south bay asbestos area

FT OF LIBERTY ST GUADALUPE RIV

The 550-acre South Bay Asbestos Area site is located on the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay. Portions of the site served as dumping areas for over 30 years. Three landfills located within the site boundaries (the Santos Landfill, the Leslie Salt Landfill, and the Sainte Claire Corporation Landfill) received asbestos wastes from an asbestos-cement pipe manufacturing plant, located 4 miles south of the site, that operated from 1953 until 1982. Residents reportedly used waste asbestos pipe to drain excess water from their properties before curbs and gutters were installed. Several areas may have been filled with asbestos-containing soils transported in by residents to raise the elevation of their property and to improve flood protection. As a result of heavy rains in 1983, Coyote Creek flooded the site. The City of San Jose built a levee around the town to pump out the floodwater. The levee material was taken from the Raisch Quarry in southern San Jose and was later found to contain asbestos. Asbestos also was found in the Guadalupe River levee, the ring levee, and in surface soils around the town. Approximately 1,700 people live in Alviso. Most water is provided to South Bay residents through public supply systems that draw groundwater from the deep aquifer. The majority of private wells draw water from the less-protected shallow aquifer. The ring levee lies within the 100-year flood plain of the Guadalupe River and was built on portions of wetland areas adjacent to Alviso. The levee also abuts wetland areas next to a National Wildlife Refuge.

Hazardous Ranking Score

45 / 100

A score of 28.5 or higher qualifies a site for the Superfund National Priority List.

Regional Contact

Region 9
Phone: (415) 947-4251

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Timeline

Discovery
Site Inspection
Preliminary Assessment
Final Listing On NPL
Removal

Contaminants & Health Effects

      Carcinogen
      Endocrine Disrupter
      Neurotoxic
      Sensitiser
      Reproductive Toxin
      Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic
      VOC
      Mutagen

        Census

        White
        African American
        Asian
        American Indian and Alaska Native
        Native Hawaiian
        Other

        2,070

        People living
        within a 1 mile radius

        $98,635

        Average Income

        575

        Occupied homes

        Potentially Responsible Parties

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