South Cavalcade Street

Overview

The South Cavalcade Street site covers 66 acres in Houston, Texas. A wood-treating plant and coal tar distillation plant operated there from 1910 to 1962, leaving behind volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and metal salts including arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc. Both soil and groundwater were affected. The site was added to the EPA's National Priorities List (NPL) in June 1986. The responsible party carrying out ongoing work is Beazer.

Cleanup has addressed soil and groundwater in stages. Soil was capped with reinforced concrete after a pilot study showed soil flushing would not meet cleanup goals. That construction finished in 2000. Groundwater extraction and treatment ran from 1996 to 2006, with creosote recovery continuing through manual pumping after that. In September 2014, the EPA established Technical Impracticability (TI) Zones for the most heavily contaminated groundwater areas and shifted to monitoring rather than active treatment. A second phase of remedial action ran from November 2014 to June 2015, and operation and maintenance activities began in January 2015 and remain ongoing.

An Addendum to the Five-Year Review Report, issued June 16, 2025, concluded that the site is protective of human health and the environment in the short term. Three actions are required for long-term protection: continued monitoring of arsenic levels in shallow TI Zone boundary wells, development and approval of additional institutional controls (ICs), and approval of a revised TI boundary. The next full five-year review is estimated between August and October 2027. The site has not been deleted from the NPL.

The site is currently in active industrial use. Five businesses operate on the property, employing 149 people and generating roughly $50.5 million in annual sales. Deed restrictions and zoning rules prohibit residential development and bar the use of contaminated groundwater for any purpose, including drinking. Pavement and buildings cover much of the southern half of the site, and the Harris County Toll Road Authority plans to extend a toll road on the site's west side.

Community members can review site documents at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center in the Julia Ideson Building at 500 McKinney Street in Houston, open Monday through Saturday with varying hours. The full 2025 Five-Year Review Report is also available online. For questions, the public can contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinators Daniel Agudelo or Jason McKinney, or EPA Remedial Project Managers Samson Ogungbile or Pratistha Adams. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) also has state contacts available for inquiries.