Alexander Farms

In April 1998, Ecology responded to complaints of yellow water coming from two domestic wells in the vicinity of the Alexander Farms site. Ecology determined that the soil and groundwater at the site was contaminated with Dinoseb, a herbicide that was banned from use by the USEPA in 1986.

In 2002, the site was added to Ecology’s Hazardous Sites List with a ranking of “2”.  Sites on the Hazardous Sites List are a priority for Ecology, and have completed a Site Hazard Assessment (SHA). A SHA provides information about the environmental risk of the site. Risk is based on the amount of contaminants, how toxic they are, and how easily they can come in contact with people and the environment. Sites are ranked relative to each other on a scale of “1” to “5”; with a rank of “5” being the lowest.

Between 1998 and 2005, approximately 15,000 tons of Dinoseb contaminated soil was excavated from the site. The soil, which was acting as the source of groundwater contamination, was hauled to a licensed disposal facility. Between 2005 and 2008, 14 groundwater monitoring wells were sampled quarterly and analyzed until the groundwater in all the wells remained below cleanup levels for Dinoseb for eight consecutive quarters (2 years).

As of January 2008, the groundwater from all 14 wells had tested below cleanup levels for two years. Based upon review of the cleanup action reports and eleven years of data, Ecology determined the site is no longer a threat to human health and the environment. The site has been removed from the Hazardous Sites List.