMIT acting under another order removed chromium and cyanide contaminated soils from the other percolation pond and covered these ponds with asphalt cover. In October 1994, as per EPA’s Unilateral Administrative Order to conduct the groundwater monitoring, BMIT monitored to ensure that groundwater contaminants are natural attenuating and degrading. These natural processes effectively reduced and controlled the concentration of the constituents of concern and it was deleted from NPL on 11/18/04.

ReferenceAgency for toxic substances and disease registry. Retrieved Mar 05, 2007, from http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts2.htmlBMI-Textron NPL site summary. Retrieved Mar 05, 2007, from http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/npl/nplfls/bmitexfl.htm