Half a million dollars from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is helping with construction of a “state-of-the-art” groundwater extraction and treatment system at the Chem Fab Superfund site in Doylestown Borough, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is spending $6.3 million on the extensive project.
From the mid-1960s through the late-1970s the business operated an electroplating and metal etching facility on the North Broad Street property, where it stored and disposed of the toxic waste which contaminated the groundwater.
Beginning in 1987 and continuing at various stages through 2014, the EPA connected affected homes and businesses to public water. One hundred and seventeen drums of chemicals and 8,400 gallons of liquid waste have been removed and disposed of, according to the EPA.
Over the past several years, the environmental agency has extracted and treated contaminated groundwater at Chem Fab and a neighboring property. In 2019, design of a sophisticated groundwater and extraction treatment system was finished and is currently under construction. The treatment facility is expected to be completed by the fall of 2022 and begin returning water to the nearby Cooks Creek, the EPA said.
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