Raymark Test Sites Awaiting Data Validation

The Environmental Protection Agency's vapor intrusion studies of properties adjacent to the Raymark Superfund site on Jacksonville Road in Hatboro concluded recently and officials are awaiting the "validation of data."

EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Alexander Mandell shared with the borough council during Monday's meeting that 13 of 20 homes near the Raymark property, which is situated at 220 Jacksonville Road, agreed to participate in the study.

"We can use that to determine what steps need to be taken, if any," Mandell said. 

But, before that step, Mandell said the data was first analyzed by a Syracuse lab to "look at testing tools" and to see if vapors stemming from the site's TCE groundwater contamination had moved from the soil to inside structures. 

Mandell said EPA has since received the "raw data" from Syracuse.

"But, we make no determination on raw data," he said. "Right now we're waiting for validation."

The data has been sent to EPA's lab to "determine the integrity of the results," Mandell said. Until that validation is complete–within the next month Mandell anticipates–officials would make "no judgement" on findings so far.

From there, Mandell said a five-year review, which outlines an "extensive scope of everything that has been done" would be finished by September.

The most recent round of tests followed the EPA’s five-year review conducted in 2008, which determined that a vapor intrusion evaluation for volatile organic compounds was necessary for public safety.  

EPA officials told Hatboro elected officials and residents in July 2011 that there was no "immediate risk" from groundwater contamination near the former metal fabrication business. Tricholorethene, or TCE, was first detected in the site’s groundwater in 1979. By 1983 it was placed on the national priority list, making it eligible for federal cleanup.