Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Bethpage (NWIRP) -- also known as '

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Site Facility' -- was a United States government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility established in 1941, with the mission to design, fabricate, and test prototype aircraft for the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

and the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

in the

town of Oyster Bay The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore o ...

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 16,429 at the 2010 United States Cen ...

. Two groundwater plumes of toxic chemicals, mostly

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a ...

s migrating from the property were discovered in 1986 and in 2009, affecting the water district well fields. The site is subject to state

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

cleanup plans. Special water treatment plants were established in the early 2000s.

History

The former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant is situated on 605 acres in the Town of Oyster Bay, Bethpage, NY. In 1936 the

Grumman The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...

Corporation was founded and produced aircraft at the site, before the Navy established the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Bethpage there in 1941. The site was a 'storage facility' and since 1976 permitted under the federal

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq ...

(RCRA) to both the Navy and Northrop Grumman as responsible parties. In 1986, the first of 2 known plumes of contamination was discovered, a shallow one; in 2009 a larger, deeper plume was found under what became the Bethpage Community Park. Grumman installed and operates an Onsite Containment System. Manufacturing stopped in 1996. There are public and private water wells located within a two-mile radius of the plant, as of 2014 and local water districts worry that public-supply wells could be affected. 2014 results from a monitoring well the Navy installed north of Hempstead Turnpike show

Trichloroethylene The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear, colourless non-flammable liquid with a chloroform-like sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, ...

levels as high as 4,600 parts per billion in groundwater hundreds of feet below the surface.=

Groundwater Flow Simulation

In 2010 the groundwater flow system was simulated by

Paul Misut Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

of the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

to provide a scientific basis for designing systems to remediate the groundwater plumes that originated from the facility. A new study published in 2020 provides updated information.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official site-Navy Information page
Weapons and ammunition installations of the United States Navy Bethpage, New York Installations of the United States Navy in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Nassau County, New York Military installations closed in the 1990s Military Superfund sites Closed installations of the United States Navy 1941 establishments in New York (state)

History

Groundwater Flow Simulation

See also

References

External links