Between the spring and fall of 2001, the Illinois EPA conducted residential well sampling east of I-355 in response to citizen concerns related to private-well sampling in neighboring Lisle. Additional sampling was conducted in the spring of 2002
in response to the 2001 sampling activities. In February 2002, the U.S. EPA and the Illinois EPA conducted a joint-effort Phase I Site Assessment within and outside the Ellsworth Industrial Park site to further evaluate the presence of chlorinated
solvent groundwater contamination and narrow down potential source areas.
The U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA continued the investigation between October 2006 and February 2007 and produced a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for the Industrial Park. The Remedial Investigation consisted of building inspections,
sub-slab passive gas sampling, utility corridor sampling, geological and soil investigation, grab groundwater sampling, monitoring well sampling, hydraulic conductivity testing and groundwater elevation measurements.
The U.S. EPA concluded that soils and groundwater were contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs)including perchloroethylene (PCE); trichloroethylene (TCE); 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and other VOCs. U.S. EPA, in coordination with the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is currently in the process of assessing the extent of the contamination, the risks it may pose, and cleanup alternatives.
Below are slides from AEC presentation based on the U.S. EPA's published sampling results.
