E CENTRAL HASTINGS
Approximately 24,000 people live in the City of Hastings. Like most communities, industries have expanded to areas outside of the city limits. Farms and pastures surround the urban area, and many private and public wells lie within a 3-mile radius of the city. Groundwater is used to irrigate crops, water livestock and provides water for home and business use. A nearby stream and lake are used for recreation. Concerns regarding volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including commercial grain fumigants in the Hastings' city water supply, were investigated by the State of Nebraska in 1983. As a result, Hastings took two municipal supply wells out of service and placed other contaminated wells on a standby basis. Community Municipal Services, Inc. (CMS), a private water supply system formerly serving the areas east of Hastings, also took two of its three wells off-line due to pollution. Industrial solvent chemicals and commercial grain fumigants have migrated downward through the soils and are being carried by the ground water which flows generally to the east. Testing conducted by the City and the State assures that the public water supply provided by the City meets Safe Drinking Water Standards. EPA designated the contaminated area generally outlined by the boundary of the groundwater contamination as the Hastings Ground Water Contamination Site. The site includes properties within the central industrial area of the City of Hastings and properties situated east of the city limits including the former Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD). The Hastings site was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. The site has been divided into seven subsites for investigative and remediation purposes based on geographic and contaminant source area characteristics. The seven subsites are: Well No. 3, Colorado Avenue, Second Street, North Landfill, FAR-MAR-CO, South Landfill and the former NAD. The Adams County portion of the former NAD is known as the Hastings East Industrial Park. Cleanup of the former NAD is being addressed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The remaining subsites are being addressed by EPA and/or potentially responsible parties under various subsite-specific and “Area-Wide†actions. Due to the size and complexity of the Hastings site, the following site description is organized into three geographic areas: Central Industrial Area; Commercial Area and closed city landfills; and Hastings East Industrial Park/former NAD. To facilitate the management of investigation and response actions, “Operable Units†have been defined for each of the subsites. Central Industrial Area: This area encompasses commercial and industrial properties situated in the heart of Hastings, along the Burlington-Northern railroad right-of-way. The three subsites that make up this area are Well #3, Colorado Avenue, and Second Street. The Well #3 subsite, named for M-3, one of the city wells taken out of service, is contaminated with carbon tetrachloride (CC14), a grain fumigant. A second plume of contaminated groundwater containing chlorinated industrial solvents trichloroethylene (TCE), trichloroethane (TCA), and perchloroethylene (PCE) was identified by EPA's investigation and is being managed by a local manufacturing firm. At the Colorado Avenue subsite, the soils and groundwater are contaminated by three industrial solvents, the most significant being TCE. A vapor degreasing operation at the industrial facility located at 108 S. Colorado Avenue has been identified as the source of solvent releases to the environment during the 1960's and 1970's. Contamination at the Second Street subsite was identified in 1988, during EPA's investigation of Colorado Avenue subsite. Pollution from an old coal gas plant operation was detected in the soil and the groundwater at the Second Street subsite. Contaminants include benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, styrene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Commercial Area and Closed City Landfills: This area, situated at the eastern edge of Hastings, contains the North Landfill, FAR-MAR-CO and South Landfill subsites. Studies have revealed that the FAR-MAR-CO and North Landfill subsites are polluting downgradient wells with VOCs. The North Landfill originally was a local brickmaker's clay pit. Hastings operated it as a landfill in the early 1960s to dispose of various municipal and industrial wastes. Operators of the FAR-MAR-CO subsite stored and handled agricultural products, mostly grains, for more than 30 years. VOCs, including toxic grain fumigants, have seeped into the soils and groundwater. Grain dust explosions and spills from fumigant equipment on the subsite have contributed to the problem. While investigating soils at the FAR-MAR-CO subsite, EPA discovered trichloroethane (TCA) contamination on a portion now owned by a different company. TCA is a solvent used to clean metals. This area became known as the TCA Contamination Area, and was cleaned up by the new owner in 1989. The South Landfill was operated by the City of Hastings during the 1960s and 1970s, to dispose of municipal and industrial wastes. Sampling by EPA revealed the presence of TCE, PCE and vinyl chloride (VC) in the groundwater. The subsite is bounded on the east by farmland. Also, located farther to the east of the South Landfill is the former NAD. Hastings East Industrial Park (HEIP) /Former NAD: The former NAD consisted of more than 72 square miles and was located 2 miles east of Hastings. This facility extends into Clay County and includes properties that have been transferred to private parties and various government agencies. The 48,000-acre NAD was used for loading armaments until the early 1950s, and later for the demilling of armaments until it was decommissioned in the early 1960s. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting studies at the site under the authorization of the Department of Defense (DOD). The major contaminants identified in the soils include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), explosives, PAHs, and metals. Cleanup of the surface soil contamination on 2,600 acres of the HEIP has been completed by the Corps. Although contaminants that have been detected are generally consistent with the chemicals used by the Navy operations, the industries established in the HEIP since the 1960s may have generated some of the VOCs detected
11,832 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$59,244 |
Average Income |
4,848 |
Occupied homes |
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