Waverly Ground Water Contamination

Overview

The Waverly Ground Water Contamination site covers 11 acres beneath Waverly, Nebraska. A federal grain facility operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture used carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulfide as grain fumigants from 1955 to 1965. By 1982, the EPA and Nebraska had detected these chemicals in the city's municipal wells. One well was shut down and two were placed on standby while Waverly drilled replacement wells. The site was added to the National Priorities List (NPL) in June 1986. The site is also known as the CCC Commodity Credit Corporation Hedrick Site and is located in Lancaster County within Congressional District 01.

The two main contaminants of concern are carbon tetrachloride and chloroform. Both were found in groundwater and soil in the area addressed by Operable Unit 01, which used an air stripper and vapor extraction system. EPA identified these substances as posing an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. Cleanup methods also included extraction through vertical wells, surface water discharge under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, and long-term monitoring.

Construction of the remedy was completed in March 1994. After years of operation and maintenance under EPA and state oversight, the remedial action phase concluded in June 2006. Groundwater and soil cleanup levels set in the Record of Decision (ROD) were achieved, and the site was deleted from the NPL on November 20, 2006. An Explanation of Significant Differences was issued in March 2005 to document a nonfundamental change to the remedy.

The most recent Five-Year Review, completed in August 2009, found that contaminant levels in all monitored wells remained below cleanup standards. Human exposure is under control, and groundwater migration is stable with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The remedial action is protective of human health and the environment and allows unrestricted reuse of the site. Quarterly monitoring has continued to confirm these conditions.

Administrative records spanning 1990 through 2006 document EPA's decision-making process, including the original remedial record and deletion docket filings. Four five-year reviews have tracked the site's status over time. Because the site has been deleted from the NPL and all cleanup goals have been met, no further environmental reviews are planned. The site profile remains available as a historical record.