For years the Parlin DuPont plant has been cleaning up nearly century-old contamination buried deep underground.
The company is now looking to inform and educate local residents about its 30-plus-year remediation plan.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) set a one-year deadline in September 2008 requiring companies charged with site remediation to inform local residents of work progress. Parlin’s DuPont plant, which has been cleaning up site contamination for over 20 years, has been using various means to notify and educate the public.
The 350-acre DuPont plant, home to 300 employees, produces materials for the communications, technology and display graphics industries. It is the company’s oldest continuously running plant, having operated in Sayreville for 105 years.
Since 1986, DuPont has been testing, identifying and cleaning up contamination that was buried underground years ago due to old waste-management practices.
“What we’re dealing with is the waste management practices of our grandparents,” said Plant Supervisor Jeff Staniszewski, a Sayreville resident.
After conducting surveys and tests around the area, DuPont found traces of volatile organic compounds underground that seeped into on-site groundwater. The compounds are common constituents of solvents, such as paint thinners that the company used for production years ago.
“We surveyed the site and viewed its history to see where the wastes were stored. We then did tests to see if the area was contaminated, and then extracted [the contaminants],” Staniszewski said.
The compounds polluting groundwater are a minimum of 80 to 200 feet below the surface. There is also a 30-foot buffer of clean water on top of the contaminants, which helps keep them deep underground and away from human exposure, according to DuPont officials.
“You wouldn’t come into contact with [the contamination]. You’re not exposed to it, but it is down there,” he said. “[The compounds] are just kind of sitting there.”
Since the compounds are buried deep underground, and because there are no outstanding residential wells in use to the company’s knowledge, residents should not come into contact or be harmed by the contaminants. Also, residential drinking water is safe, according to Staniszewski. The company encourages anyone in the area who does have an outstanding well to inform the company so that appropriate testing can be conducted.
“If anyone does have a private well, we’d like to know so we can test,” said Staniszewski. “Even if you do have one though, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily exposed to the contaminants.”
The pollutants are at a very low concentration level in the groundwater, 40 parts per billion. What this means, Staniszewski said, is that if a person has one billion glasses of water, only 40 of them would have a trace of contamination.
There is a slightly higher level of contamination located in one commercial area, but the onpremise buildings there are unoccupied. DuPont is working with the owners of those facilities to ensure they remain safe and healthy, according to Staniszewski.
“We’re not expecting to find anything that would be unusual there, but if we do we’ll work with management in addressing any issues they have,” he said.
Ten years ago, the plant installed a remediation system that pumps water out of the ground to be treated before returning it underground. It has used this pump-and-treat system continuously for the past decade, and will be upgrading to a more advanced remediation system in the coming months.
The cleaning procedure is relatively simple, yet extremely time-consuming, plant officials said. The contaminated water has to be pumped to the surface so that air can be blown through the water. Due to the compounds’ natural tendency to vaporize, blown air causes them to evaporate into a gaseous form. Once in a gaseous state, the sun’s ultraviolet rays start to break down the particles into a nontoxic form, and in a matter of days or up to a few weeks, they are no longer dangerous to humans.
Although the process is simple, it must be repeated until all the contaminants are gone, and could take another 10 years.
“Although [the process] is very simple, it will take some time,” Staniszewski said. “[But] so far the process has been successful.”
Another difficulty is that some compounds are lodged under rocks or other natural blockages. Although it will be difficult to extract this water, the motionless particles are not affecting any surrounding water.
At the end of this year, a larger remediation machinewill be installed that will increase the process by five times, while providing an additional layer of protection via a water wall that will prevent compound migration.
The DEP, in its effort to have companies update the public on remediation efforts, is requiring them to take out a print-advertisement, post a sign or come up with an alternativemethod approved by the DEP. DuPont has taken the latter approach attempting to reach the public in as many ways as possible.
“We want to reach out to the public, share information and ensure [the residents that they] are safe,” said Staniszewski. “We are doing this because it is the right thing to do.”
DuPont sent out thousands of brochures to local residents, created a website with updated information including all DEP documents, and set up a call service to answer residents’ questions. The law requires that companies send out notices to those within 200 feet of the premises, according to Staniszewski, but DuPont has sent out over 3,000 brochures to an area covering about 900 acres in both Sayreville and Old Bridge.
“This is already public information, but we are making sure the broader public knows about it,” Staniszewski said. “We like to think we’re doing everything we can beyond the law.”
DuPont, a science and chemical company, has undergone several transitions in its 105-year lifespan. It started as an explosives plant in the early 1900s, supplying over 20,000 tons of gunpowder during World War I — the plant at that time was home to 5,500 employees. It was also developing and producing paints, lacquers and adhesives.
Around 1925, it began developing photographic film and introduced cellulose nitrate films for the motion picture industry. The company won an Oscar in 1943 from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for its contribution to sound recording film.
Through the second half of the century, DuPont developed several printing plates, including Cyrel, which is a printing system used to create flexible packaging labels, such as juice boxes and chip bags. Today, this printing system is one of the plant’s largest operations. Other well-known products include Teflon, commonly used to create nonstick pans, Pyralux, a flexible copper-protecting adhesive commonly used in flip cell phones, and recently, semi-conductor and memory chips, used in products such as the Xbox and PlayStation 3.
Dupont is also part owner of a fresh water distribution company called Duhernal, which started about 80 years ago in conjunction with Hercules and National Lead. The company now pumps water to a few commercial facilities and to the borough of Sayreville.
Although DuPont employees state that the site is clean and safe, they encouraged residents to call toll free at 866-938-7833 if they have any questions about the remediation activities. The center is open for calls Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Residents can also check the website at www.parlin.dupont.com for more information.
“We’re confident we’re doing the right things. All questions are good questions,” said Staniszewski. “If a person has an issue, we will address it