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Waverly’s Old Factory Site: Monitoring Extension & Your Chance to Speak Up

Ohio EPA Seeks Input on Parker Hannifin Site Changes

State environmental officials want your thoughts! They’re reviewing a request to change how the old Parker Hannifin factory site in Waverly, Ohio, is monitored long-term. The Ohio EPA got the request on February 4th.

What’s Being Requested?

Parker Hannifin wants to update its financial plans and extend the site’s environmental monitoring for 10 extra years, pushing the end date to June 30, 2035. The original 30-year monitoring period started back in 1995 and was set to finish in June 2025.

What is “Post-Closure Care”?

After factories that handled dangerous waste shut down, owners must keep checking the site to protect people and the environment. This is called “post-closure care.” It includes:

Testing groundwater regularly
Maintaining caps on contaminated areas
Running cleanup systems if needed
Reporting results to regulators
Having money set aside to pay for all this work

Rules require at least 30 years of care, but extensions happen if contamination lingers.

The Site Today: Stores, Farms, and Hidden History

Three Different Zones

The Parker Hannifin area is split into three parts:

North: Now home to Waverly’s ALDI store. This spot housed Parker Hannifin’s Hydraulic Valve Division until 1988.
Center: Owned and operated by Walmart.
South: Still used as farmland.

The factory building itself was torn down in 2017.

Past Pollution Problems

After the factory closed in 1988, tests found harmful chemicals in the groundwater. A plume (like an underground cloud) jerked south toward Pee Pee Creek. The main contaminant was trichloroethene (TCE). Other chemicals above safe levels included:

Tetrachloroethene
1,1-dichloroethene
cis-1,2-dichloroethene
Methylene chloride
Vinyl chloride

What’s Happened So Far?

The Ohio EPA first approved a cleanup plan in 2001. It was updated several times, with a major revision in 2006. Cleanup systems ran until 2023 under state oversight. In January 2024, the cleanup system was temporarily shut down, but:a monitoring continues.