Cleanups

Fruit Valley Neighborhood – Cadet and Swan Cleanup 

The Port of Vancouver is providing this update of our progress to cleanup groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the Fruit Valley Neighborhood. We have been working under the oversight of the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to cleanup groundwater contamination associated with the Cadet Manufacturing and former Swan Manufacturing Company (Swan) sites. Groundwater cleanup has been very successful, and the Port of Vancouver has submitted a draft plan for final cleanup of these sites located near the Fruit Valley Neighborhood. The locations of these sites are shown below.

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Background Information

Although contamination occurred many years before the port owned the properties, cleanup of the Cadet and former Swan sites is a top priority for the Port of Vancouver. The contamination is related to the use of solvent-based cleaning products at the sites by previous operators. Cleanup has been ongoing with oversight from Ecology since 1998, and these efforts have been very successful.

Cleanup actions have included:

• Soil cleanup
• Groundwater cleanup
• Residential indoor air cleanup

Sitewide Groundwater Cleanup

The port constructed a groundwater pump and treat system that began operating in June 2009. The system pumps groundwater that’s still contaminated after completion of the other cleanup actions summarized above, and conveys it to a nearby treatment system. Treated water is then discharged to the Columbia River consistent with state and federal environmental regulations. Since June 2009, the system has:

• Extracted and treated 14.9 billion gallons of groundwater
• Removed approximately 1,325 pounds of contaminants

Pump and treat system located at Port of Vancouver cleans contaminated groundwater in Fruit Valley neighborhood

Results

The 2022 data indicate that the treatment system and other actions have cleaned up the shallow groundwater under the Fruit Valley Neighborhood. Shallow groundwater contamination is now confined to a small area under the former Swan property (see the map above).

Response to Comments Available to the Public

Ecology recently held two comment periods related to cleanup plans and work at the site.

For the Cadet/Swan portion of the site, a comment period was held from July 13 – August 11, 2023. Ecology received two comments during this period. The response to these comments have been prepared and are shared here: 

Vancouver Port of NuStar Cadet Swan Cleanup Site Response to Comments
https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/document/129912

For more information, please refer to the Washington State Department of Ecology project website.