Valley Pike VOCs

Overview

Valley Pike VOCs sits in Riverside, Ohio, where tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) contaminated the groundwater and soil beneath a neighborhood of roughly 500 residences. These volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were used to degrease metal parts at the nearby Mullins Rubber Products, Inc. (MRP) facility. The site was added to the federal Superfund program's National Priorities List (NPL) in September 2016 after being proposed in April 2016. It is currently in the remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) phase, meaning investigators are still characterizing the contamination before a cleanup remedy is chosen.

The contaminants spread into a groundwater plume extending roughly 900 feet southwest of the MRP facility. They also moved into soil and soil gas, which allowed VOCs to seep into indoor air through a process called vapor intrusion. Public drinking water in the neighborhood comes from Dayton's municipal supply and is not affected, but the contamination has reached the Grand Miami Buried Valley aquifer system. Two nearby well fields serve about 400,000 residents. Sampling of 509 properties found that 95 homes had indoor air VOC levels above health-based action levels. As of the source data, 88 homes had sub-slab vapor abatement systems installed and operating, reducing indoor air contamination to safe levels. MRP covers electricity costs for running these systems and provides free annual inspections.

MRP has also operated a soil vapor extraction (SVE) system since 2016 that removed an estimated 2,370 pounds of VOCs from contaminated soil by December 2022. A remedial investigation agreement between EPA and MRP was completed in September 2019. Soil sampling began in December 2023, and permanent groundwater monitoring wells were installed starting January 2024. The contractor TRC Solutions manages much of the field work. No cleanup remedy has been selected yet, and construction of any remedial action has not begun.

A public health investigation found elevated total cancer cases in the neighborhood, driven largely by lung cancer among smokers. However, officials noted a significant number of excess Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) cases, with 13 of 31 cases (42%) occurring in the Valley Pike area of concern. Public health officials continue to monitor NHL cases in the neighborhood.

Community members can stay involved through the Behr, Valleycrest and Valley Pike Community Advisory Group, which has held multiple technical assistance sessions with EPA since April 2023. Topics have included vapor intrusion, the RI/FS process, and how cleanup remedies are selected. Question-and-answer documents from each session are available. Fact sheets on the contaminants are available in English and Spanish through the Ohio Department of Health. Residents can also visit Public Health, Dayton and Montgomery County online for health-related information. Site records are available for public review at the E.C. Doren Branch Library at 701 Troy Street in Dayton.