The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States.

Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013.

The Havertown Superfund site was first developed as a railroad storage yard for the Newtown Square Branch and was subsequently used as a lumberyard.

[4] NWP operated a wood preservation treatment plant at the intersection of Eagle Road and West Hillcrest Avenue in Havertown, Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1991.

During its operations in the treatment of wood, hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, benzene, copper chromate,[5] creosote, dioxins, naphthalene, pentachlorophenol (PCPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)[1] were created as waste products.

[7] In 1962, the Pennsylvania Department of Health discovered pollution leaking into Naylors Run and attributed it to NWP's waste disposal practices after receiving complaints from local residents about an oily substance being discharged from a sewer pipe.

[1] Both local and federal government bodies attempted to force NWP to stop their dumping and clean up the existing pollution.

[8] In 1973, State authorities started legal procedures to require NWP and other surrounding private companies to clean up the wastes that contaminated the area.

In 1976, amidst the continuing litigation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took emergency action under section 311 of the Clean Water Act at the site by drilling wells and pumping pentachlorophenol to the surface for treatment.

These actions included installation of a catch-basin and oil/water separator for the storm drain effluent into Naylors Run and removal and proper disposal of drummed waste material on the site.