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CELEBRATION SIGNALS CONSTRUCTION COMPLETION AT BEACON HEIGHTS LANDFILL SUPERFUND SITE

Release Date: 07/24/1998
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, Press Office, (617) 918-1064

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency joined state and local public officials, the companies performing the cleanup, and local citizens at the Beacon Falls Town Hall this morning in celebrating the completion of construction activities at the Beacon Heights Landfill Superfund Site in Beacon Falls, Conn.

The celebration marks the completion of a five-year cleanup that included:

• Connecting adjacent homes to a municipal water supply,
• Constructing a leachate collection system and pipeline to transport leachate to the sanitary sewer system,
• Expanding and upgrading the Beacon Falls Wastewater Treatment Facility, and
• Constructing a multilayer landfill cap designed to collect landfill gas and minimize the infiltration of water into the landfill. During 1996, 5.6 acres of replacement wetlands were constructed to replace existing wetlands areas that had been disturbed as a result of construction activities at the site.

"Since the 1970s, the DEP has been very involved in working to control contamination at the Beacon Heights Landfill. In fact, it was the first landfill in the state to be cited by the DEP for water pollution problems," said Arthur J. Rocque, Jr., commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. "This closure was a major undertaking and its completion marks the successful conclusion to a cooperative effort between EPA, local officials and the DEP."

"We are very pleased that after a long journey, we were able to complete a project of this magnitude in Beacon Falls," said First Selectman Susan A. Cable of Beacon Falls. "Many in our community were very much involved. This is a wonderful example of hard work and cooperation and we're proud to have played a significant role in the elimination of a long standing problem."

During the event, attendees applauded the completion of construction of the landfill cap, reviewed photographs and displays that portrayed the progression of cleanup activities, and toured the landfill.

The Beacon Heights Landfill Superfund Site sits atop a ridge within lower Naugatuck Valley, approximately two miles east of the intersection of routes 8 and 2 in Beacon Falls. The landfill received municipal and industrial wastes from the 1920s to 1979. After a preliminary investigation conducted by the EPA in 1982 found groundwater impacted by landfill contamination, the EPA added the site to its Superfund National Priorities List in 1983.

In 1984, bottled water was provided to local residents after benzene was detected in two residential wells. Subsequently, many area homes have been hooked up to public water. In 1985, the EPA selected the cleanup plan for the site. The design of the landfill cap was competed in 1992 and construction began in 1993.

The Beacon Heights Coalition will continue to monitor and maintain the site for the next 30 years, under EPA oversight, to insure that the landfill cap and related construction remain protective of local public health and the environment.