- Indian Bend Wash Area
The Indian Bend Wash area is a
Superfund cleanup site in Scottsdale andTempe, Arizona . It was declared a Superfund site in 1983 after industrial solvents were discovered to have contaminated thegroundwater in an appropximately convert|13|mi2|km2|sing=on area (~6 km²). It is one of the largest EPA sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion gallons. [cite web|url=http://earth1.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/indianbend/index.html|title=Indian Bend Wash: Construction Complete|publisher=EPA]During the 1960's, it was typical for companies to dispose industrial solvents directly into the ground and into
dry well s. [cite web|url=http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/4b229bb0820cb8b888256f0000092946/b41dd16f660fc17988257007005e9446!OpenDocument#descr|title=Region 9: Superfund; Indian Bend Wash Area|publisher=EPA] In 1981,volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected in Tempe and Scottsdale city wells, includingtrichloroethylene (TCE),tetrachloroethylene (PCE), andchloroform . The wells were shut down immediately, and the area was declared a Superfund site in 1983. Potentially responsible partiesMotorola , Siemens,GlaxoSmithKline , along with several smaller companies, have paid for the approximately $100 million in cleanup costs. Cleanup has constisted of several stations that pump and treat groundwater.The area consists of two cleanup sites, the North Indian Bend Wash (NIBW) Superfund site located in Scottsdale (approximately 8 square miles), and the South Indian Bend Wash (SIBW) Superfund site located in Tempe.
[http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/1116taintedwater16-on.html For eight days in October 2007,] trichloroethylene tainted water was released into the water supply of 1500 residents of Scottsdale by the Arizona American Water Company.
Notes
External links
* [http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/4b229bb0820cb8b888256f0000092946/b41dd16f660fc17988257007005e9446!OpenDocument EPA's Indian Bend Wash Area site overview]
* [http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/water/superfund/q1.asp City of Scottsdale Fact Sheet]
* [http://www.motorola.com/EHS/environment/remediation/NIBW/ Motorola's North Indian Bend Wash Superfund website]
* [http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/1116taintedwater16-on.html October 2007 Tainted water may be in private company's water supply]
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