SEMS Overview

Superfund is a program administered by the EPA to locate, investigate, and clean up the worst hazardous waste sites throughout the United States. Before Superfund, Americans were less aware of how dumping chemical wastes might affect public health and the environment. Hazardous wastes were often left in the open, where they seeped into the ground, flowed into rivers and lakes, and contaminated soil and groundwater. Consequently, where these practices were intensive or continuous, there were uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. These sites include abandoned warehouses, manufacturing facilities, processing plants, and landfills. Citizen concern about the extent of this problem prompted Congress in 1980 to establish the Superfund Program to eliminate the health and environmental threats posed by hazardous waste sites.

EPA administers the Superfund program in cooperation with individual states and tribal governments. You may use the SEMS Search to retrieve Superfund data from the Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) database in Envirofacts. You can search for any combination of facility name and geographic location.