An area of contaminated groundwater beneath a housing development in Evansville has been partially removed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List, about 30 years after it was designated a superfund site, the agency announced Tuesday.
Seven other superfund sites from across the country were also deleted, or partially removed, from the list.
The chemical compounds soaked into the soil and polluted part of the relatively shallow aquifer beneath the subdivision and moved gradually in the direction of the North Platte, Schmidt said.
The water pollution from the gas plant has been removed from the superfund list.
“That does not mean we are simply walking away,” Schmidt said of the deleted parcel of the Mystery Bridge site.
“We are still going to go back every five years, look at it and make sure everything is okay.” The agency is currently considering whether the second source of pollution, the truck wash, can be removed from the list as well, he said.
The EPA has been addressing the pollution at Mystery Bridge since the mid-’80s, after residents complained of poor air and water quality.
State, local and federal investigation led to the discovery of contaminants and a warning that locals should not drink, wash or cook with their water due to the hazard of the chemical contamination One resident’s water was found to have 160 parts per billion of benzene, according to Star-Tribune reporting in 1986.
The EPA assisted in connecting the area to the city water system and improving the water treatment facilities.
The nearby oil field services truck wash was owned by Dow Chemical Company and Dowell-Schlumberger.