Designing Innovative and Effective Remediation Strategies

August Mack was retained by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) to conduct groundwater remediation activities at the Kirby Tire Site located in Sycamore, Ohio. A release of oil had previously been discovered at the site as the direct result of a tire fire that occurred in 1999, and August Mack was contracted to collect and treat contaminated groundwater from pumps installed in the burn piles.

Oil had begun to leach from the hillsides of the burn pile contaminating surface water at the site and threatened to contaminate a clean sediment pond.  A dike was constructed to hold back contaminated storm water runoff until the water could be pumped into the frac tanks used to store the water prior to treatment. However, a rain event at the site threatened to break the dike and August Mack mobilized to the site to alleviate pressure on the dike and drain storm water away from the burn piles.

In response to the rain event, two additional dikes were built of sandbags upstream of the original dike in an attempt to hold back storm water and prevent the original dike from breaching. In addition, two trenches were installed up gradient from the contaminated area in order to divert storm water away from the contaminated area. At cessation of rainfall, it was noticed that the retention ponds west of the burn piles had overflowed and were contributing to the drainage to the dikes. A trench was installed using a trackhoe and was attached to the retention ponds at the rear of the site in order to drain the ponds on-site but away from the burn piles to prevent an overflow of water at the contaminated areas.

The response to the storm ultimately prevented contaminated water from migrating off-site and contaminating navigable waters in the area.

If you are interested in learning more about August Mack's site investigation/remediation/closure experience, please contact Tom Anderson at 317.916.3105 or via e-mail at tanderson@augustmack.com.