Evaluation of geophysical logs and video surveys in boreholes adjacent to the Berkley Products Superfund Site, West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Between February 1998 and April 1998, geophysical logs were collected in nine boreholes adjacent to the Berkley Products Superfund Site, West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pa. Video surveys were conducted on four of the nine boreholes. The boreholes range in depth from 320 to 508 feet below land surface, are completed open holes, have ambient vertical flow of water, and penetrate a series of interbedded siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate units. The purpose of collecting geophysical-log data was to help determine horizontal and vertical distribution of contaminated ground water migrating from known or suspected sources and to aid in the placement of permanent borehole packers. The primary contaminants were derived from paint waste that included pigment sludges and wash solvents. The chlorinated volatile organic compounds probably originated from the wash solvents. Caliper logs and video surveys were used to locate fractures; inflections on fluid-resistivity and fluid-temperature logs were used to locate possible water-bearing fractures. Heatpulse-flowmeter measurements were used to verify the locations of water-producing or water-receiving zones and to measure rates of flow between water-bearing fractures. Single-point-resistance and natural-gamma logs provided information on stratigraphy. After interpretation of geophysical logs, video surveys, and driller’s logs, permanent multiple-packer systems were installed in each borehole to obtain depth specific water samples from one or more water-bearing fractures in each borehole. INTRODUCTION The Berkley Products Superfund Site (Berkley Site) covers approximately 21 acres; the landfill area and monitor wells are shown on the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Womelsdorf 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle map (fig. 1). The Berkley Site was used as a municipal waste dump from approximately 1930 until 1965. In 1965, the Lipton Paint Company, a subsidiary of Berkley Products Company, purchased the property. The operation continued to receive household trash from nearby communities but also began to receive paint wastes from Lipton. The property was purchased by its current owner in September 1970 after it was closed by Lipton. During the period from 1965 to 1970, it is estimated that the Berkley Site may have received anywhere from 650 to about 40,000 gal of paint wastes from the Lipton Paint Company. It is believed that these wastes included pigment sludges and wash solvents (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1995). Interviews with former operators and haulers indicate that the municipal trash was dumped to the south of the access road, toward the hillside; the paint wastes were deposited in the northern part of the dump. The Berkley Site was originally investigated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (PaDER) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 1984. The Berkley Site was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. Results of environmental investigations by PaDER and by USEPA and its consultants indicate that the ground water beneath the Berkley Site is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOC’s); concentrations of methylene chloride are as great as 860 mg/L in water samples from on-site monitor wells (U.S. Environmen-