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Superfund / NPL site · EPA Superfund SEMS through latest publishNPL FinalFEDERAL FACILITY

Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center

This site is currently on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List and remains under federal cleanup oversight. Most-cited contaminant of concern: Arsenic.

201 Indian Head Highway, Indian Head, Maryland · ZIP 20640 · EPA ID MD7170024684

See Charles ContaminantsEquity contextHow we read Superfund data
CLEANUP TIMELINE

Listing-date and cleanup-phase enrichment from EPA's per-site SEMS profile is queued for a follow-up ingest pass. Until then, this section will populate from EPA's published timeline data.

Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

No notable signals at this Superfund site for the current ingest. Cleanup-phase and SEMS-action flags are deferred to a follow-up engineering pass.

Contaminants of concern · per EPA SEMS

What's In This Site

Each row pairs a contaminant with the medium it was found in (the exposure pathway). Hover any named contaminant for an agency-cited health-risk summary. Cited count = number of SEMS decision records (RODs and related) that name the pair.

ContaminantPathwayCited
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater5
Chloroethene (Vinyl Chloride)Health riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen — angiosarcoma of the liver. Final TCE/PCE biodegradation product; commonly found in groundwater plumes. EPA MCL 2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater5
Cis-1,2-DichloroetheneHealth riskTCE biodegradation intermediate. EPA MCL 70 µg/L; lower toxicity than parent solvents but commonly co-occurs in groundwater plumes. (EPA)Groundwater5
TrichloroetheneHealth riskTCE. IARC Group 1 carcinogen — kidney cancer; suspected liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. EPA MCL 5 µg/L; common DNAPL groundwater plume contaminant. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater5
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Soil4
IronGroundwater4
ManganeseHealth riskExcess inhalation can cause manganism, a Parkinson-like neurological disorder. (ATSDR)Groundwater4
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Sediment2
IronSoil2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Soil2
TetrachloroetheneHealth riskPCE / 'perc'. IARC Group 2A probable carcinogen; central-nervous-system effects; common dry-cleaning solvent and DNAPL plume contaminant. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater2
1,1,2,2-TetrachloroethaneGroundwater1
1,1-DichloroetheneHealth riskVinylidene chloride; IARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence in humans) but liver toxic in animal studies; common TCE/PCE biodegradation product. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
1,2-DichloroethaneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; liver and kidney toxic. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (Tcdd)Soil1
Aroclor 1260Health riskPCBs. IARC Group 1 carcinogen; immune, reproductive, and neurological effects; bioaccumulate in fish and breast milk. Banned in 1979; persist as legacy contamination. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Solid Waste1
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Solid Waste1
Benzo[A]Pyrene Equivalents (Bapeq)Health riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
CadmiumSediment1
CadmiumSoil1
Carbon DisulfideGroundwater1
Carbon TetrachlorideHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; liver toxic. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. Banned for most uses since 1986. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
ChloroformGroundwater1
ChromiumHealth riskHexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is an IARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation, causing lung cancer; trivalent chromium is far less toxic. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Sediment1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Soil1
Diethyl EtherGroundwater1
ManganeseHealth riskExcess inhalation can cause manganism, a Parkinson-like neurological disorder. (ATSDR)Sediment1

Showing the top 30 pairs by SEMS citation count. 11 additional (contaminant, pathway) pairs are recorded for this site.

Drinking-water linkage · SDWIS

Groundwater Systems Serving Communities Within 3 Miles

The 4 systems below draw on groundwater (or mixed sources) and serve communities whose centroid sits within 3 miles of this site. Distance is to the served-city centroid — SDWIS does not expose individual wellhead locations, so this is a proximity screen, not a wellhead-impact assessment.

Water systemServesDistancePopulation servedSourceStatus
Green Meadows Water Company PrivateIndian Head1.1 mi68GROUNDWATERIn compliance
Town Of Indian Head MunicipalIndian Head1.1 mi4,100GROUNDWATERUNRESOLVED
Potomac Heights PrivateIndian Head1.1 mi1,800GROUNDWATERIn compliance
Naval Support Facility, Indian Head FederalIndian Head1.1 mi3,321GROUNDWATERUNRESOLVED

Methodology: served-city centroid (TIGER 2020) is used as the PWS coordinate. Source-water classification from SDWIS primary_source_code; only groundwater and mixed-source systems are queried. Click any system above for its full SDWIS profile.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics

Who Lives Near This Site

Within 1 mile of this site (1 Census block groups, population-weighted demographics): a population of 1,532. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
34.2%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
61.6%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
7.2%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
13.6%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics, population-weighted across the 1-mile buffer around this site (from USEPA-clone/EJAM-open blockgroupstats). NPL site proximity contributes to the national EJ pattern; indicator-level percentile and disparity scores are surfaced on the county page and the state page.

Source. EPA Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) · retrieved 2026-05-07. SEMS is a federal public-domain dataset under 17 USC §105.

What this is not. We report EPA's published Superfund record — site listing, status, and contaminants of concern as named in EPA's decision documents. We do not perform site visits, independent air or water sampling, or current-state health-risk assessment. NPL listing reflects EPA's Hazard Ranking Score at a point in time; it does not by itself describe present-day exposure.