The Spring Valley FUDS continues to be an extremely complex and challenging project.
Beginning in 1993 with the accidental discovery of military ordnance buried almost 80 years earlier, the site has developed into a multi-materials and surfaces investigation and remediation project involving soil, air, munitions, and potentially contaminated groundwater. The site involves multiple contaminants posing both potential short- and long-term risks that need to be addressed.
The Spring Valley case study demonstrates the use of EPA’s Superfund framework in the site-specific design and execution of the investigation and remediation. As with most sites, the complex nature of this response does not lend itself to a “one-size-fits-all” approach to defining cleanup/clearance goals.
Instead, the risk assessment and risk management activities have been tailored to site-specific conditions and have employed a collaborative decision-making process that is essential to every response. Current information on the progress of the Spring Valley cleanup since the completion of this case study can be found at the Spring Valley website.138