Source: http://www.nwitimes.com, October 25, 2015
By: Lauri Harvey Keagle
The property that was home to a Hammond dry cleaners for 50 years is in line for a proposed, high-tech remediation aimed at removing hazardous chemicals that leaked underground there.
The thermal remediation work by the Indianapolis-based environmental engineering firm EnviroForensics is proposed at the former Do-All Village Cleaners site on the north side of the 800 block of Hoffman Street between Cedar and Pine avenues.
The thermal remediation “will vaporize or evaporate the groundwater,” Scott Powell, project manager for EnviroForensic said.
The thermal treatment process occurs “relatively quickly” compared to other remediation processes, Powell said.
Do-All Village Cleaners operated as a commercial dry cleaner and laundry facility from 1962 to 2012. The site previously held a sheet metal works facility.
In 1997, a report of a spill of dry cleaning chemicals at Do-All Village Cleaners was reported to IDEM, prompting a series of on-site investigations.
EnviroForensics testing found tetrachloroethene (PCE) and perchloroethene (PERC) in the soil and groundwater below the site of the former dry cleaners and neighboring residential lots. PERC was commonly used in the dry cleaning industry before it was discovered to be harmful to human health and the environment.
PCE and PERC, both of which are volatile organic compounds, are are suspected human carcinogens.
EnviroForensics worked with Do-All-Village Cleaners to find old insurance policies to provide for funding from some of the potentially responsible parties to address the environmental contamination.
Two homes and a small strip of businesses on the north side of the 850 block of Hoffman Street between Cedar and Pine Avenues were demolished earlier this year as part of the process. The former dry cleaners sits boarded up.
Ron Novak, director of the Hammond Department of Environmental Management, said groundwater contamination is the primary concern.
“Soil you can take and remove, but groundwater spreads,” Novak said.
If approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, it will be the first time the thermal remediation process will be used in Hammond.
“This is good from an environmental standpoint because dry cleaners are most difficult to clean up from a commercial nature,” Novak said. “This could hopefully be a catalyst for development. If you can get the vast majority of contaminants out of here and a developer wants to come in, they have vapor barriers that can be built into the construction.”
The barriers are essentially a plastic layer placed between the ground and the concrete foundation.
Washington Irving Elementary School is immediately east of the property. Novak and IDEM officials have said the plume of contaminants does flow to the south and east but stops before hitting the school’s property line.
If approved by IDEM, work is scheduled to begin in the spring.