Davis Enterprise - End in sight: Toxic cleanup to be done in 30 years
Environmental Protection Agency officials switched on a new underground heating system Wednesday to expedite the toxic cleanup at the Frontier Fertilizer Superfund site in Davis.
Electric probes inserted into the soil of the 5-acre cleanup area at 3901 Second St. will vaporize contaminated water and the gas will be treated on-site. Cleanup at the 5-acre area will be complete in two years, said EPA Project Manager Bonnie Arthur, who led a media tour of the site Wednesday afternoon.
The new electrical resistive heating also will speed up the decontamination of the entire site, Arthur said. Instead of the previous 150-year timeline, the site should be sterilized in the next 30 years, she said.
In addition to the heating system, there is an on-site solar-powered plant that pulls and treats contaminated water that has crept north of the 5-acre area, toward the Mace Ranch neighborhood. It is the EPA's first completely solar-powered plant, Arthur said.
The 5-acre area, about 500 feet south of Mace Ranch, was where the company Frontier Fertilizer dumped pesticides in unlined basins. The illegal dumping was discovered in 1983, leading to the EPA's takeover of the toxic site. The investigation began when a dog that had fallen into one of the basins died, Arthur said.
Since 1996, the EPA has been using a pump-and-treat system, where toxic water is filtered through tanks containing carbon. But the process, which runs 24 hours a day, was slow and used a lot of energy, Arthur said.
In 2006, the EPA began exploring alternative treatment methods and, in September 2009, began installing the 111 underground electrodes for the heating system, which has been used at hundreds of toxic cleanup sites worldwide.
The heating system combined with the solar panels will lower overall energy costs by $15,000 a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 54 metric tons a year, according to a news release from the EPA.
More than $2.5 million from a federal stimulus grant has funded the recent improvements at the site. The project is expected to total about $12 million after two years.
The EPA is now in talks with the city of Davis and Caltrans for the use of the treated water, which eventually will require public outreach, Arthur said. Meanwhile, the EPA has a permit from the city to drain the treated water to the municipal sewer system, she said.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, called the project a demonstration of how public-private partnerships can create jobs and save money, while using green technology and protecting the health of communities.
"This is really how you turn lemons into lemonade," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "Create jobs … spur innovation."
Steven Deverel, who lives in Mace Ranch, is the technical adviser to the Superfund Site Oversight Group, which formed in 1995 to monitor the cleanup and keep locals informed. Deverel said the group has no outstanding issues with the way the EPA is handling the cleanup.
"In general, I think, we're OK with it," Deverel said. He said the group recently worked out how the EPA will respond to accidental leaks and notify neighbors.
Issues that came up in the 1990s include the EPA's characterization of the contamination footprint. The oversight group pushed for a more thorough investigation that revealed the contamination had spread under the first row of houses nearest the site, although it does not affect the health of residents, Deverel said.