EPA Presentation Highlights Fair Lawn Superfund Remediation

Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Environmental Protection representatives will hold an informational public meeting Thursday night at the Fair Lawn Community Center on remediation efforts being undertaken at the Fair Lawn Well Field Superfund site.

The Fair Lawn Well Field, also known as the Westmoreland Well Field, was added to the EPA's National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites in 1983 after contaminants were found at three municipal wells that supply drinking water to Fair Lawn residents.

Fisher Scientific, Sandvik and Eastman Kodak were identified as potentially responsible parties for the groundwater contamination, which has since been significantly reduced through the installation of air strippers.

The potentially repsonsible parties have conducted two rounds of vapor intrusion testing and collected two rounds of groundwater and surface water samples at residential and commercial properties in and around the Fair Lawn Industrial Park

According to a September 2012 EPA report, testing for potentially hazardous vapor intrusion — which occurs when chemical vapors leak from underground storage tanks through the soil and into cracks in building basements or sewer lines — found that collected residential sub-slab and indoor air samples were below the EPA's screening criteria.

Commercial samples, however, showed elevated levels of the chemicals tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), and require additional vapor intrusion investigation, the report states.

Once the investigation is complete, the EPA will prepare a remedial investigation and feasibility study report and issue a proposed plan for cleaning up any lingering contamination.  

Thursday's meeting to discuss ongoing remediation efforts and residential concerns will be held in the Community Center auditorium at 7 p.m.

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