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Content posted September 2019.
Ray Spaulding, SpauldingR1@Michigan.gov.
The former Du-Wel Metals Products (Du-Wel) site, located at 520 Heywood Street, operated a manufacturing facility on a 7.9-acre property from 1957 until 2002. Operations included electroplating, buffing and polishing of aluminum and zinc die casts, and then limited machining and warehousing before it closed in 2002. The building was then demolished and removed. From 1987 to 2002, Du-Wel conducted soil and groundwater investigations and soil corrective actions with the oversight of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). From 2002 to present, EGLE has been conducting investigation and remediation activities for contaminants other than PFAS compounds, such as chlorinated solvents, at the site.
|
Type of Sample |
Date Sampled (or Range) |
Number of Samples |
Number of Results Received |
Number of Non-Detects | Number Between Non-detect and Standard* | Number Greater Than or Equal to Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Groundwater |
April 9, 2019 | 19 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| Residential Wells | May 10 - 31, 2019 | 82 | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 |
| Cumulative | 101 | 101 | 38 | 39 | 24 |
The former Du-Wel Metals Products (Du-Wel) operated a manufacturing facility on the property from 1957 until 2002, which included electroplating from approximately 1957 to 1986, during which wastewater was discharged to settling lagoons and a surface impoundment. It conducted buffing and polishing of aluminum and zinc die casts between 1987 and 1992. It then used the property for limited machining and warehousing between 1992 and 2001. During 2002, the operation closed, and the manufacturing building was demolished and removed.
From 1987 through 2002, Du-Wel conducted soil and groundwater investigations and soil corrective actions at the site with the oversight of Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Waste and Hazardous Materials Division under the United States Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Some contaminated soil and plating wastes from several hot spots and lagoons were excavated in 1991 and 1992. By November 2002, a Voluntary Corrective Action Agreement under RCRA was signed and became effective. Under this agreement, Du-Wel completed an investigation and submitted a report; however, the full degree and extent of the groundwater contamination was not determined.
In 2003, Iverness Metal Castings Group, the parent company of Du-Wel, was acquired by Atchinson Casting Corporation, which later filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. No work has been conducted at the property by the owner since 2003. The property has since tax-reverted to Van Buren County.
The Du-Wel Metal Products facility includes much of the city of Hartford, in an area with residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural land uses. A tributary to the Paw Paw River is immediately to the west of the site. The city of Hartford has a municipal water supply that serves a limited number of residents.
