Park Laundry Site

As of 2025, cleanup construction work at the site is in progress. The City of Ridgefield is responsible for completing the necessary cleanup work with Ecology oversight. You can find a complete overview of the cleanup activities completed as of June 2025 in the Park Laundry - Remedial Action Completion Report (download 69.2 MB).

In 2025, Brownfields funding was provided to the City of Ridgefield to support groundwater monitoring which will be used to determine the effectiveness of the cleanup and if additional work is needed.

Stay informed
Subscribe for site updates by clicking the blue “Subscribe to this site” button at the top of this page. Subscribers will receive automated email updates for open comment periods, new document uploads, or changes to the cleanup status. Visit Ecology’s blog to learn more about this feature.

From about 1965 to 1977, the Park Laundry property was a laundry and dry cleaners. Since then, the building has been removed.

Currently, the Park Laundry property and parcels to the north and south of it are parking lots.

Like many other dry cleaner facilities in the past, Park Laundry used tetrachloroethylene (PCE) as a solvent to clean soiled fabrics. During dry cleaning operations, PCE was released to the environment. Microbes in the environment can change PCE into trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chemicals. PCE and TCE are both volatile chlorinated solvents (VOCs) that are hazardous to people’s health and the environment.

Both PCE and TCE contaminate soil and groundwater at the site. The Park Laundry property and the parcels on the north side of the property are the source area of contamination. Concentrations of VOCs in soil, groundwater, and soil vapor are highest in the source area and need to be addressed under the state’s cleanup law, the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA).

Soil Contamination
Contaminated soil is generally limited to the source area. People using earth-moving equipment and in contact with contaminated soil may be exposed to VOCs by touching it or accidentally eating it from dirty hands. People could be exposed by inhaling vapors while working in the source area. During excavation, a health and safety plan will reduce potential exposure to workers at the site.

Groundwater Contamination
The area of solvent contamination in groundwater is called a plume. The plume is confined to shallow groundwater, so exposure to contamination from the site is not a concern for drinking water. The groundwater plume extends to the north and west of the source area and covers about 22 acres. People working in the source area might inhale solvent vapors from contaminated groundwater. If contaminated groundwater seeps into soil excavations, then people doing the excavation could be exposed to VOCs. Potential exposure of workers to contaminated groundwater at the site will be reduced by following the health and safety plan.

Vapor intrusion
VOCs are found in soil vapor, but vapor intrusion is not a pathway of concern at the site. Vapor intrusion occurs when volatile chemicals move from soil and groundwater up through buildings and into indoor air.

In 2012 and 2013, air inside and soil gas at buildings that sit over contaminated groundwater were tested. Outdoor air away from the site was tested for comparison. The VOCs detected in the buildings were likely to come from products used or stored in the buildings and from background sources--not from vapor intrusion coming from the Park Laundry site.

In the future, if contamination remains in the source area and a building is constructed over the contamination, then additional work will be needed to show that soil vapor is not moving into the building.

The City of Ridgefield is using a combination of methods to address contamination at the Park Laundry site. By using these methods, the City of  Ridgefield is hoping to achieve state cleanup standards by approximately 2045. More details about the cleanup methods are below.

Soil Excavations
The City is removing soil with the highest observed concentrations of solvent contamination. By removing soil with the highest concentrations of contamination, we should see a decline in contaminated groundwater in the local area.

Some key details about the soil excavation include:

• The deepest depth of soil removal was 14.5 feet below ground surface level.
• As soil excavation took place, the City used a combination of field screening and sampling to confirm that all contamination above remediation levels defined in the Cleanup Action Plan (download 5.6 MB).
• The excavated areas were filled with clean, imported fill material and a small portion of clean material removed during excavation.
• During the soil excavation process, a chemical reduction reagent was placed at the base of the soil excavation.

Subsurface Injections
110 subsurface injections were administered on the site. The purpose of these injections is to help the remaining soil contamination break down over time.

This process works by injecting two different solutions into the ground. The first solution is an engineered mixture which creates suitable environment for bacteria that also reduces solvents. The second solution injected into the ground contains a species of bacteria called Dehalococcoides (DHC). In the right conditions DHC can transform solvents into safer chemicals. This process is called reductive dichlorination, and it occurs when DHC bacteria in favorable conditions replaces chlorine atoms with hydrogen atoms. Over time, toxic solvents present at the site, like tricholorethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), will breakdown into progressively less hazardous chemicals until they no longer pose a threat to human or environmental health at the site.