News Releases from Region 07

EPA to Host Public Meeting March 14 to Discuss Proposed Remedy for Former Waterloo Industries Facility, Waterloo, Iowa

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Feb. 8, 2016) - EPA Region 7 will host a public meeting next month in Waterloo, Iowa, to discuss the agency's proposed remedy for environmental contamination at the former Waterloo Industries facility, a 10.3-acre property located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Ansborough Avenue and U.S. Highway 218 in Waterloo.

The public meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14, 2016, at the Black Hawk County YMCA, 669 S. Hackett Road, in Waterloo. EPA is hosting the meeting in response to a local resident's request.

The former Waterloo Industries facility, at 300 Ansbrough Avenue, operated as a manufacturing and metal fabricating facility from approximately 1946 to 1997. The main building at the site currently contains a recycling operation, a self-storage facility, and a gymnasium. Since 1997, several environmental investigations have been conducted at the site, revealing contamination from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or industrial solvents, in soil, groundwater and vapors beneath the main building slab, and from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a small area of surface soil north of the main building.

EPA is proposing that a vacuum extraction system be installed to extract vapors from beneath the building slab, prevent vapor intrusion into the building, and address groundwater contamination beneath the slab. The proposed remedy also includes a sub-slab depressurization system to prevent accumulation of vapors inside the building, and implementation of long-term institutional controls to restrict the property's use to industrial purposes. Vacuum extraction and venting of extracted vapors to outside air is a standard practice for remediation systems that allows vapors to dissipate safely and prevent their build-up in enclosed spaces.

EPA's proposed remedy for the facility is outlined in an official Statement of Basis document, which is available for review online, or in hard copy form during normal business hours at the Waterloo Public Library, 415 Commercial Street, Waterloo, Iowa, 50701, or at the EPA Region 7 Records Center, 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, Kan., 66219. EPA has extended a public comment period for the Statement of Basis. The period will end on March 21, 2016. All written comments should be sent to: Dan Gravatt, EPA Region 7 (AWMD/WRAP), 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, Kan., 66219