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NPL Site Narrative for North Belmont PCE
NORTH BELMONT PCE
North Belmont, North Carolina
Federal Register Notice: July 22, 1999
Conditions at Proposal (April 23, 1999): The North Belmont PCE site is located in a residential neighborhood on Woodlawn Avenue in North Belmont, Gaston County, North Carolina. The site consists of the surrounding residential neighborhood and the former locations of two dry-cleaning operations: the former Untz's dry cleaners located at Roper's Shopping Center and the former dry cleaners located at the intersection of Acme Road and Suggs Road. The dry cleaning establishment at Roper's Shopping Center was operated by the Untz family from 1960 to 1975. Prior to that, the Untz dry cleaning operation was located at Acme and Suggs Roads. These two locations are believed to be the sources of a plume of ground water contamination that extends north and east of the Roper Shopping Center and has impacted several nearby residential wells with tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), and 1,1-dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE).
In February 1991, the Gaston County Health Department sampled a well that provided water to the North Belmont Elementary School and two single family dwellings as part of an effort to evaluate the extent of volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in community water supplies. VOC contamination was detected in the wells. The US EPA Region IV Emergency Response and Removal Branch (ERRB) was notified of the situation and ERRB collected additional samples on March 1, 1991. ERRB and Gaston County Health Department collected approximately 25 drinking water samples from residential wells in the neighborhood. PCE and/or its breakdown products were detected in 16 of the samples. As a result, 29 of the neighborhood drinking water wells were taken out of service and connected to the Belmont city water service.
During a subsequent Site Inspection (SI) conducted by the North Carolina Superfund Section in 1993, efforts were made to locate the source of the contaminated ground water plume. No conclusive evidence was collected to identify a contaminant source. A Remedial Investigation (RI) was conducted at the site from June 1996 through October 1996 by the US EPA Region IV Hazardous Waste Section. The vertical and horizontal extent of the contaminated ground water plume was delineated within a distance of one half mile north and east of the Roper Shopping Center. The remaining unsampled residential wells in the neighborhood were also sampled as part of the RI. Elevated concentrations of PCE, TCE, and 1,1-DCE were identified in five additional residential wells in the surrounding neighborhood. Although samples were collected during the RI in an attempt to locate the source(s) of ground water contamination, no source(s) could be definitively identified.
Status (July 1999): EPA is considering various alternatives for this site.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.