[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Report Says Payson Groundwater Cleanup Is Working

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Report Says Payson Groundwater Cleanup Is Working

ADEQ Has Spent $10.7 Million on the Cleanup to Date

PHOENIX (July 2, 2007) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ) Director Steve Owens announced today that ADEQ has issued its
formal Record of Decision (ROD) on the Water Quality Assurance Revolving
Fund (WQARF) site in the Town of Payson.   The ROD, a report that
evaluates the approach being taken to clean up the site, concludes that
the cleanup is proceeding successfully and that ADEQ should continue to
implement the process until the groundwater in the area is free of
contamination.

"This report is very good news for Payson," Director Owens said.  "It
shows that what we have been doing is working well and that the
groundwater is being cleaned up." 

The groundwater at the 110-acre site is contaminated with
tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE), known carcinogens
that reached the groundwater from a former dry-cleaning facility.  The
contamination was first discovered in the groundwater in the area in
1990.  After conducting an extensive investigation into the
contamination that included several early response actions, ADEQ
officially added the site to Arizona's Superfund list in 1998.  

The cleanup process being used involves pumping groundwater from the
site and sending it through two 20,000-pound granulated activated carbon
filters that remove the contaminants.  After the groundwater is cleaned,
it is used as part of the town's drinking water supply.   The treated
water entering the drinking water supply has been free of detectable
levels of PCE and TCE since the operation began in 1998. 

The system, which is operated by the Town of Payson, delivers about 200
gallons each minute to the Town of Payson drinking water supply and
currently provides about 35 percent of the water supply for Payson,
which depends completely on groundwater. 

ADEQ has spent $10.7 million to date to clean up the site since it was
added to the WQARF program.  The ROD estimates that completely cleaning
up the groundwater in the area may take up to another 25 years and could
cost between $10 million-11 million more.  If so, the total cleanup
costs for the Payson WQARF site could exceed $21 million.

"This is an expensive cleanup," Director Owens said, "but it is worth
every penny of it to make sure that the citizens of Payson will continue
to have safe, clean drinking water.  We are absolutely committed to this
cleanup." 

The Payson WQARF site is bounded by Frontier Street to the north, the
Beeline Highway (State Route 87) to the east, Aero Drive to the south
and McLane Road to the west in Payson.

-30-

News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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