EPA RCRA ID: VAD000820712
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 Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) is the lead agency for managing cleanups at this facility.
University of Virginia (UVA), as a participant in the EPA Corrective Action Program conducted a Source Characterization Investigation to investigate the potential environmental impacts of two former waste disposal areas located on Mount Jefferson, more locally known as Observatory Hill. One disposal area is a former debris disposal area which was designated by the Virginia Department of Health in 1981 as a rubble/debris landfill and identified as Solid Waste Management Unit 16 (SWMU 16). The second disposal area, located adjacent to SWMU 16, is a one acre parcel where UVA reportedly buried a small quantity of hospital generated waste in the 1970's. This area is referred to as the Hillside Disposal Area. After conducting a facility inspection in September 1999 and consulting with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ), EPA concluded that additional investigation activities were required at SWMU 16 and at the adjacent one acre parcel known as the Hillside Disposal Area.
The University of Virginia (UVA) has completed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action process in accordance with the EPA Region 3 Facility Lead Program. The requirements of this program include:
- Determine the extent and sources of all releases of hazardous wastes or hazardous waste constituents at or from the Facility.
- Perform interim measures at the Facility, if warranted, to prevent or mitigate unacceptable threats to human health and the environment by: 1) controlling human exposures, and 2) controlling migration of any groundwater contamination at or from the Facility from releases of hazardous wastes or hazardous constituents.
- Conduct effective public involvement in mitigating unacceptable threats to human health and the environment.
Based on the initial facility wide assessment, the "Former Observatory Hill Debris Disposal Area," (O-Hill) was the only area identified for further study. EPA approved the investigation work plan designed for this area in the Spring of 2000 and the field work was completed in September 2000. The field work included the installation of six groundwater monitoring wells, the excavation of twelve exploratory backhoe test pits, three deep trenches and the collection of samples from groundwater, surface water, soils and sediments. The goal of this investigation is to determine if this former disposal area presents any long-term risks to human health or the environment.
A final report documenting the results of the field investigation was submitted to EPA for review in October 2001. Based on the results documented in the final report EPA has concluded that there are no unacceptable risks to human health or the environment at the O-Hill area.
On December 10, 2003, EPA issued a Statement of Basis explaining the findings of the field investigation. The 45 day public comment period ended on January 26, 2004 and no comments were received during that time. Based on this, EPA has determined that no further corrective action is necessary at this time and signed a Determination of Corrective Action Complete Without Controls on March 1, 2004.
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 University of Virginia, founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, is a state-supported institution that supports research and scholarship in many fields. Its areas of strength include research in the humanities and programs in the biomedical, physical, and engineering sciences. The EPA utilized the National Corrective Action Priority System (NCAPS) model to evaluate the relative priority of the University. The NCAPS model is based on four different exposure pathways: groundwater, surface water, air and on-site (direct contact with hazardous materials or contact with contaminated surface soils). Based upon the NCAPS model, the University ranked as a high priority facility. The NCAPS modeling results do not mean that the facility ranked as "high" will in fact, require large-scale remediation. In some cases, remediation may have already taken place under the State's jurisdiction or as a facility-lead. The investigation at UVA focuses on the O-Hill area as was noted in the NCAPS site assessment report.
UVA has established and operates a document repository for this project and communicates information regarding this project to the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle via a cooperative task force (Planning and Coordination Council). The repository is located in the UVA Science and Engineering Library, Clark Hall, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Contaminants at this Facility
Inorganic constituents in groundwater/soil and semi-volatile organic compounds in soil were evaluated as potential contaminants of concern.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional controls were not required at the facility.
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) |
|||
|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
||||
|
Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
||||
| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
|
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) |
|||
|
Non-Groundwater |
||||
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.