[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Report Says Tonto and Cherry Groundwater Cleanup In Payson Proceeding Successfully

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Report Says Tonto and Cherry Groundwater Cleanup In Payson
Proceeding Successfully 

PHOENIX (Nov. 26, 2008)  - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ) Director Steve Owens today released the department's formal
Record of Decision (ROD) on the Tonto and Cherry Water Quality Assurance
Revolving Fund (WQARF) site in the Town of Payson. 

The ROD, a report that documents the remedial action being taken to
clean up the site, concludes that the cleanup is proceeding successfully
and that ADEQ should continue to monitor the groundwater in the area
until it is free of contamination.

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

The Tonto and Cherry WQARF site is bounded by Frontier Street to the
south, Colcord Road to the east, Tonto Street to the west, and Cherry
Street to the north. 

The groundwater at the 10-acre site is contaminated with
tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE), carcinogens that
reached the groundwater from a former dry-cleaning facility. The
contamination was first discovered in the groundwater in the area in
1993. After conducting an extensive investigation into the
contamination, ADEQ officially added the site to Arizona's WQARF list in
2000.

Monitored natural attenuation (MNA), which is the natural process of
cleanup, was selected as the proposed remedy for the Tonto and Cherry
site.  MNA is currently occurring and contains, captures, and remediates
the contaminant plume.  MNA has already achieved cleanup of the site to
concentrations below Arizona Water Quality Standards.  ADEQ will
continue to monitor the site to ensure that additional actions are not
necessary. 

The ROD estimates that completely cleaning up the groundwater in the
area may take up to another nine years and could cost another $212,000
more over that period. If so, the total cleanup costs for the Tonto and
Cherry WQARF site could exceed $800,000.

-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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