Superfund Sites

"Widespread injustices have been and still continue to be done to residents of New Jersey's most impoverished city."
Roy Jones, coordinator, SJEJA and Camden resident

MARTIN AARON SUPERFUND SITE, 1542 BROADWAY -  This 2.4 acre area was used for the past 30 years by companies which reconditioned drums containing hazardous materials.  The drums were drained and washed with a caustic solution, with runoff collected in basins. Containers leaked onto the ground.  Liquid and solid hazardous waste and up to 1,000 waste containers were illegally buried on the property. The company was repeatedly cited by DEP during the 1980’s and 1990’s for discharges of hazardous substances, but was allowed to continue to operate.  It finally went out of business in 1998. The entire site and the surface groundwater was eventually contaminated with VOCs, PCB’s, arsenic, cadmium, and lead.  The contamination has even spread to adjoining properties.  The building on the property was torn down and the surface soil removed and replaced, but the groundwater contamination is continuing to spread and could eventually affect the water quality in nearby City wells. The EPA has adopted a clean up plan which calls for partial removal of contaminated soil, and capping, with the site being restricted to industrial use.

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