The Aeronca Site

Today's Journal...

Colorado company could oversee Aeronca cleanup

MIDDLETOWN —
The former Aeronca site is expected to have a new environmental manager overseeing its cleanup.

City Council is expected to vote tonight to allow CH2M Hill, a Colorado company with a facility in Blue Ash, to oversee the remediation work of the former Aeronca site. Currently SRW Environmental Services, Inc. oversees the project

WHY IS SRW BEING REPLACED BY CH2M? STORY DOESN'T SAY.

The city acquired the site in an arrangement with Aeronca Air Products in 2000. Demolition of Aeronca’s old facility and construction of new buildings adjacent was the primary goal of the deal

WHY WOULD THE CITY ACQUIRE A CONTAMINATED SITE AND INCUR THE COSTS AND THE HASSLE OF DEALING WITH THIS? SHOULDN'T THIS BE LEFT IN THE HANDS OF THE COMPANY WHO DID THE POLLUTING? WHY ISN'T AERONCA AND THE CANADIAN OWNER PAYING FOR THIS CLEANUP?

Grant funding was exhausted on the remediation efforts through 2011. Since the former Aeronca site is in the city’s Wellhead Protection Area, money from the Wellhead Protection Fund will be used. For 2013, $141,638 has been allocated to continue site remediation

AN INDUSTRIAL SITE, KNOWN FOR IT'S USE OF CHEMICALS, WAS ZONED AND LOCATED YEARS AGO IN A WELL SITE? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Grant funding was exhausted on the remediation efforts through 2011

NOW, THEY HAVE EXHAUSTED THE CLEANUP MONEY AND WILL RAID THE WELLHEAD PROTECTION MONEY.

Businesses within the district pay a 1.5 percent income tax into the JEDD and revenues are divided among the three jurisdictions with 83 percent of the net revenues going to Liberty Twp. Mason receives 15 percent and Middletown receives 2 percent. Middletown also receives 5 percent of the gross income tax revenues as an administrative fee for collecting the tax. The joint economic development district amendment, which would “clean up” the boundaries of the taxing district,

DOES THIS MONEY DISTRIBUTION SOUND RIGHT? IF THIS JEDD IS FOR CLEANUP, ISN'T MIDDLETOWN THE MOST LIKELY PLACE TO START AND DEVOTE THE MOST MONEY TO?

Don’t forget that the Aeronca site was on the MMF list when City Hall gave them the $65,000. Since MMF didn’t acquire the Sorg Opera House why can’t they return the money to cover some of this cost?

Spider
That's what I heard also.

What happen to MMF? I thought THEY were going to be the leaders in the restoration of the "Their Downtown".

Did the guy explain how asbestos fibers could possibly escape their containment measures, fly through the air against prevailing winds, filter through many feet of soil, sand and gravel, and end up in our aquifer, thereby posing a potential threat???

Mike_Presta wrote: Did the guy explain how asbestos fibers could possibly escape their containment measures, fly through the air against prevailing winds, filter through many feet of soil, sand and gravel, and end up in our aquifer, thereby posing a potential threat???

Consider this:

The filthy, stagnant water of the abandon hydraulic canal lies just a few scant yards from the Orman Building site.

I challenge any person of science to publicly state that possible fugitive asbestos fibers (solids) from the Orman Building pose a greater danger to our well fields than the filthy, polluted waters of that canal (liquid chemicals, microbes, dissolved solids, possible heavy metals, etc.).

Yet City Hall refuses to do anything about the canal while cavalierly robbing nearly $800,000 from the Well Field Protection Fund to demo the Orman Building.

Preposterous!!!

Edited by Mike_Presta - Dec 04 2012 at 9:59pm

Consider this:

The filthy, stagnant water of the abandon hydraulic canal lies just a few scant yards from the Orman Building site.

I challenge any person of science to publicly state that possible fugitive asbestos fibers (solids) from the Orman Building pose a greater danger to our well fields than the filthy, polluted waters of that canal (liquid chemicals, microbes, dissolved solids, possible heavy metals, etc.).

Yet City Hall refuses to do anything about the canal while cavalierly robbing nearly $800,000 from the Well Field Protection Fund to demo the Orman Building.

Preposterous!!!

How can the Aeronca Site be soooo contaminated and not the canal?
Last year City Hall stated they didn’t have the $200,000 to start the cleanup and repairs needed on the canal because we were going broke.

If in fact the Orman building demo qualifies for Well Head Funds because of asbestos fibers as stated by Mr. Adkins..….then many of the downtown buildings can be removed using this same reasoning.

Ohio: Middletown - Implementation of Multi-faceted Wellhead Protection Plan Background

The City of Middletown in Butler County, Ohio, has a population of 55,000, and its water system serves approximately 60,000 customers. Middletown's 13 active production wells tap the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer at depths ranging from 40 to 120 feet and have a total production capacity of approximately 25 million gallons per day (mgd). The water treatment plant is currently rated to treat 13.5 million gallons per day, but a filtration rate study is almost completed which increases the treatment rate to 20 mgd. There are a wide variety of land uses in the area, including residential, light industrial, commercial, and heavy industrial. Several large industrial sites are located in the vicinity of the city’s wellfield, including a steel mill and a paper manufacturer.

Middletown was prompted to begin its source water protection effort in 1991 by two events. The first development was the discovery of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the city’s ground water sources. Second, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency initiated a requirement that water suppliers in vulnerable areas undertake wellhead protection to gain approval for system improvements.

Priority Contamination Threat

Middletown’s priority contamination threat is from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the town's ground water sources.

Local Involvement and Developing the Protection Plan

In 1993, Middletown was awarded a grant by the U.S. EPA to develop an educational public outreach program that addressed source water protection. Two components of the outreach program were created to reach a wide segment of the population more effectively. The first component included development of educational materials geared for adults and high school students, which were presented at schools, rotary group meetings, and other events. The other component targeted development of educational resources and activities geared for students at the fourth grade level. These materials were provided to elementary schools in the city.

In addition, the city convened a ground water protection committee to develop a management plan for the Middletown Wellhead Protection Program (WHPP). The committee included residents of Middletown, city staff, and representatives from the Sorg Paper Company and other local businesses. This committee directed the development of all elements of the management plan, including recommendations on zoning issues and development of a hazardous waste collection program. During the initial consideration of a zoning overlay (discussed below), the city held several meetings with local companies for input and feedback.

Management Measures

Office of Water (4606M) 816F10037 January 2010

Implementation of management measures to control priority potential contaminant sources (PCSs) is a State of Ohio requirement. The city identified one confirmed source of contamination that resulted in development of a plume of contamination within the one- to five-year time-of-travel (TOT) zone to the wellfield. TOT is the distance from the production well through which it would take contamination in the ground water one to five years to flow. The city also identified a total of 23 high- priority and 61 medium- priority potential sources of contamination in the vicinity of the water supply.

Middletown's Wellhead Protection Plan, approved by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in 1997, includes delineation of a wellfield protection area, public outreach methods, and a management plan for the city’s water resources. The Wellhead Protection Plan formed the basis for Middletown’s Source Water Protection Plan required under the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The management plan laid out several techniques to reduce the risk to the aquifer by the identified potential sources of contamination. These methods included preparation of zoning overlays to aid in city planning, annual inspections of PCSs by the health and/or fire department, prohibitions to keep trains and trucks away from the wellfield, review of building permits, underground storage tank reporting and upgrades, implementation of a hazardous waste collection program, notification signs marking the five-year TOT, and closing of dry wells in locations where storm sewers were available. These activities are being implemented gradually.

Regulations that will apply within a zoning overlay district are in early stages of development, but it is anticipated that the overlay district will correspond to the wellfield protection area delineated by the WHPP. It is proposed that existing businesses and industries within the one-year time-of-travel to the wellfield will be subject to the provisions of the management plan, such as annual or biannual inspection of PCSs and compliance with Best Management Practices (BMPs). It is possible that in the future, certain types of businesses may be prohibited from the area within the zoning overlay district; however, the city would prefer to work cooperatively with existing and potential businesses to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement through the implementation of BMPs that would provide first-rate protection to the city's sources of drinking water.

Contingency Planning

As part of the management plan, a contingency plan has been developed for use in the event that the city’s water supply is threatened or compromised. The plan will be activated if certain contaminant concentrations are detected above Preventive Action Limits (PALs) in monitoring wells or production wells during routine monitoring. Preventive Action Limits are set percentages (determined by the Ohio EPA) of the federal Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for each contaminant. With this system, problems can be identified and addressed before contamination reaches unhealthy levels. The plan will also be activated in the event of an emergency within the wellhead protection area that threatens water quality. If a PAL is exceeded during routine monitoring, the water supplier will retest the water. If the water sample exceeds the PAL in the retest, the water supplier will notify the EPA and begin an investigation to locate the source of contamination so that prompt action can be taken to avoid a public health threat.

Office of Water (4606M) 816F10037 January 2010

In the event that there is a hazardous materials spill in the vicinity of the city’s wellfield, the Middletown Fire Department will respond. The fire department is trained to use cleaning methods that will prevent the contamination from being washed into the soil and subsequently into the aquifer. For example, within the wellfield protection area, the fire department would not use liquids in a cleanup effort.

Measuring Program Effectiveness

In addition to the required federal and state regimen of water quality analyses performed on production wells, Middletown conducts routine monitoring of ground water quality at several monitoring wells twice a year. When the monitoring wells indicate that the plume of contamination discovered in the 1990s has migrated, a new monitoring well will be installed to track the change in position. This policy will help monitor the progress in the cleanup of the existing plume and identify the future path of the contamination in time for preventative measures to be taken. Middletown's closed landfill also has its own network of monitoring wells that are sampled on a regular schedule. Sampling results from the landfill wells are submitted to the water system to provide additional information on the ground water in the city’s aquifer.

For further information, contact:

David J. Duritsch Jr., PE, CPM
Engineering & Environmental Services Director
City of Middletown
(513) 425-7960
daved@ci.middletown.oh.us
Office of Water (4606M) 816F10037 January 2010

 

 

spiderjohn wrote: I was told that MMF offered to return the $75,000 however our Mayor declined the offer and requested that MMF hold the funds.   Please correct me if that is not true.

The mayor is a member of the MMF right? Isn't that a conflict of interest on his part? What is he doing being involved in it? He is part of the city group giving the money to MMF and he is part of the group of MMF'er s receiving the money. Can he be on both ends?

Here is the link to Downtown Middletown Inc.
All the board members are listed under About Us
http://www.downtownmiddletown.org/

PLAY NICE, VV IT'S CHRISTMAS

OKI GROUNDWATER COMMITTEE MEETING SUMMARY

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

OKI Board Room – 10:00 am

Updates on Local Groundwater Management Efforts

Scott Belcher, City of Middletown, gave an update on wellhead protection efforts to date. A good deal of effort has been concentrated on the bioremediation of the Aeronca site that is located in the wellhead protection area. It is the site of an aircraft manufacturing plant from the 40’s and 50’s that is still located on the land. They no longer make aircraft, but they still manufacture parts. The old part of the building has been torn down. Middletown’s consultant, CH2M Hill, has been monitoring a plume of contamination of TCE, possibly from the underground storage of a degreaser on the site in the past.

To remediate this site, they are using CL-out, which is a live freeze dried organism that occurs naturally in the earth’s ecosystem. CL-out contains a highly-concentrated solution of live, patented strains of lyophilized (freeze-dried) Pseudomonas organisms that occur naturally in the earth’s ecosystem. These cultures are free of pathogens and there is no artificial mutation or genetic engineering involved. Extracted from a oncecontaminated site and isolated under controlled laboratory conditions, these “hungry bacteria®” have only one purpose in life: to seek and destroy contaminated waste at its source, and then quickly convert it into harmless, naturally recyclable by-products.

Pilot injections of CL-Out to determine its effectiveness on the TCE contamination resulted in a 70% decrease in the pilot testing well placed downgradient of the injection wells. Full-scale injections will begin in the spring to remediate the TCE plume. Other recent accomplishments are: 1) Installation of three additional monitoring wells in response to the discovery of the TCE contamination emanating from the former Aeronca facility; 2) Adding the new wells to the City’s annual sampling and analysis plan. 3) Currently evaluating data from the last 9 years of WHP sampling to refine and 3 reduce the frequency outlined in the sampling and analysis plan. Funding for remediation is coming from a $3 million Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) grant.

Agenda for Council Meeting  January 22, 2013

3. Resolution No. R2013-02, a resolution to make adjustments to appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures of the City of Middletown, Counties of Butler and Warren, State of Ohio, for the period ending December 31, 2013 and declaring this an emergency measure. (Wellfield Protection Fund)

Work Book  for Council Meeting  January 22, 2013

RESOLUTION NO. R2013-02
A RESOLUTION TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO APPROPRIATIONS FOR CURRENT EXPENSES AND OTHER EXPENDITURES OF THE CITY OF MIDDLETOWN, COUNTIES OF BUTLER AND WARREN, STATE OF OHIO, FOR THE PERIOD ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2013 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. (WELLFIELD PROTECTION FUND)

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of
Middletown, Butler/Warren Counties, Ohio that:
Section 1
The following sums are hereby appropriated from the Wellfield Protection Fund of the City to accounts of the City for the purposes herein described as follows:
FROM: Unappropriated Wellfield Protection Fund (Fund #546) $141,638.00
TOTAL WELLFIELD PROTECTION FUND $141,638.00
TO: Accounts of 990 (546.990.52480) $141,638.00

Section 2
The Director of Finance is hereby authorized to draw his warrants on the City Treasurer for payments from any of the foregoing appropriations upon receiving proper certificates and vouchers therefore, approved by the Board of Officers authorized by law to approve the same, or an ordinance or resolution of the City Council to make expenditures provided that no warrants shall be drawn or paid for salaries or wages except to persons employed by authority of and in accordance with law or ordinance.

Section 3
All legislation inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed.

Section 4
This resolution is declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and general welfare, to wit: to permit appropriation of the funds so certain contracts can be signed and work begun, and shall take effect and be in force from and after its adoption.

_____________________________

Lawrence P. Mulligan, Jr., Mayor
Adopted: ________________
Attest: ____________________
Clerk of City Council
H:/law/leg/2013 Leg/r Approp Wellfield Protection Fund.doc

S T A F F R E P O R T
For the Business Meeting of January 22, 2013
January 16, 2013
TO: Judith A. Gilleland, City Manager
FROM: Preston M. Combs, Interim Director of Public Works & Utilities
Denise Hamet, Economics Development Director

PURPOSE
The purpose of this staff report is to request a supplemental appropriation for the transition for the environmental management of the former Aeronca site from SRW Environmental Services, Inc., to CH2M Hill.

BACKGROUND and FINDINGS
In December 2012, a contract in the amount of $141,638 was awarded to CH2M Hill for the purpose of providing engineering services related to the remediation of the former Aeronca site. During processing, it was discovered that adequate funds were not appropriated. This supplemental allows the additional expenditure to be appropriated from the Wellfield Protection Fund (#546). There is presently $1,700,000 unappropriated in this fund.

FINANCIAL IMPACT
This project is budgeted for 2013 to be paid from the Wellfield Protection Fund.

ALTERNATIVES
This is a paper trail issue only

CONFORMITY TO CITY POLICY
Conforms.

SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION - THE AERONCA PROJECT
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES CONTRACT