Apache Powder Company- St. David, AZ
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member linkys
N 31° 53.433 W 110° 13.909
12R E 572645 N 3528562
Site of an operation manufacturing industrial chemicals and explosives which resulted in soil and groundwater contamination.
Waymark Code: WM808K
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 01/02/2010
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Team Farkle 7
Views: 12

Apache Powder, now Apache Nitrogen Products (ANP) began with the manufacture of dynamite began in 1922, and within a year the plant was producing nearly a million pounds a month. Over the ensuing years the products produced included nitroglycerin, nitric acid, solid and liquid ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers, nitric acid and aqua ammonia. As was typical of the times, these operations produced both liquid and solid wastes that were disposed of on the plant property. This led to contamination of soils on the facility and groundwater contamination not only underneath the plant’s operations area, but also in the nearby shallow aquifer and San Pedro River. Principal contaminants are nitrate and perchlorate.


In August 1990 the site was placed on the National Priorities List of Superfund sites, and 18 years later in September 2008 EPA signed a Preliminary Closeout Report stating that all construction activities related to the cleanup were complete. Currently the only requirements are long term cleanup and monitoring of ground water.

The site has proved to be a model for what can be done with renewable energy sources to reduce cleanup cost. By using constructed wetlands, Solar PV and wind energy, cleanup costs have been reduced from the initial $25 million estimate to $10 million or less over the estimated 30 year groundwater cleanup time.


ID: AZD008399263

Site Name: Apache Powder Company

Link to Site: [Web Link]

Additional Parking: Not Listed

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