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EPA Proposes Final Cleanup Plan for Del Monte Superfund Site, Public Meeting in Wahiawa on April 2

Release Date: 3/28/2003
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, (808) 541-2711

    HONOLULU - The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced its proposal for the final cleanup of the Del Monte Corp. Superfund site in Central Oahu.
     The EPA's preferred remedy cleans both deep and shallow groundwater by pumping the water to treatment facilities. The proposal calls for the shallow groundwater to be cleaned using special plants and the deep groundwater to be cleaned using air stripping and carbon filters. Soil contamination will be addressed using soil vapor extraction and carbon filters.
     A public meeting on the proposed plan will be held April 2 at the Wahiawa Middle School Library from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Both written and verbal comments about the plan will be accepted at the meeting.
     All written comments on the proposed plan will be accepted until April 18, 2003 and should be submitted to:
                         Janet Rosati
                   US EPA Region 9 (SFD-8-2)
                      75 Hawthorne Street
                    San Francisco, CA 94105
     Comments need to be postmarked no later than April 18, and may be faxed at 415-947-3526 or e-mailed to rosati.janet@epa.gov.              
               
     The EPA placed the Del Monte site on the national Superfund list in Dec. 1994, because of concerns about contamination to groundwater, a source of drinking water. Officials discovered contamination from sampling of the Kunia Well in 1980. The EPA was informed of an accidental spill of ethylene dibromide in April 1977 within 60 feet of the well. Officials tested the well one week after the spill and no contamination was detected.
     The Kunia Well is no longer being used. It was immediately disconnected from the drinking water supply system when the contamination was discovered.
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