Designing a Successful Collaboration Between State and Local Partners to Assess and Cleanup Former Drycleaners

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Dry cleaning is an entry level business in most communities, and many buildings along business routes have at some time been used by the dry cleaning industry. Perchloroethylene (PCE, perc, or tetrachloroethylene), a hazardous air pollutant, has been used over the past 70 years and is the solvent most frequently used in the dry cleaning business. PCE remaining in soil and groundwater from past and present dry cleaning businesses has left a legacy of health risks to neighboring residences and businesses through vapor intrusion, as well as threats to municipal wells. In addition, infrastructure improvements in utility corridors can have work stoppages when PCE is unexpectedly found during excavation. For these reasons, it is useful to have knowledge of locations where PCE has been used. However, records going back more than 30-40 years may be poor. Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to identify, investigate, and remediate sites of environmental contamination in order to reduce the potential exposure of Dane County residents to PCE. Currently, DNR and PHMDC are working on over 30 sites in Dane County where PCE has been identified. An additional 200 probable former dry cleaning sites have been catalogued using archived telephone listings and GIS mapping. During this interactive risk assessment session, participants will learn about how to design and implement a similar program in their community. Speakers from both PHMDC and DHS will describe the process of identifying former dry cleaners, how to conduct indoor and sub-slab air sampling, and risk assessment to determine human health hazard due to PCE exposure.