Overview/History
The Ingersoll Rand Honea Path Plant (HPP) consists of approximately 466 acres and is located at 415 Brick Mill Road in Honea Path, South Carolina (Anderson County). The site contains a manufacturing building, a storage building and a small wastewater treatment plant.
The site was originally owned and operated as part of Torrington. Torrington operated from 1970 to 2003. The Site was previously used to manufacture steering components, universal joint assemblies, and other specialty metal components from 1970 to 2003. Process wastewater was generated from metal cleaning operations. The process wastewater was treated in a pretreatment facility prior to discharge to the Town of Honea Path Chiquola Creek Treatment Plant. Prior to the construction of the pretreatment facility in 1989, process wastewaters were treated at the facility prior to discharge to Broad Mouth Creek. This treatment system was operated from approximately 1970 to December 1989.
Two former trichloroethene (TCE) aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) were used at the facility. The original TCE AST was located near the northern corner of the main plant building adjacent to a former methanol AST along the back-fence line. The TCE and methanol ASTs were removed in 1989. The TCE AST was then moved to the current AST tank farm until TCE was no longer used at the plant in 1992.
In 1990, five groundwater monitoring wells were installed at the HPP in the vicinity of the pretreatment facility and treatment lagoons. Analytical results from the groundwater collected from these wells indicated the presence of trichloroethene (TCE) above drinking water standards. Additional monitoring well installation and sampling was conducted between 1992 and 2000 to define the extent of groundwater impacts.
In 1995, HPP installed recovery wells in an effort to contain groundwater at the facility. This corrective measure was implemented to prevent the movement of contamination from the plant property by removing impacted groundwater in the vicinity of the known source areas. The impacted groundwater is then sent for treatment prior to discharge. The current system consists of fifteen (15) recovery wells.
Preferred Clean-up Option
DHEC has identified a preferred alternative to address the contamination in both the soil and groundwater at the Site. The preferred remedial alternatives, are a combination of Alternative 2, Soil Vapor Extraction within the soil source area and Alternative 6 optimization pump and treat system for the groundwater plume.
Alternative 2, Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is soil remediation technology in which a vacuum is applied to the soil to induce the controlled flow of air and remove volatile and some semi-volatile contaminants from soil.
This Alternative was further developed for detailed analysis from the installation and field pilot testing of new SVE wells near the source area. The pilot study concluded that the vadose zone within the study area appears to have a highly transmissive layer that connects the observation wells and the pilot test well. The system will be operated for approximately 4 years or until the soil contamination has been adequately treated.
Alternative 6, Optimized Pump and Treat improves the existing groundwater capture and extraction rate in the source area with added extraction wells in the source area and improved pump and treatment remedial infrastructure. This alternative utilizes submersible pumps and existing treatment via an air stripper prior to being discharged to a central sump and then to Broad Mouth Creek via an NPDES permit.
The total estimated net present worth of this alternative combination is approximately $6M. DHEC has determined that the Preferred Alternative identified in this Proposed Plan is necessary to protect public health and the environment.
Administrative Record
Community Engagement
A public comment period will be held from October 2, 2020 to November 20, 2020. Comments can be sent to Jan Trent at the address below:
Jan Trent, Project Manager
2600 Bull Street
Columbia SC 29201
trentjc@dhec.sc.gov
(803) 898-0723
DHEC is providing an online presentation to discuss the Proposed Plan for groundwater cleanup at the former Ingersoll Rand site. During this presentation, DHEC will provide an overview of the Proposed Plan to address groundwater contamination. The presentation, along with additional information used to make this remedy selection, can be found below.