Wide Beach Development is a 55-acre suburban development of 60 homes located in Brant, a small community on Lake Erie, north of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Lake Erie is the western boundary of the Wide Beach Development. From 1968 to 1978, the Wide Beach Homeowners' Association applied about 155 cubic meters of waste oil to the local roadways to control dust. Some of the oil was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). As a result, roads, driveways, parking spaces, storm drains, and homes were contaminated from the oil applications. In 1980, workers excavated soil from around the roadways while installing a sanitary sewer line in the development. Unaware that a PCB problem existed, some residents used this soil as fill in their yards and in a community recreational area. Subsequent sampling revealed PCBs in the air, road dust, soil, vacuum cleaner dust, and water samples from private wells. The site drains through a system of swales and ditches into a marsh and stream located south of the development. The stream flows into Lake Erie, as does surface runoff from the site.