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EPA SAMPLING EFFORTS GATHERING STEAM IN PITTSFIELD

Release Date: 09/11/1998
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

PITTSFIELD - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has collected thousands of soil, riverbank and river sediment samples in recent weeks as part of its ongoing effort to kick-start the cleanup of the Housatonic River and numerous properties in Pittsfield.

Since early summer, EPA has collected more than 5,000 samples from dozens of residential properties, Silver Lake, Unkamet Brook and the upper two miles of the Housatonic River near the GE plant site. The sample results will be used for numerous cleanup projects, including finalization of a remediation plan for the upper ½ mile of the Housatonic River and analysis of possible cleanup options for the lower 1½ miles of the river.

Additionally, EPA next week will complete a second round of sampling at residential properties where homeowners have expressed concerns about possible PCB-contamination in their yards. Soil samples have been collected from 17 properties in Pittsfield over the past month, bringing to 41 the number of properties evaluated since May. EPA has collected 3,400 soil samples from the residential properties to date.

And, finally, EPA and its contractors will be opening an expanded field office and mobile laboratory next month to enhance the agency's turnaround of sampling results. EPA has been working out of trailers since May and will continue to do so until the new space is available.

"I'm pleased at the progress we're making on the sampling front and cannot emphasize enough how important this work is in order for us to better understand the extent and the breadth of PCB contamination both in the river and all over Pittsfield," said John P. DeVillars, regional administrator of the EPA's New England Office. "The pace of the sampling demonstrates the strong forward momentum that EPA and GE have maintained on this complex undertaking while we've been negotiating a possible settlement agreement. One of the reasons why we felt comfortable extending the negotations until next week was knowing that we were in no way delaying the overall cleanup."

EPA has initiated more than a half-dozen sampling projects in the river and in parts of Pittsfield. They include the following:

• Sampling along the upper 1/2-mile of the Housatonic is nearly completed. More than 1,300 sediment and riverbank samples have been collected so far. Riverbank sampling will be done next week and sediment sampling will be finished two weeks later. The samples will be used to help finalize GE's remediation plan for the upper 1/2-mile of the river so that actual work can begin by next spring.
• EPA has begun extensive sampling in the lower 1½ miles of the river, focusing particular attention on the extent of PCB contamination in residential floodplain properties next to the river. The results will be used to help EPA determine possible cleanup actions for this section of river. Two rounds of surface water samples have been collected from several locations and 140 soil samples were collected last month from a residential property in the floodplain. Beginning Sept. 21, EPA will start collecting surface soil samples from an additional 30 residential floodplain properties.
• EPA has begun characterizing PCB contamination below the two-mile Upper Reach, sampling as far south as Woods Pond. Two rounds of surface water samples have been collected from 15 locations along the river, beginning upstream of the GE facility and extending below Woods Pond. Those samples will continue to be collected each month. Storm-event samples also will be collected to determine movement of PCBs after major rainfalls.
• EPA this month began collecting waterfowl samples from the river as part of an effort to determine impacts of PCB contamination on wildlife and potential human health impacts from consuming waterfowl. An extensive fish sampling program will begin in late September all along the Housatonic.
• EPA last month collected 150 sediment and bank samples from Unkamet Brook, a tributary that cuts through a former landfill on the GE plant site before emptying into the Housatonic. The sampling was in response to the discovery in June of barrels, capacitors and other PCB-contaminated debris in the brook. GE has since removed the debris and collected sediment samples on the property. EPA's sampling focused on a half-mile section of the brook outside of the GE property, between Merrill Road and the river.