chisman creek

WOLF TRAP RD

The Chisman Creek site, located in York County, Virginia is a 27-acre site consisting of four former sand and gravel pits in which fly ash (estimated to be more than 500,000 tons) from the Yorktown Power Generating Station was disposed from 1957 to 1974. The fly ash was removed from one of the pits and placed in another pit in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Virginia State Board of Health, the Virginia State Water Control Board, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science sampled residential wells and the surface water in the area of the pits in response to a homeowner reporting discolored well water. These investigations found heavy metal contamination in Chisman Creek and in the groundwater in and near the fly ash disposal areas. The Remedial Investigation performed by EPA determined that the groundwater contamination was localized in the area of the pits. Nickel and vanadium were the most ubiquitous contaminants. Arsenic, beryllium, chromium, copper, molybdenum, and selenium were also detected at elevated concentrations. Approximately 500 to 1,000 people lived within a 1-mile radius of the site in 1986.