EPA updates public on vapor intrusion at Macon Naval Ordnance Superfund site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday updated the status of its vapor intrusion sampling at Georgia's Macon Naval Ordnance Plant Superfund site focused on the Freudenberg Texbond facility near a former wastewater treatment plant.

In late February, the EPA collected a variety of samples from the site, including outdoor air, sub-slab soil gas and groundwater. The agency also tested indoor air samples, with 14 coming from a variety of locations, emphasising areas with potential trichloroethylene (TCE) accumulation.

Only one of the tests was cause for concern, with TCE detected at a level of 230 micrograms per cubic meter of air in the Line 7 Building’s employee break room. Freudenberg Texbond, upon receiving the EPA’s sampling results, increased the room’s air exchange, and subsequent EPA tests have shown decreased TCE levels.

Moving forward, the EPA will conduct additional air sampling using its Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer, which provides results in real time rather than waiting for laboratory analysis. The site was once used to produce ordnance, and its groundwater is contaminated with TCE.