Region 2 Superfund

The 5-acre Cortese Landfill site is located in a wooded area near the Delaware River in the hamlet of Narrowsburg in Sullivan County, New York.  There are approximately 550 people living within a mile of the site with 6 homes located about 400 feet from the landfill.  The Delaware River, classified by the National Park Service as a Wild and Scenic River, is located 450 feet from the landfill and is used for fishing and recreational activities.  In the early 1980’s, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)  found volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), which are potentially harmful contaminants that can easily evaporate into the air, and heavy metals. Both are known to have adverse health effects. The source of contamination was attributed to historical dumping of industrial wastes at the Cortese Landfill.

From 1970 to 1981 the site received municipal waste.  For a six-month period in 1973, drums of industrial wastes were brought to the site.  The drums contained paint thinners and sludge, solvents, dyes, waste oil and petroleum products.  Disposal is believed to have included the burial of 5,000 to 8,000 drums, emptying of drums in trenches, and the emptying of tanker trucks into one of the two septage lagoons.  The ground water is contaminated with various VOCs and heavy metals because of contaminant migration. EPA’s cleanup goals for this site include restoring the aquifer downgradient of the landfill as a potential source of drinking water by reducing contaminant levels to federal and state acceptable levels.  Until that goal is accomplished, it should be noted that the municipal water well has never revealed contamination and there are no private water wells in the area. Furthermore, continued monitoring has revealed that VOC and heavy metal levels in the Delaware River near the landfill are within EPA’s acceptable levels.

A Record of Decision (ROD), finalized in September of 1994, identified drum removal, capping of the landfill, and ground water extraction and treatment as the selected remedy.  The remediation, including capping the site and the removal of over 5,000 drums, three tractor trailer loads of hazardous sludge, and 50 dump trucks of contaminated soil, was completed in October of 1998. In 2001 and 2004 studies of downgradient ground water and soil cores beneath the site were conducted.  Based on the results of studies, the groundwater extraction and treatment system required by the 1994 ROD was reassessed.  After the second five-year review of the site in August 2006 it was determined that implemented actions at the site protect human health and the environment in the short term; however, in order for the site to be protective for the long term, a final ground water remedy and institutional controls should be implemented.

In August 2010, EPA released a Proposed Plan to propose a new remedy to control the source of contamination and to amend the ground water portion of the remedy selected by EPA in the 1994 ROD..  EPA’s preferred remedy uses a series of in-situ technologies to treat the ground water and accelerate depletion of the source of contamination.