Site History
1701 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa CA 92627
Site Information
CLEANUP STATUS
ACTIVE AS OF 4/19/2011
SITE TYPE: STATE RESPONSE OR NPL NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST:
NO ACRES: 20 ACRES APN: NONE SPECIFIED CLEANUP OVERSIGHT AGENCIES:DTSC - SITE CLEANUP PROGRAM - LEAD AGENCY
ENVIROSTOR ID: 6000155
SITE CODE: 40157S
SPECIAL PROGRAM: FUNDING: RESPONSIBLE PARTY
ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 74
SENATE DISTRICT: 37
Regulatory Profile
PAST USE(S) THAT CAUSED CONTAMINATIONFOUNDRY, UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS POTENTIAL CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERNTETRACHLOROETHYLENE (PCE)POTENTIAL MEDIA AFFECTEDINDOOR AIR, OTHER GROUNDWATER AFFECTED (USES OTHER THAN DRINKING WATER), SOIL, SOIL VAPOR, UNDER INVESTIGATION
Site History
CLA-VAL is approximately 20 acres located at 1701 Placentia Avenue. The property is bounded to the south by West 17th Street and to the east and west by Placentia Avenue and Monrovia Avenue, respectively. CLA-VAL manufactures automatic control valves. The property is occupied by various assembly/manufacturing buildings, foundry/casting buildings, test building/structures, offices, stock yard, and paved parking areas.
Before 1954, the property was undeveloped except for some residences in the western portion of the property. The property was developed for commercial use beginning in 1954 and has been occupied by CLA-VAL since that time.
Current property operations include various processes in the manufacturing of metal valves used in a variety of applications. Casting of various alloys, primarily steel and cast iron, were machined using an oil-based cutting oil. A steel foundry and casting area are located in the northeastern portion of the property. Machining and assembly occur in buildings predominantly located in southeastern portion of the property. Building 10 located in the southwest portion of the site contained degreasing equipment that used PCE. The northwestern portion of the site was developed and leased to an outside company.
CLA-VAL used chlorinated solvents in several areas of the property and stored new and used solvent in both above ground and underground storage tanks. CLA-VAL reports that its use of PCE was limited to degreasing equipment located at Building 10 and included a PCE vapor degreaser and storage tank. It appears that the degreasing system did not have any underground piping and was decommissioned in 1991, after which PCE was no longer used at the property. Spent PCE generated from the equipment was stored in drums and later shipped off-site. Waste oil came from CLA-VAL machining operations.
Several environmental investigations have been completed to assess releases of solvent/waste oil for USTs. VOC impacted soil was encountered in two different areas where waste oil USTs were removed (referred to as the “West Excavation” and the “Former Tank Pit”). VOC-impacted soil (9,000 µg/kg of TCE or 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane; the laboratory was unable to distinguish the two compounds) was removed from the West Excavation. A larger apparent release occurred in the Former Tank Pit area (PCE up to 680,000 µg/kg and TCE up to 44,000 µg/kg). Not all of the VOC-impacted soil could be removed from this area because of property structures. Both cases were closed by OCHCA. Groundwater was not sampled during either of these investigations.
PCE and/or TCE concentrations were reported in soil samples from two former waste oil UST areas of the CLA-VAL property. Impacted soil was excavated from both areas. However, some impacted soil was left in place at the former tank pit area because it could not be removed safely due to the presence of structures and utilities. An SVE system was subsequently operated and the UST case was closed. However, groundwater samples were not collected at the CLA-VAL property and present a data gap.
