[CPEO-MEF] Water cleaner at Kenmore site

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Ohio
THE BEACON JOURNAL
Water cleaner at Kenmore site
EPA says former scrap and salvage yard no threat to neighbors,
environment
By Bob Downing
Posted on Fri, Sep. 05, 2003

Contaminated groundwater under a former scrap-and-salvage yard in
southwest Akron is getting cleaner and no additional remedies are
needed.

That's the word from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a
35-page review of the federal cleanup at Summit Equipment and Supply,
875 Ivor Ave.

The Kenmore site is not a threat to neighbors or the environment, the
agency said.

The review was mandated by the federal Superfund cleanup program because
hazardous wastes remain on the 6 ½ acres near Nesmith Lake.

Soil at the salvage yard had been contaminated with mercury, copper and
especially polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The PCBs came from
military-surplus electrical transformers bought by junkyard owners
Benjamin and Michael Hirsch during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Exposure to PCBs can cause cancer, liver damage, skin irritation and
reproductive and developmental problems.

The groundwater under the site also was polluted -- laced with chromium,
a heavy metal, and toxic chemicals.

In a cleanup supervised by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
most of the polluted soil was dug up and hauled away .

The contaminated aquifer is being allowed to cleanse itself naturally,
and that appears to be working. The EPA said levels of chromium and five
hazardous chemicals, including benzene, have been declining in water
tests conducted from 1995 to 2002.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/6697331.htm

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