Mannheim Avenue Dump is a 2-acre site in Galloway Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey. It started as a sand-and-gravel mining pit and became a landfill after 1964. Lenox China disposed of roughly 300 drums of degreasing sludge there during the 1960s and possibly into the early 1970s, along with leaded waste and ceramic materials. That waste contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA placed the site on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983 after inspectors found deteriorating drums and hazardous waste on the property.
Ten contaminants of concern were identified in groundwater at the site. They are benzene, beryllium, chromium, dichloromethane (also called methylene chloride), iron, lead, manganese, nickel, toluene, and trichloroethene. EPA determined that all ten posed unacceptable risks and needed to be addressed through cleanup.
Cleanup moved in two phases. Starting in late 1984, EPA removed asphaltic sludge for incineration and installed monitoring wells. A long-term remedy chosen in 1990 focused on pumping contaminated groundwater out of the ground and treating it through air stripping. The pump-and-treat system ran from 1994 to 1996 and processed more than 30 million gallons of contaminated water. Monitoring of 14 residential wells near the site from 1990 to 2004 showed that site-related contamination had not reached those wells. By 2002 and 2003, trichloroethene levels had dropped below the 1 part per billion drinking water standard in all monitoring wells.
EPA deleted the site from the NPL in August 2007 after confirming that groundwater met drinking water standards and the aquifer had been restored. Human exposure is under control, and groundwater migration has stabilized with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. All cleanup goals for current and anticipated future land uses have been met, all required land-use controls are in place, and the site has achieved construction-complete status. Five-year reviews conducted in 1999 and 2004 confirmed that the cleanup continues to protect public health and the environment.
Community members who want to learn more or ask questions can contact EPA directly. Site documents are available for review at the Atlantic County Library at 306 East Jimmie Leeds Road in Galloway, or at the EPA Region II Superfund Record Center at 290 Broadway, Room 1828, New York, NY 10007-1866.
