Indian Bend Wash Area
Superfund cleanup site in Arizona
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The Indian Bend Wash area is a Superfund cleanup site in Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona. It was declared a Superfund site in 1983 after industrial solvents were discovered to have contaminated the groundwater in an approximately 13-square-mile (34 km2) area. It is one of the largest EPA sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion US gallons (232,000,000 m3).[1]
| Indian Bend Wash Area | |
|---|---|
| Superfund site | |
North Indian Bend Wash contamination area map | |
| Geography | |
| City | Scottsdale and Tempe |
| County | Maricopa |
| State | Arizona |
  Indian Bend Wash Area  Indian Bend Wash Area | |
| Information | |
| CERCLIS ID | AZD980695969 |
| Contaminants | Trichloroethylene |
| Responsible parties |
|
| Progress | |
| Proposed | December 30, 1982 |
| Listed | September 8, 1983 |
| Construction completed | September 28, 2006 |
| Partially deleted | May 1, 2003 |
| List of Superfund sites | |
During the 1960s, it was typical for companies to dispose industrial solvents directly into the ground and into dry wells.[2][3] In 1981, volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected in Tempe and Scottsdale city wells, including trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and chloroform. The wells were shut down immediately, and the area was declared a Superfund site in 1983. Potentially responsible parties Motorola, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline, along with several smaller companies, have paid for the approximately $100 million in cleanup costs. Cleanup has consisted of several stations that pump and treat groundwater.
The area consists of two cleanup sites; the North Indian Bend Wash (NIBW) Superfund site located in Scottsdale (approximately 8 square miles) and the South Indian Bend Wash (SIBW) Superfund site located in Tempe.[4]
For eight days in October 2007, trichloroethylene tainted water was released into the water supply of 1,500 residents of Scottsdale by the Arizona American Water Company.[5]