[ADEQ Media] U.S. EPA, ADEQ, celebrate Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North groundwater treatment facility

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

For Immediate Release: Jan. 23, 2007 
Contact: Francisco Arcaute
(213) 244-1815, cell (213) 798-1404
arcaute.francisco@epa.gov

U.S. EPA, ADEQ, celebrate Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North groundwater
treatment facility

$1 million facility benefits thousands of area residents

PHOENIX - Federal, state, and city officials on Thursday celebrate the
completion of the $1 million Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North groundwater
treatment facility, which benefits approximately 140,000 residents in
Goodyear, Avondale, and Litchfield Park, in the southwest valley of
Phoenix, Ariz.

A press conference will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at Goodyear Community
Park, 3151 N. Litchfield Road in Goodyear as part of that celebration.

The new facility was constructed as part of the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport
Superfund  site cleanup.  The facility was built and is operated by
Crane Co., the responsible party for the site, pursuant to a 2006
Consent Decree between Crane Co. and the United States.

Joining the event are Keith Takata, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency; Steve Owens, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality;
Goodyear Mayor James Cavanaugh; Avondale Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers;
Litchfield Park Mayor Thomas Schoaf, and Crane Co. representative Curt
Cramer.

 "With this expansion in cleanup capabilities, the Phoenix-Goodyear
Airport North groundwater treatment facility demonstrates our ongoing
commitment to reducing risks to human health and the environment in this
growing community," said Keith Takata, director of the EPA's Pacific
Southwest region's Superfund program. "We recognize the important
contributions of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the
City of Goodyear, in particular, in expediting construction and startup
of the new system."

ADEQ Director Owens said, "This plant represents an important next step
in cleaning up and protecting the precious groundwater resources in this
area. We still have a long way to go but this plant will help provide
useable water for irrigation and other purposes."
 
Highlights of the new Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North EA-06 system
include:

*	500 million gallons of groundwater will be treated annually,
removing approximately 140 pounds of trichloroethene;

*	The installation of one new groundwater extraction well; 

*	Two granular activated carbon vessels to remove trichloroethene;

*	Expected flow of groundwater treatment at 1,000 gallons per
minute (gpm);

*	No air emissions;

*	Piping of treated water to a local canal, where it will be
blended with other waters and used for irrigation.

In 1983, the EPA listed the Litchfield Airport Area as a Superfund site.
After subsequent sampling showed two separate contamination sources and
different responsible parties, the site was divided into the
Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North and South sites.  

>From 1963 to 1994, Unidynamics-Phoenix, Inc. manufactured defense and
aerospace component systems at its Goodyear facility.  These activities
resulted in releases of hazardous substances, including trichloroethene
and perchlorate.  Following investigation throughout the late 1980s, in
1989 EPA selected the site remedy to clean up soil and groundwater
contamination.  As the current owner of the Unidynamics-Phoenix, Inc.
facility, Crane Co. is conducting the remedy and supplemental
investigation of the site. 

Since 1994, Crane Co. has been treating contaminated groundwater at the
Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North using the Main Treatment System and the
Well 33A System, treating more than 5 billion gallons of groundwater,
removing nearly 40,000 pounds of TCE.  

The EPA's Superfund program identifies, investigates and cleans up
uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites throughout the United
States. For more information, please visit: 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/ViewByEPAID/AZD980695902?O
penDocument

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