HWY US 50 & AEROJET RD
The Aerojet Rocketdyne Superfund site [note that Aerojet General Corporation acquired Rocketdyne, Inc. in 2013, and is operating as Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc.] covers 5,900 acres near Rancho Cordova, 15 miles east of Sacramento. The northeastern edge of the site is about 1/2 mile from the American River. Since 1953, Aerojet and its subsidiaries manufactured liquid and solid propellant rocket engines for military and commercial applications and have formulated a number of chemicals, including rocket propellant agents, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and other industrial chemicals. In addition, the Cordova Chemical Company operated chemical manufacturing facilities on the Aerojet complex from 1974 to 1979. Both companies disposed of unknown quantities of hazardous waste chemicals, including trichloroethene (TCE) and other chemicals associated with rocket propellants, as well as various chemical processing wastes. Some wastes were disposed of in surface impoundments, landfills, deep injection wells, leachate fields, and some were disposed of by open burning. Underlying the site are extensive 40 to 100 foot-deep dredge tailings, a remnant of past gold mining operations. In 1979, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found off-site in private wells and in the American River in 1983. Perchlorate, a component of solid rocket fuel, was found in drinking water wells off-site above the provisional reference dose range in January 1997. The communities potentially affected by this site are Rancho Cordova, population 61,000; Carmichael, population 68,000, Fair Oaks, population 41,000, and Gold River, population 9,000. The closest residence is about 500 feet away from the site. Groundwater is used extensively throughout the Rancho Cordova area to supply municipal, domestic, industrial and some irrigation water. Public and private drinking water supply wells have been contaminated and wells contaminated above response levels have been closed. Aerojet continues to monitor drinking water supplies to assure compliance with drinking water standards. Lake Natoma and Alder Creek are nearby and are used for recreational activities. The American River is a drinking water source, which receives indirect discharges from Aerojet's facility and groundwater treatment systems under National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.
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