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Public Health Assessment
Ciba-Geigy Corporation
(Dover Township) Toms River, New Jersey
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Public Health Assessment
Ciba-Geigy Corporation
CERCLIS Number: NJD001502517
Dover Township, Ocean County, New Jersey
Draft for Public Comment
February 29, 2000
Public Comment Period
February 29, 2000 to April 28, 2000
Prepared by:
Hazardous Site Health Evaluation Program
Consumer and Environmental Health Services
Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health
New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
Under a Cooperative Agreement with:
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Summary
In response to concerns of the Dover Township community regarding an increased incidence of childhood cancers, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) developed a Public Health Response Plan to organize and conduct public health investigations.
In addition to evaluating the chemical and radiological quality of the community water supply and analyzing New Jersey State Cancer Registry statistics, the NJDHSS and ATSDR initiated two Public Health Assessments for two National Priorities List (NPL) sites which are located in Dover Township: the Ciba-Geigy Corporation site (CERCLIS #NJDOOI502517)
and the Reich Farm site (CERCLIS #NJD980529713). Based upon information collected by the NJDHSS and the ATSDR during health assessment activities for the Reich Farm site, and a high level of community concern, the NJDHSS and the ATSDR also conducted a Public Health Assessment to evaluate this public health issues associated with the Dover Township Municipal Landfill (CERCLIS #NJD980771570).
The Public Health Assessments provide a review of environmental health issues and evaluate past and current human exposure pathways associated with these sites.
The Ciba-Geigy Corporation (CGC) NPL site is located in Dover Township, New Jersey. The site is surrounded by residential and light commercial areas. A chemical manufacturing plant (the Toms River Plant) occupied the site beginning in 1952. Solid and liquid wastes, including by-products from chemical (primarily dye and epoxy resin) manufacturing processes and wastewater treatment sludge, were disposed of in approximately 20 on-site areas.
Contaminants, including volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), semi volatile organic chemicals (SVOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), anthraquinone and azo dyes, and heavy metals (including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury and lead) have been identified as being present in on-site source areas. During the period 1952 through 1966, treated process wastewater was discharged directly to the Toms River.
Groundwater in the vicinity of the CGC site has been contaminated with a variety of VOCs (chlorobenzene, chloroform, dichlorobenzenes, trichlorobenzenes, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, trichloropropane, and tetracworoethylene), metals (lead and mercury) and possibly other chemicals. Private residential wells used for irrigation near the CGC site were found to be contaminated with VOCs in the mid 1980s.
Community water system supply wells at the Holly Street well field were documented to be contaminated with dyes, nitrobenzene, and possibly other compounds during the mid-1960s. Contaminated groundwater beneath the CGC site is being pumped out, treated, and returned to the aquifer by the Groundwater Extraction and Recharge System, which has been operational since 1996. A smaller scale pump-and-treat system had been in place since 1985.
Plans for remediation of on-site source areas are under development by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
The Ciba-Geigy Corporation Toms River Plant site is considered by the ATSDR and the NJDHSS to have represented a public health hazard because of past exposures. This determination is based upon the following considerations, taken together: 1) the presence of a completed exposure pathway in the past through the community water supply to dyes and possibly other chemicals, to a potentially large population;
2) the presence of a completed exposure pathway through the use of private wells (for irrigation and possibly for potable use at some time in the past) in the Cardinal Drive/Oak Ridge Parkway to VOCS; 3) toxicological evaluations; 4) epidemiologic studies from other communities and workplaces suggesting that exposure to dyes and VOCs may increase the risk of certain cancers and other adverse health outcomes; and
5) the presence of an excess of childhood cancers in the community. Although uncertainties in exposure and toxicological information make the assessment of public health implications difficult, further epidemiologic evaluation is warranted in order to evaluate the public health significance of past exposures from the site.
Current conditions indicate that although groundwater remains contaminated at levels of public health concern, completed human exposure pathways to contaminants from the CGC site have been interrupted. The exposure pathway associated with the community water supply wells of the Holly Street Well field was reduced and/or interrupted through the construction of an outfall pipeline to re-direct wastewater from the Toms River to the Atlantic Ocean.
The exposure pathway associated with private wells in the Cardinal Drive/Oak Ridge Parkway areas has been interrupted through well sealing and limits on well construction. For these reasons the ATSDR and the NJDHSS have concluded that currently there are no documented completed human exposure pathways associated with the CGC site, and thus, are categorizing the CGC site as representing no apparent public health hazard under present conditions.
However, because on-site source areas remain contaminated, remediation of these on-site source areas is essential to prevent further contamination of groundwater and the potential for future human exposure pathways to site-related contaminants.
Other potential exposure pathways in the past include inhalation of air contaminants from on-site manufacturing and waste disposal activities. With the closure of operations at the Toms River Plant in 1996, the air pathway is interrupted. In addition, site security measures have likely interrupted the potential for exposure of trespassers to on-site contaminated soils. There is no evidence that breaks in the outfall pipeline have resulted in human
exposure to CGC-related contaminants through contaminated soils, sediments or groundwater.
The NJDHSS and the ATSDR are conducting an epidemiologic study of childhood cancer in Dover Township. This Public Health Assessment supports the consideration of exposure pathways related to the Ciba-Geigy Corporation site in that study.
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