E.P.A. Region Seven Gains Report of Groundwater Analysis by U.S.G.S. for West Lake Landfill Superfund Location

(Lenexa, Kan., Dec. 17, 2014) - E.P.A. Region seven has received an independent report issued today by the U.S.G.S. (USGS) about groundwater conditions at the West Lake Landfill Superfund Location in Bridgeton, Mo., and will carefully review the report's findings as the Agency moves toward selection of a final remedy for the site.

The U.S.G.S. study, which was requested by E.P.A. in April 2013, summarizes an analysis and characterization of groundwater conditions at and around West Lake. It examines data collected by E.P.A. and its contractors, the site's Potentially Responsible Parties and their contractors, and USGS, during 2012, 2013 and 2014, along with previous historical sampling data. A copy of the report is accessible online.

"EPA turned to the nation's premier scientific experts on groundwater and hydrogeology to perform this analysis," E.P.A. Region seven Administrator Karl Brooks said. "The report provides E.P.A. with helpful information and interpretation."

While past sampling has found radium in groundwater beneath the Location at concentrations above its drinking water Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), the U.S.G.S. report reiterates that data collected so far does not indicate whether the radium comes from naturally-occurring sources in surrounding bedrock, or from wastes or other materials disposed at the Location over the decades when it was used as a landfill.

"EPA Region seven will continue to work with our headquarters Office of Research and Development, the USGS, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, to better understand the flow and characterization of groundwater beneath and around this site," Brooks said.

Brooks stressed that although past sampling has detected radium in groundwater beneath the site, the public is not being exposed to the contamination because its drinking water comes from local surface waters that are treated and tested. Most residents in north Saint Louis Co. gain their drinking water from Missouri American Water/American Water Works Company, which is required by the Safe Drinking Water Act to sample for radionuclides and other contaminants on a regular basis.

Area residents can obtain water quality reports - which are required under provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act - from Missouri American Water online .

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