Naylors Run is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 1, 2011

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

Cobbs Creek Cobbs Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It forms an approximat ...

in Haverford and

Upper Darby Township Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In 1975, a small dam was built near Naylors Run Park to help control flooding. Naylors Run flows underground in Upper Darby from Sherbrook Boulevard to Walnut Park Drive, where it joins Cobbs Creek. Thousands of feet of Naylors Run were channeled into underground culverts to facilitate commercial and residential development in the filled land above the pipes. Naylors Run joins Cobbs Creek near 63rd st and Cedar Lane. Naylors Run would normally be an intermittent stream, but it has become a perennially flowing stream because of the treated water discharged from the Havertown PCP Superfund water treatment facility.

Havertown PCP superfund site pollution

The Havertown PCP Superfund site severely polluted Naylors Run. National Wood Preservers (NWP) operated a

wood preservation Wood easily degrades without sufficient preservation. Apart from structural wood preservation measures, there are a number of different chemical preservatives and processes (also known as "timber treatment", "lumber treatment" or "pressure treat ...

treatment plant at the intersection of Eagle Road and West Hillcrest Avenue in

Havertown Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a post ...

from 1947 to 1991. During its operations, chemicals used to treat wood and waste products were dumped into a well on the property. These chemicals fed directly into Naylors Run. In 1962, the

Pennsylvania Department of Health Pennsylvania Department of Health is a cabinet-level agency in Pennsylvania. Secretaries See also * Health department * List of Pennsylvania state agencies State related agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Agencies * Pennsylvania ...

discovered pollution leaking into Naylors Run and attributed it to NWP's waste disposal practices after receiving complaints from local residents about an oily substance being discharged from a sewer pipe. Analysis of water samples from Naylors Creek measured

pentachlorophenol Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is an organochlorine compound used as a pesticide and a disinfectant. First produced in the 1930s, it is marketed under many trade names. It can be found as pure PCP, or as the sodium salt of PCP, the latter of which dis ...

(PCP) concentrations of 0.5 parts per million (ppm). Concentrations of PCP at 0.2 ppm are lethal to fish. The

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

(EPA) ranked the Havertown PCP Superfund site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States. In 1976, the

(EPA) initiated clean-up action under section 311 of the

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

. They installed filter fences to remove PCP contaminated oil from the surface water of Naylors Run. They sealed a sanitary sewer pipe and attempted to seal a storm sewer drain but contaminants continued to drain directly into Naylors Run. From 1981 to 1983, the EPA conducted an investigation to determine the level of contamination of Naylors Run. It was believed that 90% of the PCP released into the stream had been absorbed into the sediment and could potentially act as a secondary source of contamination. At the EPA's recommendation, NWP posted signs along Naylors Run to warn about the health risks. In 1987, the EPA tested samples from nine locations in Naylors Run and detected contaminants such as

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, bu ...

, benzo(a)anthracene,

benzo(a)pyrene Benzo 'a''yrene (B''a''P or B ) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and the result of incomplete combustion of organic matter at temperatures between and . The ubiquitous compound can be found in coal tar, tobacco smoke and many foods, esp ...

dioxin Dioxin may refer to: * 1,2-Dioxin or 1,4-Dioxin, two unsaturated heterocyclic 6-membered rings where two carbon atoms have been replaced by oxygen atoms, giving the molecular formula C4H4O2 * Dibenzo-1,4-dioxin, the parent compound also known ...

and PCP. In 1989, the EPA installed a catch-basin and oil/water separator for the storm drain effluent into Naylors Run. The oil/water separator was removed after installation of recovery wells and a water treatment facility at the main contamination site in 2001. In 2008, the EPA determined that sediment and surface water in Naylors Run did not contain contaminants from the Havertown PCP Superfund site in excess of EPA risk levels. They did however determine that the stream contained other chemicals in excess of EPA risk levels from sources other than the Superfund site. Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the superfund site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013. The site was deemed to be "short-term protective of human health and the environment" in the sixth five-year report conducted by the EPA in 2020.

References

External links

* TCN-EPA "Ecological Assessment of Naylors Run" 1991-06-21 https://semspub.epa.gov/work/03/111761.pdf Haverford Township, Pennsylvania Rivers of Delaware County, Pennsylvania Superfund sites in Pennsylvania Tributaries of Darby Creek (Pennsylvania) {{Pennsylvania-river-stub