[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Owens Dedicates Remediation System to Clean Up Contaminated Groundwater Near Quartzsite

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Owens Dedicates Remediation System to Clean Up
Contaminated Groundwater Near Quartzsite

QUARTZSITE (March 7, 2008) -- Arizona Department of Environmental
Quality Director Steve Owens officially dedicated the Main Street and
Kofa Remediation System to clean up groundwater contamination in the
Quartzsite area, calling the project "vital" to protecting the
community's water resources for the future.
 
"We are committed to protecting the people of La Paz County and Western
Arizona when polluters contaminate our precious land and water
resources," said Director Owens during festivities celebrating the
recent opening of the water treatment plant.
 
The 15-acre Kofa and Main Street site, located at 965 W. Main Street in
Quartzsite, was once the location of Ted's Truck Stop, which had two
large refueling areas and a total of eight storage tanks on the site for
nearly a quarter of a century, ending in 1998.

In 2000, ADEQ was notified that water from a private well near the site
had a gasoline odor and about 20 private wells in the area were sampled.
When elevated levels of benzene were found above the state standard of 5
micrograms per liter, further wells were drilled on site and testing was
performed. 

Those tests discovered widespread petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in
the groundwater across the entire site.  In addition to elevated levels
of benzene, free product consisting of diesel and gasoline were detected
in four wells on site. Further groundwater monitoring also showed that
benzene had migrated off the property and a benzene plume now extends
about one-fourth mile off the site to the north and northeast. While no
current drinking water supplies are affected, the plume, if
unremediated, could potentially impact wells in the area that are used
for irrigation and other purposes.

ADEQ began construction of the soil and groundwater remediation system
last September and turned it on in December. As of March 1, more than
27,000 pounds of hydrocarbon and 820 pounds of benzene had been removed
from the soil. Soil remediation is expected to take more than a year at
the site and the water cleanup is expected to last at least 10 years. 

Owens said that the site is the state's largest petroleum mediation
system, and it marks the first time that ADEQ's State Superfund program,
the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF), and the department's
Underground Storage Tank (UST) programs have worked together on a joint
project.

"Because of the importance of this site, we have developed this
first-of-its-kind effort to ensure that there will be adequate funding
to clean up this contamination," Owens announced.  

-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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