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Fisher Scientific
| EPA Identification Number: | NJD052207982 | |
| Facility Location: | 755 State Highway, Route 202, Bridgewater (Somerville), New Jersey |
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| Facility Contact: | Phillip Barnes, (609) 452-9000 | |
| EPA Contact: | Sameh Abdellatif, (212) 637-4103, abdellatif.sameh@epa.gov | |
| New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Case Manager: | Kenneth Kahora, (609) 292-2697 | |
| Last Updated: | January 2002 | |
| Environmental Indicator Status: | Human Exposures Under Control
[PDF 95.59 KB, 7
pp] has been verified. Groundwater Contamination Under Control has been verified. (Documentation of this indicator determination will be posted in the first quarter of 2008.) |
|
Site Description
Fisher Scientific is located at 755 State Highway, Route 202 in Bridgewater (Somerville), New Jersey. Fisher Scientific (FS) operates a packaging facility at Bridgewater for various laboratory reagents and solvents. The facility generated hazardous waste from the accumulation of defective products, test samples, products in damaged packages, filters and the by-products from the cleaning of lines containing products. Pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit, FS stored hazardous wastes in either a storage tank or in drums stored on a concrete pad. All hazardous wastes were removed from both of these units and then the units themselves were removed. The plant is currently in operation, but it no longer manages hazardous waste.
Potential Threats and Contaminants
In 1976, officials of Bridgewater Township found groundwater contaminated with volatile organics seeping out of the bedrock at the base of an area adjacent to the site that had been cut away for railroad tracks. For many years, FS spilled and leaked the contents of railcars in the unloading area (which is also referred to as the railroad siding) and tanks in the tank farm resulting in extensive groundwater contamination.
Cleanup Approach and Progress
FS installed an interceptor trench immediately south of the tank farm and railroad siding to passively collect the contaminated groundwater. FS also excavated the contaminated soils in those two areas and then constructed containment areas around its various storage and unloading areas to be in compliance with RCRA requirements and in order to prevent further groundwater contamination from leaks and spills.
In 1983, FS conducted an in-depth hydrogeologic study in the vicinity and found that domestic drinking water wells were impacted. The company then paid for affected wells in the neighborhood to be connected to the public water supply. FS used a technique called soil vacuuming to remove the sources, but contaminants trapped in the bedrock could not be removed.
In accordance with a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Consent Order, in 1991 FS began operating a system to pump out the contaminated groundwater and treat it. FS continues to monitor the groundwater quality, and to operate and maintain the groundwater recovery system.
FS will continue pumping and treating the contaminated groundwater. Although the contamination is not migrating beyond the monitoring well network, NJDEP has required FS to determine the feasibility of innovative technologies to remove contaminants from the bedrock aquifer, since it is still contaminated with high levels of volatile organics.
Site Repository
Copies of supporting technical documents and correspondence cited in the site fact sheet are available for public review at the following location:
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Solid & Hazardous Waste
Records Center
401 E. State Street, 6th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625
Telephone: (609) 777-3373
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) makes available its public records through formal request under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).
