EPA to
Update Community on Toms River, NJ Superfund Site
EPA and National
Toxicology Program scientists to Discuss Study of SAN Trimer
(New
York, N.Y. – Jan. 30, 2015) On February 4, 2014, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency will hold a public meeting to discuss how a new scientific
study about a previously unknown contaminant relates to the ongoing cleanup at
the Reich Farm Superfund site in Toms River formerly Dover, Ocean County, NJ.
The EPA will be joined by scientists from the National Toxicology Program to
discuss the study. EPA does not plan to make any changes to the groundwater
treatment system currently operating at the site, but does intend to make
adjustments to the cleanup goals based on the new information. The meeting will
take place on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 6:00 pm at the Ocean County
Library Toms River Branch, 101 Washington Street, Toms River, NJ.
In
1971, a waste hauler working for Union Carbide improperly disposed of drums
containing toxic solvents on a portion of the three acre Reich Farm property in
Dover, New Jersey. As a result, soil and groundwater on the Reich Farm property
were contaminated with volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, including two
widely used solvents, PCE and TCE. Exposure to PCE and TCE can have serious
health impacts, including liver damage and increased risk of cancer.
The
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) took a number of
actions through the 1970s to address the site, including requiring Union
Carbide to remove more than 4,500 drums and some contaminated soil from the
site. NJDEP also found PCE and TCE in some drinking water wells adjacent to the
site. These wells were closed.
The
EPA added the site to its Superfund list in 1983 after EPA investigations
determined the extent of the PCE and TCE contamination in the soil and
groundwater. The EPA developed a cleanup plan in 1988 for the site that
included treating contaminated soils, as well as pumping and treating
contaminated groundwater. In 1995 EPA modified the cleanup plan to allow the
continued treatment of groundwater through an existing system at the Parkway
well field. The soil cleanup was completed in 1995 and the groundwater cleanup
is ongoing.
In
1996, a statistically significant elevation in the rates of certain childhood
cancers was found in the Toms River area. In response to this finding, New
Jersey's Department of Health and Senior Services, in cooperation with the U.S.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, studied the potential causes
of the elevated cancer rates. During that effort they found previously unknown
and unregulated semi-volatile contaminants in the groundwater. The contaminants
were later identified as styrene-acrylonitrile trimer, now referred to
collectively as the SAN Trimer.
While
the EPA did not have scientific information about these contaminants, it did
determine that the system originally installed to remove the VOCs would not be
effective in removing the SAN Trimer. The EPA enhanced its original cleanup
plan to require that a new form of treatment be installed, which used activated
carbon to effectively remove semi-volatile chemicals. This enhanced system has
been operating since 1997.
The
National Toxicology Program is an interagency program headquartered at the
National Institute of
Environmental
Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The National
Toxicology Program was asked to conduct studies on SAN Trimer to determine
health effects, including whether SAN Trimer causes cancer in rats. The NTP
studies were completed and peer reviewed by scientific experts before being
published in 2012. The NTP found that SAN Trimer did not cause cancer in male
and female rats, but did report it caused some non cancer potential health
effects such as nerve damage.
Based
on this new health information, EPA’s Office of Research and Development
developed exposure levels based on risk for the chemical, and toxicology
experts within EPA subsequently have developed new clean up levels for
groundwater and soil at the Reich Farm site.
The
EPA had set its goal for Reich Farm as “no detectable levels” of the chemical.
The Agency now has more definitive numbers based on potential risk to people’s
health. Based on the scientific information, the EPA intends to establish the
new cleanup goals for soil at 185 parts per million and for groundwater at 60
parts per billion. The new cleanup numbers are based on conservative
assumptions, such as an adult drinking 2.5 liters of the groundwater every day
for 20 years. Levels of the SAN Trimer in the soil and groundwater are
currently below the new levels that EPA is proposing to set. The EPA is
proposing to make these soil and groundwater cleanup levels, developed
specifically for the Reich Farm Superfund site, part of the legally mandated
cleanup requirements for the site.
The
system currently treating groundwater at the site reduces the levels of SAN
Trimer to levels not detectable by lab equipment. The EPA intends to continue
to require this system until all cleanup goals for contaminants are met for the
site. Groundwater contaminated with the SAN Trimer is not being consumed.
Instead, it is being treated and discharged to the ground surface.
The
EPA’s public meeting on February 4, 2015 will include scientific experts who
conducted the SAN Trimer study, and will join EPA to explain the latest
information and discuss how it may impact the cleanup of the site in the
future.
To
learn more about the Reich Farm Superfund site or to view the San Trimer,
please visit:
To
view the NTP report, please visit: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr573_508.pdf