In March of 1976 a yellow tinge was noted in the cooling water being discharged to Cedar Lake from Hawkeye Rubber Company located immediately west of the Electro-Coatings plant. This water was found to contain high levels of chromium which was tracked to a leaking concrete tank containing chromic acid at the Electro-Coatings plant. Shortly after the chromium contamination was discovered the Hawkeye Rubber discharge was moved to the sanitary sewer. Electro-Coatings immediately took actions to stop the leak and conducted a series of improvements to prevent additional releases of contaminants from their facility. In 1989 the site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List due to concern that chromium contamination may affect municipal wells of the City of Cedar Rapids, the closest of which is about 2,000 ft. west of the site. No impact to the city wells has since been found. A series of investigations led to the development of a cleanup plan in 1994. These investigations also revealed solvent contamination of groundwater from Hawkeye Rubber. The Hawkeye Rubber production well was found to prevent further migration of the chromium and solvent-related contamination. A cleanup plan called for continued pumping of the Hawkeye Rubber production well, continued groundwater monitoring, and contingencies for additional action upon discovery of significant off-site migration of contaminants. In 1999 the DNR entered into a consent order with Electro-Coatings that called for implementation of the cleanup plan. A similar agreement was reached with Hawkeye Rubber in 2000. Alliant Energy Company (Alliant) purchased the Hawkeye Rubber property in 2001 and assumed Hawkeye Rubber’s responsibilities under the consent order. Operation of the former Hawkeye Rubber production well continued except for several months in 2003 due to a fire. Contaminant levels in the well continued to decline and in August 2006 pumping was ceased do to the lack of contaminants. Groundwater monitoring will continue at 2 monitoring wells until contaminant levels remain below standards for 3 consecutive semi-annual monitoring events, which is close to occurring.