PO BOX 26 OFF STATE RTE 690
The Greenwood Chemical Site, located in Albemarle County, Virginia (5th Congressional District) is an 18-acre site which once held a facility that produced chemicals for industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and photographic processes from the late 1940s until 1985. Manufacturing activities ceased in April 1985 following a toluene vapor explosion and fire which destroyed the process building and resulted in the death of four workers. Starting in the early 1980s, the Virginia State Department of Health began to investigate the Site due to reports of poorly managed waste disposal practices. By summer 1986, conditions at the site had worsened to the point where emergency response by EPA was deemed necessary. More than 600 leaking and deteriorated drums, both at the surface and buried, were identified along with seven uncontrolled waste water treatment/disposal lagoons having elevated concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) such as toluene and benzene, and semi-VOCs, such as naphthalene. Groundwater beneath the site is contaminated and, prior to EPA's cleanup actions, pose a potential threat to nearby residential water wells. An estimated 1,600 people live within a three mile radius of the site and rely on groundwater as their drinking water source. EPA and VDEQ have routinely performed sampling of residential wells which, to date have shown no elevated site-related contaminants and have met Federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
232 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$57,991 |
Average Income |
92 |
Occupied homes |
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