ECEC is focused on identifying how residents are impacted by our local superfund sites. As we learn more, we will post information on this page.
The North Shore Drive site is located in Elkhart County, Indiana. The approximately 70-acre site is bounded by the St. Joseph River to the south, Old U.S. 20 to the north, Sheridan Blvd. to the east, and Corwin Drive to the west. There are 47 residences and a few commercial establishments on the site. Contamination at the site was initially discovered in 1996, when a concerned citizen contacted the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) with complaints of skin irritation caused by water drawn from a private residential well. IDEM obtained 19 drinking water samples from residential wells and six subsurface soil samples from nearby properties. Volatile organic compounds, including tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene and dichloroethylene were found in the residential well samples. In five homes, contaminants exceeded the Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Levels. IDEM currently provides point-of-entry carbon filters to the residential homes with wells that had contamination approaching or exceeding the MCLs. While investigations have identified some potential sources of contamination, the origin of the contaminants has not been determined.