Background/ History
The Kemira Water Solutions Inc. site, formerly Midland Resources, is located on 3.6 acres at 10 Bremen Ave. in St. Louis. In 1965, Conservation Chemical Co. (CCC) used the site for manufacturing water purification chemicals like ferric sulfate, ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate and ferrous chloride. CCC produced the iron salts through either a spent pickle liquor recycling process or liquid oxygen, chlorine, sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and iron ore chemical process. The waste and chemicals were delivered in bulk by truck and train and stored on-site in drums, tanks, and railroad cars. CCC also treated cyanide metal plating wastes, which contained cyanide and heavy metals, and acid plating wastes produced by acid bath electroplating processes. CCC leased the property from the St. Louis Terminal Railroad until they purchased the facility in 1975.
The plant produced acidic wastewater as a part of the facility operations. The wastewater was neutralized and filtered in the sump area and then discharged to the sanitary sewer. In the late 1980s, CCC discontinued waste storage and treatment processes that did not involve the production of iron chloride and iron sulfate solutions from spent pickle liquor. CCC stopped operating in December 1988. Midland Resources Inc., founded by the same founder of CCC, took over operation of the facility in 1991, and continued to produce iron salts using the spent pickle liquor recycling process. CCC operated the storage tanks under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Cleanup Summary
CCC closed the two hazardous waste storage tanks in 1989 and 1990. The department accepted CCC’s closure certification for the storage tanks in April 1990. The department also determined that the use of spent pickle liquor to produce iron chloride and iron sulfate solutions did not constitute hazardous waste treatment, since the listed waste was used to produce a commercial product. CCC was not subject to the permitting requirements of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law or federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments for post-closure care because they “clean closed” the interim status hazardous waste units.
Midland, formerly CCC, is subject to corrective action because closure of the interim status hazardous waste areas was completed after the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments. Initial investigations identified soil and groundwater contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and metals and several areas that required further investigation. As of 2006, Kemira Water, the current owner, is a candidate for an administrative order or Letter of Agreement to investigate and possibly remediate the areas identified at the site. In 2005, the Department established institutional controls at the site, according to St. Louis City Ordinance #6777, which prohibits the use of groundwater as a potable water supply and the drilling or installation of wells to be used for a potable water supply within the corporate limits of the City of St. Louis.
