Final Community Relations Plan
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D000008 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY TECHNICAL ENFORCEMENT SUPPORT AT HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES EPA REGION V CONTRACT NO. 68-W9-0007 WORK ASSIGNMENT NO. COS 102 FINAL COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN MADISON METROPOLITAN SEWERAGE DISTRICT BLOOMING GROVE, WISCONSIN JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP INC. PROJECT NUMBER: 13E104-00 DECEMBER 1993 EPA Region 5 Records Ctr. 236626 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2 2.0 SITE HISTORY 4 3.0 COMMUNITY PROFILE 6 4.0 ISSUES AND CONCERNS 6 5.0 COMMUNITY RELATIONS GOALS AND ACTIVITIES 8 5.1 COMMUNITY RELATIONS OBJECTIVES 8 5.2 COMMUNITY RELATIONS ACTIVITIES 9 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Site Location Map FIGURE 2: Implementation Timeline APPENDICES APPENDIX A: Mailing List APPENDIX B: Public Meeting and Information Repository Locations APPENDIX C: List of Acronyms and Glossary Terms 1.0 INTRODUCTION This Community Relations Plan (CRP) has been developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US. EPA) to prepare for community relations activities to be conducted before and during the remedial activities at the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District Superfund site (Madison Metro), in Blooming Grove, Wisconsin. The purpose of this document is to provide information about community concerns and present a plan to enhance communication between local residents and U.S. EPA. This plan will be revised as the remedial activities at the site move toward completion and community concerns are reassessed. Information presented in this document was obtained from U.S. EPA; the Madison Public Library; the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), and interviews with city and county officials and residents of Madison. The interviews were conducted in February 1993. In addition, background information about the site was obtained from the Draft CRP prepared for the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District by its contractor in March 1992. This CRP consists of the following sections: • A description and brief history of the site. • A profile of the Madison metropolitan community. • A discussion of past community involvement with the site and present community concerns about the site. • A discussion of community relations objectives for the site and activities designed to implement them. This CRP contains several appendices, including a mailing list of interested parties and organizations; a list of suggested locations for public meetings and information repositories, and a glossary of acronyms and technical terms. 1.1 A Brief Explanation of the Superfund Process In 1980, the United States Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also called Superfund). CERCLA authorizes U.S. EPA to investigate and respond to the release of hazardous substances that may endanger public MMM2EKMOO-IVMADISONCW 2 health and welfare, and the environment. The 1980 law also established a $1.6 billion fund to pay for the investigation and cleanup of sites where parties responsible for the releases are unable or unwilling to address contamination problems. Congress amended and reauthorized the Superfund law in October 1986 as the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), and increased the size of the fund to about $8.5 billion. After a potential site is initially discovered, it is inspected, usually by a state agency. The state, or U.S. EPA then scores the site using a system called the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) that takes into account: Potential health risks to human population; Potential hazards (e.g., from direct contact, inhalation, fire, or explosion) created by the substances at the site; Potential for the substances at the site to contaminate the air or drinking water supplies; and Potential for the substances at the site to pollute or harm the environment. If a site's problems are potentially serious based on its HRS score, it will be listed on U.S. EPA's National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a national roster of uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. Sites on the NPL are eligible for investigation and cleanup under the Superfund program. After placement on the NPL, a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) of the site is planned and conducted. If one or more parties potentially responsible for site contamination problems are found and agree to cooperate, these Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) may conduct the RI/FS under U.S. EPA supervision. PRPs can be hazardous waste generators and transporters who used the site, site operators or owners. If no PRP is found, or a PRP does not agree to do the RI/FS, the investigation is done by U.S. EPA. The Agency may later recover costs through legal action against identified PRPs. The RI identifies the type of contaminants present at and near the site, assesses the degree of contamination, and characterizes potential risks to the community. The FS evaluates several alternative remedies for problems at the site. Upon completion of the FS, a minimum 30-day public comment period is held, after which a specific long-term action is chosen and designed. After the planning activities are finished, site cleanup is implemented. MVM2EIWOO-IVMADISON CW An RI/FS may take one to two years to complete. Designing the long-term action, if it is indicated by the FS, may take an additional one to two years. The final long-term action typically takes one to two years to put in place, although treatment of contaminated ground water, if needed, may take decades. If the site poses an immediate threat to public health or the environment at any time during the remedial process, U.S. EPA will intervene with an emergency response action addressing the immediate threat. 2.0 SITE HISTORY The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (Sewerage District) has operated the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant since 1933. The Sewerage District currently serves four cities, six villages, and 38 sanitary and utility districts. During the 1930s the digested (treated) sewage sludge was dried and utilized by the public as a soil conditioner. This was a labor intense recycling process that was halted at the onset of World War II. Since 1942, the sewage sludge produced at the plant has been temporarily stored in sludge lagoons. The sludge lagoons for the treatment plant are located within a region referred to as the Dane County Environmental Corridor. Wetlands, farms, parks, and open space land appear immediately to the north, east, and south of the lagoons. Land use to the northwest of the sludge lagoons is commercial and industrial, while to the west and southwest, land use is primarily residential (See Figure 1). Surface waters which border the lagoons include Nine Springs Creek, an old drainage ditch (referred to as the North Ditch) which is a former effluent channel for the treatment plant, and several other drainage ditches that flow into Nine Springs Creek. Nine Springs Creek flows along the southern and eastern borders of lagoon 2. At the northeastern corner of lagoon 2, the Creek veers northeast and flows toward the Yahara River. The old drainage ditch borders the northern sides of the lagoons and connects with Nine Springs Creek near the northeastern corner of lagoon 2. Wetlands are also located to the north, east, and south of the lagoons. There are two upgradient municipal wells near the site which have provided water for the City of Madison and City of Monona. The City of Monona Well No. 3 is located at the corner of Raywood Road and Highways 12 and 18 approximately 3,600 feet north-northwest of the site. The second well. City of Madison Well No. 5, was constructed approximately 1,300 feet west of the site Two private wells were identified within the vicinity (i.e., within 500 ft.) of the site. The wells are located upgradient from the lagoons, to the south of lagoon 1. The regional ground-water flow in the vicinity of the site is from west to east towards the Yahara River system. MMM2EIMOO-IUKADISON CRP CITY OF MONONA CITY OF MADISON Sewage Disposal Madison(* ^1.^ Sludge | Lagoons: WellS Moorland \Rd. Trailer .^ ^ Lake Farm Park TOWN OF BLOOMING GROVE The sludge lagoon system operated without problems until April 1970, when a portion of the north dike of Lagoon 2 collapsed and approximately 85 million gallons of lagoon contents was reportedly released to the adjacent ditch. The dike was subsequently repaired. In November 1973, dike settlement began to occur along the south side of Lagoon 2. Immediate and extensive dike repair efforts prevented discharge of the lagoon contents. In 1978, the Sewerage District voluntarily began analyzing the sludge for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) because of the nationwide concern over the potential environmental and health effects of PCBs and because PCBs had been found in municipal sludge in other communities. In 1979, the Sewerage District initiated the Metrogro program where liquid-digested sludge is dried and sold as fertilizer and soil conditioner to cooperating farms in the area. In late 1982, during a routine analysis of the sludge, the Sewerage District found some samples of sludge in the lagoon system with PCB levels above 50 parts per million, which was the limit for unrestricted land application of sludge as established by the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)ofl978. Currently, farmers continue to use Metrogro sludge as fertilizer. However, it is important to note that all of the sludge used is below the required TSCA limit of 50 parts per million. The WDNR, concerned about the potential for release of PCBs from the sludge lagoons to the ground water, nominated the lagoons for placement on the NPL. Separate hazard assessments were conducted by U.S. EPA in 1983 and 1986 to determine whether the lagoons warranted listing on the NPL. On February 21, 1990, the Madison Metro site was placed on the NPL. As a result, in January 1992 Madison Metro submitted a Draft RI to U.S.