EPA RCRA ID: PAD000429589
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Status
Note: The EPA is the lead agency for managing cleanups at this facility.
This facility is one of EPA Region 3’s high priority Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action sites. The GROWS Landfill is a closed Municipal Waste Landfill. As such, current and future access is restricted to required operation and maintenance activity. The facility is fenced to prevent unauthorized access. Current and future groundwater use is restricted to monitoring and maintenance activities.
The PA Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) routinely inspects the facility for compliance with its permit requirements (Solid Waste Permit No. 100148). Groundwater is monitored as part of the Facility-wide monitoring required under the State Permit. There are currently 22 groundwater monitoring wells; three upgradient wells and 19 downgradient wells. The groundwater is monitored on a quarterly schedule, as prescribed by the State Permits.
Leachate from the landfill is collected and transported by pipe to an on-site treatment system. The leachate is either pretreated and discharges to the Morrisville Wastewater Treatment Plant (up to 650,000 gallons per day), or fully treated and discharged to the Delaware River. On January 8, 2001, EPA determined with Pennsylvania's help, that both the Human Exposures and Groundwater Environmental Indicators have been met. PADEP re-issued the Solid Waste Permit on February 9 , 2000, and the RCRA post-closure permit on December 22, 2003. EPA believes that the past actions and current/future requirements under the permits address the corrective action issues and, therefore, EPA is not contemplating additional work at this time.
In September 2014, EPA issued a corrective action remedial decision (Final Decision) and a corrective action permit (Hazardous Waste Post-Closure Permit) which require GROWS to continue to comply with the terms and conditions of the PADEP Municipal Solid Waste Operating Permit No. 100148 and PADEP RCRA Post-Closure Permit No. PAD 000 429 589. The PADEP permits place restrictions on groundwater and land use (institutional controls) to prevent exposure to contaminated waste remaining at the facility.
EPA conducted a Long Term Stewardship assessment in March 2023 and determined that the Facility is meeting the objectives of the final remedy selected in the 2014 Statement of Basis.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The Facility is located at Bordentown Road and New Ford Mill Road, Falls Township, Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It is situated on approximately 457 acres of land at a bend in the Delaware River. The landfill areas occupy approximately 316 acres of the Facility. It is surrounded by the Pennsbury Manor State Park and the Delaware River to the south, man-made lakes to the west and northwest, and industrial property to the east and northeast (Figures One and Two).
The Facility is currently operating as a closed landfill. The closure requirements are contained in PADEP RCRA Permit No. PAD 000 429 589 and PADEP Solid Waste Permit No. 100148. All landfill areas have a final cover in place, consisting of a cap, drainage layer and vegetated soil cover. Some of the older areas of the landfill have a clay cap while the remaining areas have a geosynthetic cap. The Facility has a comprehensive groundwater and surface water monitoring system.
EPA has evaluated the closure and post-closure measures taken at the Facility under the PADEP permits. On-going groundwater sampling shows that releases from the Facility are controlled by the cap structures and leachate collection system.
Contaminants at this Facility
EPA has determined that protection of human health and the environment has been achieved at the at this landfill and will continue to be achieved at the facility within the meaning of Section 3004(u) of RCRA as long as the necessary operation, maintenance and monitoring activities are performed, as required by the Facility’s RCRA Post-Closure Permit, and Municipal Solid Waste Operating Permit, issued by PADEP to the Permittee and land and groundwater uses are restricted in order to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination and protect the integrity of the groundwater monitoring system, landfill caps, and leachate collection system.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
The PADEP Solid Waste Permit and RCRA Permit impose land-use restrictions on the property. Current and future access is restricted to required operation and maintenance activity. The facility is fenced to prevent unauthorized access. Current and future groundwater use is restricted to monitoring and maintenance activities.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
Documents available on-line: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
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Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.