"Summary Report on Conditions at the Winston-Thomas Wastewater
Treatment Facility, Bloomington Indiana". Prepared by Richard
Powell, Earth Tech, for U.S. EPA Region V, January 1996.

This document summarizes the site characterization data available
at the Winston-Thomas plant, outlines the history and function of
the plant, and maps out various karst features identified by the
author from historical aerial photographs.  You may copy this
report at the COPA office.

The conclusions section follow:

" Most of the analytical data available for the abandoned
Winston-Thomas Treatment Facility have been from samples
collected prior to 1991. Only two samples have been submitted for
analyses other than for PCBs. Generally, sludge at various parts
of the facility, namely the digesters, drying beds, active and
abandoned lagoons, is contaminated with PCBs, although the range
of results of analyses is from <1 ppm to 4,440 ppm. Soils in
contact with sludge, such as at the abandoned lagoons and the
liner of the existing lagoon, are also contaminated in places to
a level of 700 ppm. There is little reason to suspect that levels
of PCB contamination have significantly decreased in these
materials. Contrarily, there is no certainty that the most highly
contaminated materials have been sampled. In places, such as the
abandoned lagoons, the extent of contaminated soil has not been
established.

" Sludge from the drying beds has been spread on the grounds in
places. More extensive and intensive sampling is needed to
establish the limits and amounts of PCB contamination on the
grounds and in some sinkholes at the site. The significance of
most of the analytical data presented for PCB contamination of
crushed limestone rock in the trickling filter is difficult to
understand. The sludge adhering to the rock and the outer surface
of the risk is most likely the extent of significant PCB
contamination, therefore, results calculated as per volume or
surface area seem not to address the problem. The debris in the
interstices of the filter rock was shown to contain from 2.5 to
146 ppm PCB immediately after the facility was decommissioned. 

" No information has been found relative to the contamination of
various containers, basins, tanks, pumps and pipes that treated,
stored or carried PCB contaminated material. The possibility that
there was leakage from pipes or containers to the adjacent soils
has not been investigated or addressed. For example, PCBs found
in MW-5D may be from leakage from the adjacent main sewer line.

" Data from groundwater at the site is meager. Four quarterly
samples were taken at the existing monitoring wells over a period
of one year for PCB analyses. Groundwater flow data are adequate
to show a general trend of flow direction, but groundwater flow
conditions relative to the flow in Clear Creek during floodwater
flows have not been determined.

" The extent, if any, of contamination of groundwater west of
Clear Creek is not known. However, the fact that the waters in
Clear Creek are contaminated with PCBs upstream of the site has
been established, although the amount of contamination is not
known. The extent and amount of PCB contamination leaving the
site from sheetwash and erosion during a storm is not known.

" The possibility that water is seeping or leaking from the
existing lagoon has not been investigated. The source of wet
areas or seepages near the northwest corner and along the south
side have not been explained. Similarly, a spring or seepage in
the vicinity of the old abandoned lagoons has not been sampled or
investigated."