A contaminated site in Edina and St. Louis Park has been placed on a priorities list by the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that will provide financing to investigate the pollution's source and permanently clean it up through the federal Superfund program.
"We're very supportive," said St. Louis Park Mayor Jake Spano. "This is something we've been tracking for a long time."
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in August 2019 asked the EPA to place the site of a groundwater plume on the National Priorities List because it is contaminated by several volatile organic compounds known to cause cancer.
The boundaries of the area, which is referred to as the Hwy. 100 and County Road 3 Groundwater Plume site, are W. 33rd Street to the north, S. France Avenue to the east, W. 58th Street to the south and Blake Road to the west.
Placement on the priorities list means a remedial investigation will be conducted to determine the nature and extent of the pollution, said Stephanie Ross, the site's remedial project manager with the EPA.
To do that, EPA officials will analyze previously collected data and complete additional field work, which could include steps like drilling boreholes to examine the soil or installing wells to test groundwater. Through that process, the EPA and MPCA will determine the best type of cleanup.
"I'm excited to start working with the MPCA on it," Ross said. "I think it's a really interesting puzzle."
Cleanup methods for groundwater vary depending on the type of contaminant, how concentrated it is and whether it's moving, Ross said. Possible strategies include pumping water out to treat it, building a barrier underground to keep it from moving or injecting materials to break down contaminants where they are.
