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1. ATSDR > Public Health Assessments & Consultations

PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

NEW BRIGHTON/ARDEN HILLS
(a/k/a U.S. ARMY TWIN CITIES AMMUNITION PLANT)
NEW BRIGHTON, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA

APPENDIX A: FIGURES

Figure 1. Location of TCAAP and surrounding communities

Figure 2. On-TCAAP Source Areas

Figure 3. Groundwater and Geologic Units

Figure 4. Conceptual Illustration of TCAAP Operable Units 1 and 3

Figure 5. Areas of Contaminated Private Wells and Mobile Home Park Well

APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

TABLE B1. 1980 Population Characteristics: Minnesota, Ramsey County

Age Groups (years)	Minnesota			Ramsey County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	307,249	157,312	149,937	32,044	16,524	15,520
5-9	296,295	151,556	144,739	29,626	15,126	14,500
10-14	333,378	170,607	162,771	34,284	17,344	16,940
15-19	399,818	202,254	197,564	43,728	21,757	21,971
20-24	393,566	194,835	198,731	52,339	25,209	27,130
25-34	676,539	339,172	337,367	82,131	40,745	41,386
35-44	449,216	224,105	225,111	47,439	23,253	24,186
45-54	380,250	188,036	192,214	43,169	20,690	22,479
55-64	360,095	172,877	187,218	41,698	19,180	22,518
> 64	479,564	197,072	282,492	53,326	19,258	34,068
Total	4,075,970	1,997,826	2,078,144	459,784	219,086	240,698

TABLE B2. 1980 Population Characteristics: Anoka, Hennepin Counties

Age Groups (years)	Anoka County			Hennepin County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	17,389	8,902	8,487	59,771	30,348	29,423
5-9	18,699	9,567	9,132	58,045	29,696	28,349
10-14	20,377	10,452	9,925	67,685	34,409	33,276
15-19	20,746	10,530	10,216	82,803	41,705	41,098
20-24	17,284	8,551	8,733	102,328	49,951	52,377
25-34	37,202	18,066	19,136	183,957	90,864	93,093
35-44	27,626	13,939	13,687	107,761	53,255	54,506
45-54	17,571	9,156	8,415	91,911	44,600	47,311
55-64	10,907	5,501	5,406	85,088	40,227	44,861
> 64	8,197	3,425	4,772	102,062	37,372	64,690
Total	195,998	98,089	97,909	941,411	452,427	488,984

TABLE B3. 1985 Population Characteristics: Minnesota, Ramsey County

Age Groups (years)	Minnesota			Ramsey County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	341,846	174,958	166,888	37,597	19,439	18,158
5-14	606,869	311,557	295,312	56,100	28,108	27,992
15-24	720,850	362,778	358,072	89,926	44,077	45,849
25-44	1,276,996	643,397	633,599	139,468	69,968	69,500
45-64	733,685	359,922	373,763	82,232	38,490	43,742
> 64	512,727	208,289	304,438	55,339	19,993	35,346
Total	4,192,973	2,060,901	2,132,072	460,662	220,075	240,587

TABLE B4. 1985 Population Characteristics: Anoka, Hennepin Counties

Age Groups (years)	Anoka County			Hennepin County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	19,628	10,051	9,577	67,827	34,113	33,714
5-14	38,699	20,172	18,560	110,742	56,384	54,358
15-24	36,535	18,425	18,110	185,521	92,368	93,153
25-44	78,851	39,908	38,943	318,150	157,327	160,823
45-64	32,023	16,066	15,957	171,113	82,476	88,637
> 64	9,803	4,040	5,763	107,253	39,554	67,699
Total	215,572	108,662	106,910	960,606	462,222	498,384

TABLE B5. 1988 Population Characteristics: Minnesota, Ramsey County

Age Groups (years)	Minnesota			Ramsey County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	350,332	179,661	170,671	38,273	19,792	18,481
5-14	622,052	319,785	302,267	57,111	28,620	28,491
15-24	773,593	388,752	384,841	91,543	44,877	46,666
25-44	1,281,731	646,363	635,368	141,979	71,240	70,739
	747,481	367,825	379,656	83,714	39,192	44,522
> 64	531,361	214,505	316,856	60,063	22,097	37,966
Total	4,306,550	2,116,891	2,189,659	472,683	225,818	246,865

TABLE B6. 1988 Population Characteristics: Anoka, Hennepin Counties

Age Groups (years)	Anoka County			Hennepin County
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
< 5	21,067	10,777	10,290	69,424	34,944	34,480
5-14	41,569	21,628	19,941	113,351	57,758	55,593
15-24	41,526	20,920	20,606	189,887	94,619	95,268
25-44	82,318	41,626	40,692	325,638	161,160	164,478
45-64	34,369	17,225	17,144	175,138	84,488	90,650
> 64	8,799	3,581	5,218	116,518	43,375	73,143
Total	229,648	115,757	113,891	989,956	476,344	513,612

TABLE B7. Population Characteristics for 1980

	407.01	407.03	408	409.01	409.02	411.05	Total
Total	4466	2386	2446	2040	4054	681	16073
Male	2246	1184	1193	1014	2022	358	8017
Female	2212	1202	1239	1026	2020	313	8012
White	4383	2299	2369	1998	3980	645	15674
Black	9	20	17	10	12	10	78
American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut	5	9	8	13	17	1	53
Asian or Pacific Islander	50	34	41	16	31	8	180
Other	19	24	11	3	14	17	88
Age Group:
< 5 years	401	176	240	203	436	40	1496
5-14 years	869	349	402	367	677	151	2815
15-24 years	670	433	397	390	1027	145	3062
25-34 years	959	598	576	458	868	98	3557
35-44 years	714	344	349	225	419	113	2164
45-54 years	431	234	229	211	317	80	1502
55-64 years	283	176	166	148	202	33	1008
> 65 years	131	76	73	38	96	11	425

TABLE B8. Population Characteristics for 1990

	407.03	407.05	407.06	407.07	408.01	408.02	408.03	409.01	409.02	411.05	Total
Total	6105	3171	5023	4610	3348	937	4914	2337	3976	5555	39976
Male	2952	1598	2455	2297	1627	423	2314	1196	1973	2735	22170
Female	3153	1573	2568	2313	1721	514	2600	1141	2003	2820	17806
White	5918	2984	4857	4477	3108	905	4747	2283	3785	5342
Black	48	31	37	17	66	18	21	7	36	35
American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut	13	16	10	14	8		3	18	46	9
Asian or Pacific Islander	109	117	106	94	154	13	140	27	85	157
Other	17	23	13	8	12	1	3	2	24	12
Age Group:
< 5 years	434	367	581	340	252	36	324	196	392	302	3224
5-14 years	837	465	971	854	646	44	626	343	540	826
15-24 years	751	295	390	587	407	669	562	334	694	790
25-34 years	1011	850	1061	587	456	146	580	453	1031	668
35-44 years	1276	587	1158	1025	738	32	858	411	521	919
45-54 years	845	290	437	648	448	6	617	266	383	941
55-64 years	530	204	243	295	231	4	458	189	236	637
> 65 years	421	113	182	274	170		889	145	179	472	2845

APPENDIX C: ON-TCAAP SITE DESCRIPTIONS

Derived from the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency's
Ecological Assessment Report
Reference #12

SITE A

Site A is an area of approximately 7.5 hectares at the northern boundary of the plant. It appears to be fairly flat, but a slight change in elevation is sufficient to produce an area of intermittent marsh in the southeastern corner. The cover is mainly grass; trees are intermittent at the eastern end of the area. There are shrubby willows in the marsh areas. One building is on site: the extremely long and narrow indoor firing range (Bldg. 308). The area has been divided into five subsites. These were in use from the 1940s until at least 1966.

Past disposal activities in this area included burial of mercurous nitrate-contaminated cartridge cases; dumping of sewage sludge; open burning of primer, tracer, and incendiary waste; burning of flammable liquids; and burial of miscellaneous debris. Most burning seems to have been carried out in pits rather than on the surface. There is a landfill face in Area A-5 with exposed debris, such as paint cans. Surface soils and sediments are contaminated with metals.

SITE B

Site B, just to the east of Site A, consists of three separate subsites totalling about 0.9 hectare along the northern boundary of TCAAP. These subsites are in an area of intermittent, small marshes. There is little relief in the area. There are numerous clusters of trees, especially around a farmstead that was abandoned before construction of TCAAP. There is no documentation of hazardous substance disposal at this site, although it is possible that small amounts of sewage sludge were dumped before 1966. The southeastern corner of Area B-3 is part of a large landfill area.

SITE C

Site C is a flat grassland of 6.7 hectares just south of Site A. Area C-1, the subsite of primary concern, is about 1.4 hectares. From 1947 to at least 1957, the site was used for the open burning of lumber, solvents, oils, and other production materials. Burning of brush and grass continued until 1970. Solvents and oils were burned in pits.

SITE D

Site D is a 0.7-hectare area on the slopes of the Arsenal Kame. It has been completely cleared, and it supports only a sparse growth of grasses and forbs (herbs other than grass). Most of the area has been covered by a clay cap and structures associated with an ISV. Pits at this site were used for burning oil, solvents, rags, floor sweepings, and powder from sumps in production buildings. Thousands of gallons of solvents were placed in these pits; the sandy substrate at this location provided a pathway to the groundwater. Additional materials disposed of were neutralized cyanide solutions from plating operations and wastes from decontaminated machines and buildings. The site was in use from 1950 until at least 1968, and perhaps as late as 1973.

SITE E

Site E comprises 5 hectares of the Arsenal Kame. This portion of the kame is composed of grassland and patches of forest; Subsite E-2 was last cleared in 1980 and has only light vegetation. There is a considerable amount of manmade relief across the site, including a 300-meter fill face with a variety of protruding debris. The top of the landfill has been covered with clean fill, graded, and revegetated with grasses. This area was a dump for noncombustible rubbish dating from the building of the plant until late 1949. Unidentified chemicals may also have been disposed of there. E-2 also was used as a burning area for rubbish.

SITE F

Site F is about 4 hectares and is low on the eastern slope of the Arsenal Kame. The disposal area is a plateau that falls off abruptly to the south. This level area has a hard substrate of gravel with a light covering of forbs and grasses. There are a few scattered trees, mainly around the perimeter of the area. This site was used from 1950 to at least 1978 for burning scrap powder and ordnance, including mercurous nitrate-contaminated cartridge cases, in tanks and kettles. Pits for the burial of those cases and of cyanide-contaminated pots were also located on the site. These activities generated the highest levels of surface contamination on the property. Some use was made of the site until at least 1981. Site F shows some evidence of chemical stress; a small plot of unvegetated ground is in an area of high surface contamination. The sparse vegetative cover over other parts of this site may result in part from past disturbances there; it was in use more recently than any other site.

SITE G

Site G covers about 1.7 hectares at the base of the Arsenal Kame, about 200 meters south of Site F. This site functioned as a general purpose dump from the 1940s until late 1976. Some of its contents include material from demolished buildings, urethane foam, floor sweepings, scrap metal and metal grindings, and ashes from scrap paper-burning cages. Most of the site is now an artificial plateau characterized by a fairly high and steep fill face with protruding debris. Water sampled from a seep at the base of this face and shows some radioactivity. This plateau has been covered with a clay cap and is the site of another ISV system. Just off the fill areas to the north and south are bands of trees; otherwise, the area is lightly vegetated. Immediately to the northeast of the site boundary is a small pond (0.1 hectare) that receives drainage from the site. This pond is heavily used by wildlife in the vicinity, because it is some distance to any other standing water.

SITE H

Site H is in the southeastern corner of the property. It occupies 4.5 hectares of rolling grassland on the north shore of Sunfish Lake; there are intermittent trees. A cage used for burning wood and paper trash was located near the shore until late in 1946. Another cage located west of this spot was used for similar purposes from 1953 to 1968 or 1969. A considerable portion of the area has been used as a dump. Aerial photographs show that an entire bay of the lake was filled in during World War II. There is a fill face along a portion of the lake shore, and some minor debris is visible on the land surface and on the lake bottom. Dumping probably ceased when off-site waste disposal began in 1967. Solvents, incinerator clinkers, and ash from the burning cages are some of the materials that were dumped at Site H. With a maximum depth of 1.6 meters and a median depth of 1.25 meters, the lake is subject to winter kill. The consequent lack of large predatory fish has made it suitable for use as a rearing pond for game fish to be released by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

SITE I

Site I is in the industrial area of the plant and corresponds to Building 502 and its immediate surroundings. Part of the Site I facility has been used to produce artillery shell forgings. The forges were cooled by water that was discharged to floor drains along with water used in general clean-up operations. The floor drains in this part of the building were connected to the storm sewer system rather than the sanitary sewer. The forging equipment used large quantities of hydraulic fluid containing high percentages of PCBs. Leakage from this equipment, lubricants used in the forging process, and other contaminants consequently had a pathway into the storm sewer. The storm sewer discharged into a ditch that feeds into Round Lake through a sewer outfall at the intersection of Highways 96 and 10.

During 1942 and 1943, about 1.9 million liters of waste were discharged from this building and Building 501 into the lake each day. In 1944, when the forges were added to both of these buildings, daily discharges increased. They remained high until the end of the war. The storm sewer system was altered in 1953 in response to complaints about grease and oil pollution in Round Lake; water from some of the floor drains was subsequently sent to the sanitary sewer. For about 1 year before this conversion, Round Lake may have received about 3.8 million liters (1 million gallons) of waste water that was still being discharged to the floor drains. In 1969, Honeywell, the tenant of the building, noted that many floor drains were still connected to the storm sewer. This situation has since been remedied.

Quantities of PCBs were found in the soils outside the eastern end of the building. These soils were excavated and contained in a facility on the site. Site I is a major point of origin for VOCs that are contaminating the groundwater. These contaminants appear at relatively low concentrations in the shallow Unit 1 aquifer, which might contribute groundwater to Round Lake. However, the remedial investigation calls for additional study of this aquifer. Site I has also been the location of depleted uranium milling operations since 1974. Low levels of depleted uranium have been detected in the lake sediments near the sewer outfall. The depleted uranium in the samples was below the levels of uranium that occur naturally in the soil. Site I is still in use as a production facility.

SITE J

Site J is a portion of the TCAPP sewer system. It is relevant to this assessment because of an emergency overflow provision that allowed sanitary sewer wastes to flow into Round Lake. The overflow outfall entered Round Lake at a point west of the storm sewer outfall. This part of the sewage system was blocked off in 1982 or 1983. There have been at least 5 on-site and 14 off-site sewer main breaks that might have necessitated diversion of either treated or untreated sewage to Round Lake. Generally, it is unknown how much sewage may have been diverted to the lake from this source during the plant's history. There are records of several multimillion-liter discharges. A great variety of contaminants could have been included in this sewage, including depleted uranium, other metals, and cyanide.

SITE K

Site K, which corresponds to Building 103 and its immediate surroundings, is adjacent to Rice Creek. Rice Creek is used for fishing and is classified as suitable for wildlife uses. Building 103 was used for .50-caliber ammunition manufacture during World War II. From 1946 through 1951, cleaning, storage, and degreasing of production machinery took place there. Ammunition manufacture resumed in 1951 and was finally terminated in 1957. The building was reactivated in 1961 and continues to be used; products were changed from ammunition to fuses, mines, and weapons systems. Degreasing, metal finishing, and painting have been important activities in this most recent phase.

There is significant contamination of soils and groundwater with both solvents and zinc beneath Building 103. The piezometric surface of the perched aquifer beneath the building is higher than the surface of Rice Creek. Thus, this groundwater has the ability to move towards the creek. In the past, the storm sewer has provided a pathway for contaminated groundwater to enter the creek. Currently, a system is in place that extracts contaminated groundwater and sends it through an air-stripping tower to remove most of the volatile organic solvents, but the tower does not remove metals. The processed water is then discharged to Rice Creek. Analysis of this effluent has occasionally shown levels of zinc in excess of acute toxicity levels. The remedial investigation calls for additional sampling of surface water and sediments in the creek to delineate and quantify more adequately any contamination that may exist.

SITE 129-3

Site 129-3 is in the middle of the Arsenal Kame, southeast of Site E. At one point, their boundaries are separated by about 50 meters. The site occupies about 0.5 hectare of savanna, which slopes gently to the west. This site was used for the disposal of sump wastewater, mainly from a lead styphnate primer mixing process. For this purpose, two pits, with a total area of about 900 square meters, were excavated. Neutralized sump water was dumped into the pits and allowed to percolate into the ground or evaporate. Residue remaining in the pit was then burned. There may have been a separate pit for the disposal of mercurous nitrate. This site was in operation from December 1971 until sometime before July 1976. The pits were filled in and sealed sometime during 1977.

SITE 129-5

Site 129-5 is a 2.2-hectare area of mixed terrain near the western shore of Lake Marsden. About half of the area in the northern edge of the firing range consists of a savanna habitat that slopes gently toward the lake and is cut by gullies. The gravel surface is sparsely revegetated. In 1945 or 1946, pits for burning explosives were established in an unspecified location in the southeastern quadrant of the site. Some of the northeastern corner of the site may have been included in a large area that was established in 1948 for burning ammunition and smokeless powder. This operation ceased in 1951. The area was subsequently mined and then covered over by gravel-washing activities. Some solvents may have been burned at the site, and ammunition debris is visible on the surface.

SITE 129-15

Site 129-15 occupies 2.7 hectares of the kame and lies about 100 meters from Site F, which is on the same east-facing slope. This site, the northern part of F, and the intervening ground are covered with forest interspersed with small clearings and roads. Animals that are part of the TCAAP deer herd are frequently found in this area. The most prominent feature of the site is a landfill; it has created an artificial plateau with a steep fill face about 7 or 8 meters high. The top of the fill area is covered with gravel and is only partly revegetated with herbs and forbs. This area was used as a general landfill for nonsalvageable and supposedly noncombustible materials, including urethane foam and plastics and demolition debris. It was active from 1970 or 1972 until 1978.

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