Earlier this week, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region, issued a ‘No Further Action’ letter for a former manufacturing facility located in Sunnyvale, California. Over the past 17 years, Treadwell & Rollo successfully provided environmental investigation and remediation services on this Site.
Historically, contact lens solutions, including saline and cleaning solutions, were made at this facility. While no evidence of a release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was ever discovered at the Site, adjacent properties with confirmed releases were identified. Soil and groundwater investigations conducted at and near the Site indicated that shallow groundwater beneath the Site and its vicinity was impacted with VOCs such as trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachlroroethene (PCE).
Figure illustrating TCE concentrations in groundwater decreasing over time
Treadwell & Rollo designed and operated a pump and treat system to extract only groundwater present at the site and to minimize the potential for off-site contamination to be pulled across site boundaries. The onsite groundwater extraction and treatment system operated from June 1994 through March 1998 and treated over 4 million gallons of water. The system was shut down when we were able to demonstrate that off-site contaminant sources were the likely source of the on-site contamination and that our client should not be forced to expend further resources to mitigate problems caused by others. We aggressively sought early Site closure and to reduce groundwater annual monitoring requirements. While the regulatory wheels turned slowly, we ultimately prevailed and obtained site closure for our client.
Joshua Graber, Senior Scientist, was the Project Manager of this site for the past six years. Philip Smith, Vice President and Principal, was the Principal-in-Charge for the duration of this project, and, Peter Cusack, Senior Associate, was involved in the design and implementation of the original groundwater pump and treat remediation system.
