IWU | Hazardous Waste Site

Location: 

2575 South 16th Street, Phoenix, AZ

Discovery Date:

January 2007

Contaminants of Concern (COCs):

  • Arsenic
  • Lead
  • Chromium
  • Dieldrin

Affected Media:

Soil

What Are My Health Risks?

For Soil | There is little to no health risk unless there is contact with skin or ingestion of contaminated soil. 

Site Summary:

  • IWU operated a hazardous waste facility at the site owned by RMH Properties (RMH);
  • In March of 2003, ADEQ expended approximately $700,000 to remove hazardous waste from this facility.
  • ADEQ revoked IWUs Hazardous Waste permit due to  major violations, and the facility ceased operating during 2003;
  • There are no exceedances of groundwater standards at this time. 

Corrective Actions:

  • RMH developed a Remediation Action Plan (RAP) for site cleanup. It was revised based on ADEQ’s comments and resubmitted during March 2010. ADEQ provided verbal but not written approval of the RAP
  • ADEQ met with RMH August 1, 2017 to reopen discussions.
  • RMH Properties sold a section of the site to Bixby Pita, LLC (Bixby) during 2017
  • Both RMH and Bixby have elected to leave contaminants in place and record a Declaration of Environmental Use Restriction (DEUR) for the contaminated areas of the site each owns
  • Both RMH and Bixby have agreed to enter separate consent orders to meet the requirements of the DEUR recordation
  • So far Bixby has submitted its DEUR Questionnaire response
  • Consent order entry for Bixby and RMH are at an advanced negotiation stage. In the meantime, ADEQ is in the final stages of completing its review of the Bixby DEUR Questionnaire
  • ADEQ and Bixby are addressing aspects of Bixby's financial assurance demonstration for the DEUR to ensure all requirements are met
  • RMH capped its parcel with a proprietary product and submitted a DEUR Questionnaire for ADEQ's review
  • To secure ADEQ's approval of their respective DEUR, both Bixby and RMH must provide satisfactory responses to their respective DEUR Questionnaire, including a demonstration of financial ability to maintain and/or replace the engineering controls at their respective parcel, throughout the 30-year life of their respective DEUR
  • Financial assurance demonstration discussions are ongoing between Bixby, RMH, and ADEQ