[CPEO-BIF] Port of Vancouver, Washington TCE cleanup

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Port steps up tainted groundwater work
Project will draw industrial solvent out of Fruit Valley site

By Erik Robinson
Columbian (WA)
June 11, 2009

Officials with the Port of Vancouver this month flipped the switch on an 
office tower-sized gadget designed to remove an industrial solvent 
tainting groundwater below the Fruit Valley neighborhood.

The operator's directions essentially go like this:

- Install a groundwater pump capable of sucking in 2,500 gallons per 
minute. Spill the water through a pair of air-stripping towers in a 
process called sparging. Blow warm air through honeycombed packing 
material, pulling the volatile compound out of the water and venting it 
harmlessly into the outdoor air.

- Continue this process for decades into the future.

"We are very proud to be accelerating the cleanup of this important 
water resource for our community, and eliminating a major environmental 
concern for our neighbors in Fruit Valley," port Executive Director 
Larry Paulson said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this year, the port installed the $5.2 million groundwater pump 
and air-stripping towers on port-owned property at the former Swan 
Manufacturing site off Fourth Plain Boulevard. Port officials estimate 
annual operation and maintenance costs to be $325,000.

....

For the entire article, see
http://www.columbian.com/article/20090612/NEWS02/706129942/Port+steps+up+tainted+groundwater+work

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org




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