ADEQ to discuss contamination cleanup plan

Wednesday meeting to focus on Factor Avenue site

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will be holding an open public meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss proposed plans for cleaning up contamination at 20th Street and Factor Avenue.

The Community Advisory Board for the site’s Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund will gather from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Yuma Public Works Building, 155 W. 14th St.

The board will discuss the site history, feasibility study and a proposed remedial action plan completed by ADEQ, which documents the results of a remedial investigation and identifies the proposed remedy and estimated costs.

ADEQ has said that the former Houston Photo Products Facility located near the southeast corner of the 20th Street and Factor Avenue intersection released contaminants of concern at the site, including tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, 1,1- dichloroethene and cyanide.

The proposed remedy is “in situ enhanced reductive dechlorination with monitored natural attenuation,” a process in which a liquid containing naturally occurring microbes is injected into the subsurface using a small drilling rig.

The estimated cost to implement this remedy is about $3.9 million over a period of 30 years. The costs accrued by ADEQ so far total $7.9 million.

The proposed plan is part of the final remedy selection process where public input is solicited on the selected remedy and on the rationale for proposing the selected remedy. The public comment period ended Oct. 11.

The contaminated site is located in an area that includes a mixture of commercial and light industrial businesses, warehouses and residential neighborhoods encompassing an area of approximately 80 acres. Three schools are located in the areas downgradient of the existing groundwater plumes.

The contamination plume is bounded approximately by 17th Street to the north, 21st Street to the south, Kennedy Lane to the east and 4th Avenue to the west.

Historical operations at the former Houston facility included a motion picture laboratory and an area that manufactured photographic film and paper processing equipment for the photo industry. The facility used tetrachloroethene in a vapor degreaser for parts cleaning. Operations were discontinued more than 20 years ago.

The facility is currently occupied by commercial businesses including a film processing equipment manufacturer, an engine services company and a personal storage facility.

For more information regarding this public meeting, call Isabel Gutierrez at (602) 771-4257.