EPA adds Kokomo site to priority cleanup list

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) – A nearly 300-acre plume of tainted groundwater in Kokomo has been added to the federal Superfund program’s priority list that seeks to move along investigations of industrial contamination.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that vinyl chloride, an industrial solvent, taints a 294-acre area of groundwater in the city about 40 miles north of Indianapolis.

The EPA said multiple businesses handle chlorinated solvents in that area, but the source of the plume of groundwater contamination has not yet been determined.

The underground water plume encompasses several municipal wells in the city that provide drinking water to about 55,000 Kokomo residents.

Superfund is a federal program that investigates and may clean up complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites.