On this page:

• Cleanup Status
• Site Description
• Contaminants at this Facility
• Site Responsibility

Cleanup Status

Most of the soil contamination on the site was excavated and disposed of off-site. Then the area was backfilled with clean soil. The areas where soil contamination still exceeds residential standards are restricted for non-residential use only.

The groundwater is being pumped out of the ground and treated in an on-site wastewater treatment system. The treated groundwater is then discharged to the Bordentown Sewer Authority. This pump-and-treat system has been found to be controlling the migration of contaminated groundwater. The use of the groundwater within the area that it is still contaminated is also restricted.

Square D will continue operating the pump-and-treat system and will monitor the groundwater indefinitely to confirm that the contaminated groundwater is not migrating off-site. Additional monitoring wells may be considered to improve the monitoring system. Square D will also complete the evaluation of a new treatment process, which binds the metal constituents and could speed up cleanup of the groundwater and subsurface soil.

Site Description

Square D Company is located at 90 US Highway 130 in Bordentown, New Jersey. The site was formerly used for clay mining in the 1930's and then for a municipal landfill. The site was originally used as for a copper-foil manufacturing process under a company known as Copper Foil Corporation. 

In 1960, the company's name was changed to Circuit Foil Corporation and in 1970, to Yates Industries Inc. In 1980, Yates became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Square D Company. The foil business was sold to ARBED in 1990.

The manufacturing operation has ceased and Square D is closing and cleaning up the site. The only operation at the site is the wastewater treatment plant. Its past waste management practices included the use of unlined lagoons and disposal areas, including waste piles, landfills and sludge drying pads.

Contaminants at this Facility

Past activities resulted in contamination of the groundwater and soil. The constituents of concern are primarily inorganic heavy metals, including chromium, copper, arsenic, zinc and lead. Soil samples from the wastewater treatment plant area and the former surface impoundments and asphalt pads contained the highest levels of heavy metal concentrations. Both the shallow and middle aquifers were affected.

Site Responsibility at this Facility

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility have been conducted under the direction of EPA Region 2.