Doña Ana County

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The Griggs and Walnut Ground Water Plume Superfund

The Griggs and Walnut Ground Water Plume Superfund

EPA ID# NMD0002271286
Site ID: 0605116

Doña Ana County provides this webpage in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency to help keep the citizens of Doña Ana County informed of issues that affect them.

https://www.donaanacounty.org/superfund

Public Notice September 2020--Second Five Year Review

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6 (EPA) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) are conducting the second five-year review of the remedy for the Griggs-Walnut Ground Water Plume Superfund Site, located in Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico.  

Public Notice December 2015--First Five Year Review

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6 (EPA) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) are conducting the first five-year review of the remedy for the Griggs-Walnut Ground Water Plume Superfund Site, located in Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico.  

 Public Notice August 2015—Third Annual Open House

The City of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County are hosting the 3rd Annual Griggs – Walnut Superfund Public Open House on Thursday August 27, from 10 AM – 2 PM. The Public is invited to tour the facilities, and get updates on the remediation efforts of the Joint Superfund Project.

 Public Notice September 2014—Second Annual Open House

The City of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County are hosting the 2nd Annual Griggs – Walnut Superfund Public Open House on Thursday September 4, from 10 AM – 2 PM. The Public is invited to tour the facilities, and get updates on the remediation efforts of the Joint Superfund Project.

Public Notice August 2013—First Annual Open House

The City of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County are hosting the 1st Annual Griggs – Walnut Superfund Public Open House on Thursday August 22nd, from 10 AM – 2 PM. The Public is invited to tour the facilities, and get updates on the remediation efforts of the Joint Superfund Project.

References

Treatment Facility Construction Contract Awarded for $1.8 Million

 

Unilateral Administrative Order for Remedial Action

 

Other Potentially Responsible Parties Acknowledged by EPA

 

Finding of No Significant Impact

 

Final Remedial Design Report

 

Public Meeting on December 15, 2010

To provide the public with an opportunity to comment on the progress of the Preliminary Engineering Report(PER) and the Draft Environmental Information Document(EID) a public meeting is scheduled. The public meeting will provide the community an opportunity to:

  • Provide public comment and recommendations on the project
  • Hear what alternative were considered
  • Ask questions about the project
Meeting Date: December 15, 2010
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Lynn Middle School Cafeteria
950 S. Walnut Street
Las Cruces, NM
Comments by mail will be accepted through December 30, 2010 at the following address: Eric Johnson
Marron and Associates
7511 Fourth Street NM
Albuquerque, NM 87107
eric@marroninc.com

 

Consent Decree and Remedial Action

 

Remedial Action Supporting Documents

 

Unilateral Administrative Order for Design (Final)

In January of 2010, Doña Ana County and the City of Las Cruces entered into a Unilateral Administrative Order to complete the design of the treatment facility. In March of 2010, EPA approved the Design Work Plan from the Supervising Contractor, Daniel B. Stephens of Albuquerque New Mexico.

 

Statement of Work (substantially complete)

EPA has issued a substantially complete Statement of Work for the Griggs and Walnut groundwater plume site. This document will allow the City of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County to commence the procurement process.

Download Statement of Work

 

 

EPA’s Record of Decision

EPA issued the Record of Decision in June 0f 2007. The New Mexico Environmental Department, The City of Las Cruces, and The County of Donna Ana concur with the Record of Decision. The City and County now intend to assume responsibility to implement the selected remedy.

 

The Proposed Plan to remediate the Contamination

EPA in collaboration with the City of Las Cruces and the County of Doña Ana developed a recommended approach for removing the contamination at the Superfund Site. It is called the Proposed Plan. It has been developed based on the information from the Remedial Investigation and the Feasibility Study and with input from the New Mexico Environmental Department.

 

Public Meeting on December 7, 2006

To provide the public with an opportunity to comment on the Proposed Plan, a public meeting is scheduled on December 7, 2006. The public meeting will provide the community an opportunity to:

  • Discuss the cleanup alternatives;
  • ask any questions about the proposed plan; and
  • offer formal comments on any of the documents developed for the site. The meeting will be held at:

    Sierra Middle School
    1700 East Spruce
    Las Cruces, NM

    INFORMAL MEET AND GREET:
    6-7:00 PM
    Meeting begins at 7:00pm.
     

  • Comments may also be submitted in writing (letter) or electronically, (e-mail) to Petra Sanchez, EPA Remedial Project Manager, (sanchez.petra@epa.gov) or to Beverly Negri, EPA, Community Involvement Coordinator at (egri.beverly@epa.gov).

The official 30 day public comment period begins on December 4, 2006 and ends on January 5, 2007. The final decisions regarding the remediation of the GWP Site will only be made after public comments are considered.

Site Location

The GWP Site is located in the City of Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, New Mexico. North Solano Avenue to the west; just past I-25 to the east; East Hadley Avenue to the north; and East Griggs Avenue to the south approximately bound the GWP Site. The approximate area of the GWP Site is 0.5 miles by 1.8 miles. (See Map of Area and Estimate of Concentration)

Public Health Issues

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the Federal agency created under the Superfund Act that is charged with taking responsive public health actions to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances. The ATSDR works in close collaboration with local, state and other federal agencies, with tribal governments, local communities and local health care providers. The goal of ATSDR is to help prevent or reduce the harmful effects of exposure to hazardous substances on human health. The ATSDR finalized a Public Health Assessment (PHA) in February 2005 that reviewed available health-related data for the Griggs and Walnut site. The PHA indicates concentrations of PCE are below levels expected to cause adverse health effects. ATSDR has concluded that the Griggs and Walnut Site presents no apparent public health hazard for past or current PCE exposure resulting from the municipal water supply. The ATSDR report is available at:

Thomas Branigan Memorial Library
200 East Picacho Avenue
Las Cruces, NM 88001
(575) 528-4000

The ATSDR Public Health Assessment is available by clicking the link below. The results of this report are summarized in the (Proposed Plan).

​

Remedial Investigation & Feasibility Study

 

Preliminary Studies by the Joint Superfund Project

 

Source of Contamination

The source areas of contamination to the ground water have been identified as historical releases that occurred on City and County property. Given the multiple land use activities that have occurred over time on the properties, the releases were most likely associated with either maintenance activities, or illegal dumping by unidentified parties.