Cleanup of wetlands at Sapp Battery will resume

By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: May 14, 2008

Cleanup of wetlands around the old Sapp Battery site near Cottondale has resumed after almost two idle years in the continuing effort.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be working in the area over the next several months, according to Shea Jones, EPA’s project manager for the clean-up.

The 45-acre business opened in the early 1970’s, set up to salvage lead from old vehicle batteries.

It was shut down in 1980, however. Wetlands had been contaminated by acid runoff, which also threatened the Floridan aquifer, this area’s primary drinking water supply.
It is an EPA ‘Superfund’ site, a designation which allows the federal government to spend money to address clean-up and to take enforcement actions. Clean-up has been underway since the 1980s, conducted in various stages throughout the ensuing years.

For instance, contaminated soil was dug out in major ‘source’ areas on the main body of the site itself, so that contaminants could not continue leeching into the groundwater and wetlands.

The owners of the site have been required to pay for some of the work, and Superfund resources are being used to do the balance of the clean-up.
Jones said Thursday that recent tests indicate the continuing presence of unacceptable levels of lead in the groundwater.

“We have contamination on the north and south side of Corbin Road,” Jones said. “It’s been found in soil, sediment and groundwater, but not in any drinking water wells.”
Jones said concentration levels of lead exceed the acceptable threshold of 15 micrograms per liter. She sited two samples where tests showed levels of 25 and 27 MPL.

The last work done on the site was in summer and fall of 2006, but the project was not again funded until September of 2007. The current clean-up phase, using that allocation, began several weeks ago.

“We have projected that it will take nine months, and we started in late February,” Jones said. “We’re almost finished on the north side of Corbin, and then we’ll move to the south side.”

She said that approximately five acres on the north side and 10 acres on the south side are involved.

Over the past several weeks, crews have ‘dewatered’ the north side’s swampy area and EPA is now deciding the best option for cleaning up the ground water.  “Pump-and-treat may not be the best way, although that is one possibility. It’s a more elaborate process, and the levels we’re seeing may not warrant that. We could inject chemicals, instead, to bring the levels of contamination to an acceptable point, or take other measures. Lead is the contaminant that we see the most, and where we see lead, we monitor for others that typically will show up when lead is present.”

Jones said that the focus of the current clean-up includes an area known as “Steele City Bay,” an area once known for its natural beauty.

“Back in the beginning, it was really a beautiful area. There was water in the swamp; we had to use boats to get in there, and it had lilies and cypress trees. Right now it’s just about totally dry and we’ve got machinery digging out the sediments for testing and disposal. Hopefully, when everything is done, the area will be able to come back naturally to its original state. If not, restoration measures will be taken. We’re hoping for few good rains and we’ll be watching it closely to see if it will look similar to the way it looked in the past.”

More information about the Sapp Battery site and its history can be found at:  http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/npl/nplfln/sapbatfl.htm