Three Companies Pay $500,000 for Scottsdale Water Pollution

TCE above contamination limits was released from the Miller Road Treatment Facility on two separate occasions, in October 2007 and January 2008. These releases violate the terms of the North Indian Bend Wash consent decree, filed in 2003, the federal agencies say.

Trichloroethylene is a colorless liquid which is used as a solvent for cleaning metal parts. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances says, "Drinking or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may cause nervous system effects, liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and possibly death."

Given the serious nature of these incidents, the EPA and the Justice Department demanded the significant penalties provided for under the Superfund law for each groundwater violation as well as demanding penalties for inaccurate reporting of the incidents to the regulator.

"These three companies failed to properly treat groundwater for TCE at the site and further failed to alert proper authorities about the release despite being under an agreement to do both," said Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

"This unique approach allowed the EPA and the Justice Department to impose significant penalties and sends a strong message to these companies that system failures are unacceptable," said Wayne Nastri, administrator for the EPA's Pacific Southwest office. "Proper operation and maintenance of the treatment system is the responsibility of the participating companies and is essential to ensuring that these types of failures do not occur in the future."

The complaint and stipulation and order were filed today in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

Though the Miller Road Treatment Facility is owned and operated by the Arizona American Water Company, under the terms of the consent decree, Motorola, Siemens and GlaxoSmithKline are responsible for the remedy, which requires pumping and treating contaminated groundwater so that TCE does not exceed an acceptable limit of five parts per billion.

The Central Groundwater treatment facility at the Indian Wash Superfund Site. (Photo courtesy EPA)

The first incident at the Miller Road Treatment Facility occurred in October 2007 when a blower failure resulted in groundwater leaving the facility above the contamination level.

Equipment failures in January 2008 resulted in untreated groundwater entering the drinking water system above contamination limits.

After the second system failure, the Miller Road Treatment Facility was shut down to investigate and remedy system malfunctions.

In late April, following approval from the EPA, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Maricopa County officials, the system was restarted.

Upgrades and operation and maintenance improvements include additional safety measures, the presence of an operator 24 hours a day and the installation of new control panels, alarms and daily sampling.

The most contaminated well is no longer used by Arizona American Water Company.

The Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site is 13 square miles and is located in Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona. In 1981, TCE was discovered in several drinking water wells in the area. Since September 1988, EPA has required the construction of treatment facilities to contain the TCE and to provide potable water to Scottsdale.

Motorola, Siemens, and 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 Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site is one of the largest Superfund sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion gallons.

On June 6, 2003, a settlement was reached that obligated Motorola, Siemens and SmithKlineBeecham, now GlaxoSmithKline, to continue operating and maintaining the enhanced remedy.

On Wednesday, May 21, the EPA is holding a public meeting at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library from 5:30 to 7:30 pm to discuss operations at the Miller Road Treatment Facility, the recent penalty and future plans for the site.

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