Site Narrative:
The Rago Elevator is located in the southeast corner Rago, Kansas, approximately half a mile south of the Highway 42 and Highway 14 intersection on Highway 14. The site area is composed of a mix of residences and farmland. The terrain surrounding the site slopes gradually to the south and is drained by Rose Bud Creek and Red Creek, which both drain into the Chikaskia River.
The Rago Elevator was originally built in the early 1900s near the intersection of the Hutchinson & Southern Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad. In 1965, Garvey Inc., which is documented to have purchased carbon tetrachloride for other grain elevators within the corporation, became the new owners after the original Rago Elevator burned (1965) and was rebuilt (1965). The Rago Elevator, with a 170,000 bushel capacity, is a small facility used during peak harvest season, and emptied yearly in order to prepare for the next year’s harvest. The elevator was apparently not utilized for long-term storage. In June 1993, Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company acquired the elevator from Garvey.
Grain fumigant handling and grain storage facilities can be potential sources for carbon tetrachloride contamination. Historically, carbon tetrachloride has been detected in ground water and soil collected from other former Garvey grain elevators.
Soil at the site is composed of Albion series with a one to three percent slope. The well-drained, permeable sandy loam is formed from alluvium and underlying limestone and shale. Bedrock is encountered at approximately 40 to 50 feet below ground surface level and consists of layered beds of red shale, siltstone, sandstone, and thin limestone of the Salt Plain Siltstone of the Nippewalla Group.
A search of KDHE’s water well completion records (Form WWC-5) identified three domestic wells and three industrial wells potentially downgradient of the site. The other domestic wells in the town are upgradient of the site and did not show up on the water well completion records database, which may mean they were constructed before 1975. Rago has no public water supply. Domestic wells in the vicinity of the site range in depth from 30 to 45 feet below ground surface.
KDHE sampled six private wells around the Rago Elevator. At each location, the well was allowed to discharge for five to ten minutes using an exterior faucet. The samples were collected directly into two 40 ml acid-preserved glass vials and one 250 ml bottle. Samples were labeled and immediately placed on ice for transportation to KDHE’s Health and Environmental Laboratories or Pace Analytical Services, Inc., to be analyzed for volatile organic compounds using EPA Method 8260 and nitrate using EPA Method 300.0.
Carbon tetrachloride was not detected in groundwater sampled from domestic wells surrounding the Rago grain elevator.
Nitrate was detected in ground water samples collected from area wells at levels below the RSK value of 10 mg/L. The ground water samples collected just upgradient of the site ranged from 1.7 mg/L to 2.2 mg/L. Ground water sampled from downgradient wells contained concentrations of nitrate ranging from 0.46 mg/L to 2.1 mg/L.
Carbon tetrachloride was not detected in ground water samples collected downgradient of the site. Further CERCLA response consistent with § 300 of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan is not recommended for the Rago Elevator site. The limited sampling conducted for this SRE does not indicate a significant release of hazardous substances at the Rago Elevator site. |