The Indian Bend Wash area is a Superfund cleanup site in Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona. It was declared a Superfund site in 1983 after industrial solvents were discovered to have contaminated the groundwater in an approximately 13-square-mile (34 km2) area. It is one of the largest EPA sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion US gallons (232,000,000 m3).[1]
| Indian Bend Wash Area | |
|---|---|
| Superfund site | |
 North Indian Bend Wash contamination area map | |
| Geography | |
| City | Scottsdale and Tempe |
| County | Maricopa |
| State | Arizona |
  Indian Bend Wash Area  Indian Bend Wash Area | |
| Information | |
| CERCLIS ID | AZD980695969 |
| Contaminants | Trichloroethylene |
| Responsible parties |
|
| Progress | |
| Proposed | December 30, 1982 |
| Listed | September 8, 1983 |
| Construction completed | September 28, 2006 |
| Partially deleted | May 1, 2003 |
| List of Superfund sites | |
During the 1960s, it was typical for companies to dispose industrial solvents directly into the ground and into dry wells.[2][3] In 1981, volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected in Tempe and Scottsdale city wells, including trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and chloroform. The wells were shut down immediately, and the area was declared a Superfund site in 1983.mPotentially responsible parties Motorola, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline, along with several smaller companies, have paid for the approximately $100 million in cleanup costs. Cleanup has consisted of several stations that pump and treat groundwater.
The area consists of two cleanup sites, the North Indian Bend Wash (NIBW) Superfund site located in Scottsdale (approximately 8 square miles), and the South Indian Bend Wash (SIBW) Superfund site located in Tempe.[4]
For eight days in October 2007, trichloroethylene tainted water was released into the water supply of 1500 residents of Scottsdale by the Arizona American Water Company.[5]
Notes
edit- ^ "INDIAN BEND WASH AREA Site Profile: Background". cumulis.epa.gov. EPA. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ Colten, Craig E. (1 March 1994). "Creating a Toxic Landscape: Chemical Waste Disposal Policy and Practice, 1900–1960". Environmental History Review. 18 (1): 85–116. doi:10.2307/3984746. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ "The Origins of EPA". www.epa.gov. US EPA. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ Chase Golightly (3 October 2023). "Some Arizonans are living on contaminated land. Are you?". 12news.com. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ Balazs, Diana (16 November 2007). "Tainted water may have entered PV and Scottsdale water supplies". azcentral.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2024.