Smeltertown Site

Overview

The Smeltertown Site covers about 120 acres near Salida in Chaffee County, Colorado. Smelting operations and wood treatment businesses polluted the land over roughly 100 years, leaving soil, surface water, and groundwater contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals along the Arkansas River. The site was identified in 1987 and proposed for the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1992. It has not yet been formally added to the NPL, and cleanup construction is not complete across the full site.

EPA divided the site into multiple operable units (OUs), each targeting a specific area or contamination problem. OU 1 covers the smelter area and OU 2 addresses the wood treatment area. OU 3, the Cozinco area, was removed from the proposal in November 2001 after removal work finished in 1996. For OU 2, EPA selected three cleanup approaches in a 1998 Record of Decision (ROD): monitored natural attenuation, containment, and institutional controls. Monitored natural attenuation lets contamination break down on its own while the site is tracked over time. Containment keeps pollutants in place, and institutional controls limit how the land can be used.

Between 1993 and 1995, urgent cleanup actions addressed immediate health threats. These included providing bottled water to affected residents, installing new wells with permanent water treatment systems, removing contaminated soil from homes, and cleaning up lead- and creosote-contaminated materials from the Arkansas River banks. Major remedy construction ran from 2000 to 2004. The responsible parties continue to manage cleanup, and EPA conducts regular reviews. The most recent review was completed in December 2025 and confirms that current protective measures are working as planned.

EPA identified four contaminants of concern in soil at the Wood Treatment unit: arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene, and dioxins (chlorinated dibenzodioxins). Potential health risks come from ingesting or touching contaminated soil, surface water, and groundwater, as well as from inhaling contaminated soil. EPA lists the status of human exposure control and groundwater migration control as having insufficient data, meaning there is not yet enough information to confirm whether unacceptable exposures or groundwater movement are fully under control.

One business, Butala Construction Company, continues to operate a sand and gravel quarry on the property, employing 19 people and generating about $830,000 in annual sales. A 365-foot smokestack from the former smelter is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains on the site. Community members can review site records at the Salida Regional Library at 405 E Street, open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Records are also available at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Denver and the EPA Superfund Records Center in Denver, reachable at 303-312-7273 or 800-227-8917 extension 312-7273.