Sandies Dry Cleaner & Laundry
Little Chute, WI
513 Grand Ave.
Little Chute, WI 54140
Latitude: 44.2792130
Longitude: -88.3159220
Sandies Dry Cleaner and Laundry facility operated as a dry cleaner and laundry from 1957 to near 2003 and has been vacant since 2006. The building and location emit a strong history of people moving in and out of the family business and on to a busy small town street. The current owner indicated to the State that Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) was used at the Site from 1958 to 2003. Sandies Dry Cleaners is surrounded by Bakers Outlet to the south, and to the north Weenies Still Bar a local haunt. Both Weenies Still Bar and Bakers Outlet share a brick wall with Sandies. There is another business, American Family Insurance, in the building complex connected to the south of Bakers Outlet. Weenies Still Bar, Bakers Outlet, and American Family Insurance are all operating businesses.
Soil contaminated with PCE was found next to the dry cleaning machine and PCE vapors were detected in the indoor air at the Site. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services conducted indoor air sampling on February 17, 2011. WDHS documented the presence of PCE in all samples collected at this time. Results of PCE in indoor air samples collected in the unoccupied second floor apartments and all three levels of the Weenies Still Bar property exceeded both EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) screening levels and recommended action levels.
Shallow groundwater contaminated with PCE at high concentrations could pose a vapor intrusion risk and potentially impact the homes and businesses adjoining the Site. Subslab soil gas samples collected at Sandies near the dry cleaning machines showed a result of 22,000 ppbv of PCE. These concentrations are more than 700 times the EPA/ATSDR subslab removal action level of 30 ppbv. Cracks in the neighboring basement walls were witnessed, indicating that polluted groundwater and vapors could infiltrate directly into the neighboring buildings. Indoor PCE concentrations collected during the EPA’s Site assessment exceeded the EPA /ATSDR removal action level of 3 ppbv for PCE.
