• WATSON JOHNSON LANDFILL, BUCKS County, PA

Stage of Clean-up: Study Underway

The Watson Johnson Landfill Site is a former landfill on East Pumping Station Road in Richland Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The entire property consists of approximately 56 acres, of which approximately 32 acres were used as a landfill. The portion of the site that was used as a landfill was active from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. The landfill accepted both industrial and municipal wastes. In July 1999, while clearing brush from an area on the western side of the site to prepare for drilling monitoring wells, a front-end loader unearthed a drum. The drum was accidentally punctured and released approximately two gallons of a viscous and OIL like material onto the ground. The drum was overpacked, staged on-site and the contents of the drum were sampled. Sampling results revealed that the material within the drum contained elevated levels of PCE and LEAD. EPA removed the drum and the surrounding contaminated soil in March 2000. Additionally, drinking water from the Quakertown Borough Municipal Well is currently being treated with an air stripper to remove the TCE contamination.

In June 1998, concerned citizens contacted the EPA and requested that the agency do an investigation of the former landfill. EPA conducted field investigations at the site from 1998 through 1999, collecting samples from on-site soils, adjacent wetlands, Tohickon Creek and groundwater monitoring wells. Local residential and Quakertown Borough municipal wells were also sampled. Hazardous substances detected in the soils of the landfill include volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, which are chemical components of solvents, plus polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), and metals. Tetrachloroethene (PCE; aka perchloroethene) and trichloroethene (TCE), also chemical components of solvents, were detected in an on-site monitoring well and a Quakertown Borough Municipal Well. Elevated metals and PCBs were detected in sediment samples collected from an adjacent wetland and an elevated level of mercury was detected downstream of the site in Tohickon Creek. Residential well sampling results indicated elevated levels of arsenic in some home wells.

Contaminants Detected
	Ground Water	Surface Water	Air	Soil	Other
ACENAPHTHENE					X
ACETONE					X
ANILINE	X
ANTHRACENE					X
AROCLOR 1242		X
AROCLOR 1248		X
AROCLOR 1254		X
AROCLOR 1260		X
ARSENIC					X
BENZ(A)ANTHRACENE		X
BENZO(A)PYRENE		X
BENZO(GHI)PERYLENE					X
BENZO(J,K)FLUORENE					X
BENZO(K)FLUORANTHENE					X
BENZOFLUORANTHENE, 2,3-					X
BIS(2-ETHYLHEXYL)PHTHALATE					X
BROMOBENZENE					X
BUTYLBENZENE,SEC-					X
CARBAZOLE					X
CHLOROBENZENE					X
CHROMIUM	X
CHRYSENE					X
COPPER	X
COPPER COMPOUNDS	X
DDD		X
DI-N-BUTYL PHTHALATE					X
DIBENZ(A,H)ANTHRACENE		X
DIBENZOFURAN					X
DICHLOROBENZENE, 1,2-					X
DICHLOROBENZENE, 1,4-					X
DICHLORODIFLUOROMETHANE					X
ETHYLBENZENE					X
FLUORENE,NOS					X
INDENO(1,2,3-CD)PYRENE					X
ISOPROPYLBENZENE					X
ISOPROPYLTOLUENE,P-					X
LEAD (PB)		X
MANGANESE	X	X
MANGANESE COMPOUNDS	X	X
MERCURY		X
METHYLENE CHLORIDE					X
METHYLNAPHTHALENE, 2-					X
N-BUTYLBENZENE					X
NAPHTHALENE					X
NICKEL	X
NICKEL COMPOUNDS	X
O-XYLENE					X
P-XYLENE					X
PHENANTHRENE					X
PHENOL					X
PROPYLBENZENE,N-					X
PYRENE					X
TETRACHLOROETHENE	X
TRICHLOROETHYLENE (TCE), 1,1,2-	X
TRIMETHYLBENZENE, 1,2,4-					X
VINYL CHLORIDE	X
XYLENE, M-					X
ZINC		X
ZINC COMPOUNDS		X

EPA Hazard Ranking System scores for WATSON JOHNSON LANDFILL:

Less Hazard

National Average

More Hazard

0%					50%					100%

Overall site:

Surface water migration:

Ground water migration:

Rank Superfund sites in the U.S., PENNSYLVANIA, or in BUCKS County by EPA Hazard Ranking Scores.

*Note: EPA's Hazard Ranking System is designed to screen and prioritize sites for the Superfund program, based on limited data available at time of listing. These scores are not based on a comprehensive risk assessment of the site and do not reflect conditions after initiation of cleanup work.

Number of PRPs currently associated with this site:

Unknown

EPA Site Information

• NPL Fact Sheet
• NPL Site 5 Year Reviews
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) Hazardous Waste Site Information
• Superfund Hazardous Waste Site Advanced Query Form

Scorecard reports for BUCKS County on:

• Potential Sources of Land Contamination
• Criteria Air Pollutants
• Hazardous Air Pollutants