Flexsteel Agrees to Pay for Polluted Groundwater in Elkhart

ELKHART — A Dubuque, Iowa, furniture maker will fund the cleanup of a north Elkhart Superfund site with polluted groundwater, according to a report by The Elkhart Truth.

Flexsteel had been a supplier of furniture to the RV industry until an April 2020 announcement (RVBusiness, April 29, 2020: “Flexsteel Announces Exit from RV Furniture Business”)

Flexsteel Industries Inc. will pay $9.8 million for the cleanup of contamination at the Lane Street Groundwater Contamination Superfund Site under a proposed consent decree. It will also reimburse the Environmental Protection Agency for a portion of past costs incurred at the site, the U.S. Department of Justice and the EPA announced.

The 65-acre site is located at Henke and Lane streets on the north side of Elkhart. It includes residential and light industrial properties impacted by a groundwater plume contaminated primarily with solvents and degreasers such as trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene.

Cleanup has included removal actions to address immediate threats to human health and the environment, according to the EPA. After the Indiana Department of Environmental Management provided bottled water to about 13 homes whose wells were contaminated or that were near contaminated wells in 2007, the EPA provided water filtration systems to the homes.

Read the full report by The Elkhart Truth.