Abstract |
The 19-acre CryoChem facility is a metal fabricating facility in the village of Worman, Earl Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Between 1970 and 1982, CryoChem reportedly used chemical solvents to clean dye from metal welds at a rate of two to three 55-gallon drums per year. The facility also reported that a solvent spill had occurred at some unspecified time in the past. Spilled solvent is suspected to have collected in the workshop drains and flowed, through underground channels, towards a stream that flows across the site. Spilled solvent has also migrated through the soil column and has contaminated the ground water underlying the site. Ground water samples, collected between 1981 and 1985 by the State and EPA, revealed that an onsite production well, nearby residential wells, and onsite soil have been contaminated. As a result of drinking water contamination, EPA installed activated carbon filters in 13 homes in 1987. The Record of Decision, the first of two operable units, addresses the distribution of clean water to residents whose water supply is affected or potentially affected by ground water contamination. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the ground water are VOCs including TCA, DCA, TCE, DCE, and PCE. |