State of Oregon: Department of Environmental Quality

This report shows data entered as of December 7, 2023 at 11:49:43 AM

This report contains site details, organized into the following sections: 1) Site Photos (appears only if the site has photos); 2) General Site Information; 3) Site Characteristics; 4) Substance Contamination Information; 5) Investigative, Remedial and Administrative Actions; and 6) Site Environmental Controls (i.e., institutional or engineering controls; appears only if DEQ has applied one or more such controls to the site). A key to certain acronyms and terms used in the report appears at the bottom of the page.

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Environmental Cleanup Site Information (ECSI) Database Site Summary Report - Details for Site ID 6320, Wallowa Lake Drum

General Site Information

Site ID: 6320

Site Name: Wallowa Lake Drum

CERCLIS No:

Address:

72115 Marina Lane Joseph 97846

County: Wallowa

Region: Eastern

Other location information:

Investigation Status:

Suspect site requiring further investigation

Brownfield Site: No

NPL Site: No

Orphan Site: Yes

Study Area: No

Property:

Twnshp/Range/Sect: 3S , 45E , 8

Tax Lots:

Latitude: 0 deg.

Longitude: 0 deg.

Site Size:

Other Site Names:

Site Characteristics
General Site Description:
Site History:	Background � In fall 2018, a scuba diver discovered a 55-gallon drum at the bottom of Wallowa Lake with lettering indicating that once held an herbicide. � Drums have been discovered at the lake bottom for years, a remnant of the days when empty drums were used extensively at the lake to float and anchor docks. It was common practice for people to fill the drums with water, rock or cement and anchor the drums with rope to floating docks or mooring floats. Drums were also commonly used to float docks. Over the years, as the docks disintegrated or were removed or abandoned, many of the drums remained, especially those used as anchors. The herbicide drum was discovered in an area not commonly found in past reports. � In September 2018, DEQ received a complaint regarding drums in the Lake. This complaint indicated drums in a different part of the lake as that which has historically received complaints. � Blue Mountain Divers, a local diving group out of Walla Walla, WA, was conducting a club dive to help remove garbage and solid waste when it observed both 55-gallon and 100-gallon drums in the lake. Subsequent photos and video documentation indicated that there were intact drums with �2,4-D�, �2,4,5-T�, and �Weed Killer� labels. � Additional communication with Blue Mountain Divers by EPA concluded that approximately one dozen 100-gallon intact drums are present at a depth of approximately 85 feet depth. In addition, two dozen non-intact drums are also present in the same area. � EPA and DEQ has been coordinating response efforts with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), ODF&W, DSL, Wallowa County Health, and Oregon State Parks.
Contamination Information:
Manner and Time of Release:
Hazardous Substances/Waste Types:
Pathways:
Environmental/Health Threats:
Status of Investigative or Remedial Action:
Data Sources:

Substance Contamination Information
Substance	Media Contaminated	Concentration Level	Date Recorded
No information is available

Investigative, Remedial and Administrative Actions
Action	Start Date	Compl. Date	Resp. Staff	Lead Pgm
ORPHAN SITE (Primary Action)	06/01/2019		James Collins
View Full Report Showing Action History

Key to Certain Acronyms and Terms in this Report:

CERCLIS No.: The U.S. EPA's Hazardous Waste Site identification number, shown only if EPA has been involved at the site.
Region: DEQ divides the state into three regions, Eastern, Northwest, and Western; the regional office shown is responsible for site investigation/cleanup.
NPL Site: Is this site on EPA's National Priority List (i.e., a federal Superfund site)? (Y/N).
Orphan Site: Has DEQ's Orphan Program been active at this site? (Y/N). The Orphan Program uses state funds to clean up high-priority sites where owners and operators responsible for the contamination are absent, or are unable or unwilling to use their own resources for cleanup.
Study Area: Is this site a Study Area? (Y/N). Study Areas are groupings of individual ECSI sites that may be contributing to a larger, area-wide problem. ECSI assigns unique Site ID numbers to both individual sites and to Study Areas.
Pathways: A description of human or environmental resources that site contamination could affect.
Lead Pgm: This column refers to the Cleanup Program affiliation of the DEQ employee responsible for the action shown. SAS or SAP = Site Assessment; VCS or VCP = Voluntary Cleanup; ICP = Independent Cleanup; SRS or SRP = Site Response (enforcement cleanup); ORP = Orphan Program.

For more information on this site contact the Eastern regional office.