Comment sought on Wauconda Superfund site accord
Four years after a routine water sample changed daily life for hundreds of homeowners near Wauconda, a blueprint of how the supply will be protected in the future is available for public comment.
An agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 13 entities determined to be potentially responsible for Wauconda Sand and Gravel, a former landfill at Bonner and Garland roads, has been lodged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The 90-page legal document, known as a consent decree, along with a wide-ranging plan to monitor water supplies and address many other details, is the proposed resolution of a situation that put many area residents on edge.
"This is what we've been waiting for," said Mike Kuhn, solid waste specialist with the Lake County Health Department.
Generally, the consent decree requires the entities, known as the Wauconda Task Group II, to pay past and future costs associated with the site, although the Task Group does not admit any liability or acknowledge that there have been releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances from the site.
The work to be paid for includes a ground water monitoring network; a new study of the movement of ground water to characterize the nature and extent of contamination and evaluate future threats; and a new water supply well.
"That's really telling folks what they can expect" out of the potentially responsible parties, said Mark Kollar, associate regional counsel for the EPA's Midwest region.
It was Kuhn who discovered vinyl chloride, a potentially hazardous chemical, in a private well at a home near Wauconda Sand and Gravel, which was declared a federal Superfund site in 1983.
That finding unleashed a torrent of activity, including several packed and emotional public hearings; formation of citizen groups; calls for action by prominent politicians; and, ultimately, the extension of nearly 5 miles of pipes to carry Wauconda municipal water to replace more than 400 private wells.
Though most of the affected residents have been connected to the municipal supply, residents still are concerned that chemical contamination can move elsewhere, and want assurances the situation will be monitored and dealt with if that happens.
For example, vinyl chloride recently has been detected at levels well below the allowable limit in one of 12 wells on North Garland Road between the landfill and Hillcrest subdivision in an area that has not been connected to municipal water.
"Sampling is still ongoing," Kollar said. "A lot of things have just been ongoing. Work has never stopped."
Public comment will be accepted until Sept. 24, though that can be extended. Details of the agreement could also change prior to being reviewed and ultimately accepted by a federal judge.
The file is available at the Wauconda Area Public Library, 801 N. Main St., the EPA Region 5 office, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., or at the Office of the United States Attorney, 219 S. Dearborn St., both in Chicago.
It can also be viewed online at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent-Decrees.html. Background on the site is available at www.epa.gov/region5/sites/wauconda.
Some comments already are being formulated. The Wauconda Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG), for example, has spent about $50,000 in grant money on a technical expert and lawyer to review the documents.
The group calls for perimeter monitoring for five years rather that two, for example, and asks that homeowners immediately be connected to a public water supply once a confirmed sample of a hazardous substance has been detected.
"I believe it's fairly thorough (but there still are some issues that need to be addressed," said Joe Anderson, a Hillcrest subdivision resident and grant administrator for the CAG. His driveway was the site of several press conferences regarding the well contamination, including one by Sen. Dick Durbin.
"I'm personally very excited we've gotten to this point," he added. "This is for all intents and purposes a resolution for our community."
Comments should reference United States v. BFI Waste Systems of North America Inc., et al., D.J. Ref. 90-11-2-153/1 and should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 20044-7611.
Comments can also be e-mailed to pubcomment-ees.enrd@usdoj.gov.