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Cleanup at Electrosonics Site in Chesterfield, N.H. Resumes

Release Date: 06/15/2006
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. - June 15, 2006) – EPA will resume work next week on a $900,000 cleanup at the former Electrosonics facility located on Route 9A in Chesterfield. The approximate half-acre site adjacent to Partridge Brook was once used as a printed circuit board manufacturing business and later used to house several small businesses.

Over the next several weeks EPA will bring construction equipment and a mobile laboratory on-site and begin taking soil samples from up to four to six feet beneath the surface with a piece of equipment called a geoprobe. The technique allows for an entire core of soil to be removed in one piece, brought to the lab, and sampled at various increments of depth to determine contaminant concentrations below the surface of the site.

Technicians working out of the mobile laboratory will analyze the soil samples as they are removed from the ground and based on the results of their analysis, the construction crew will remove soil from areas of the site where the analysis shows the contamination presents a risk to public health. As part of the soil removal activities, two trucks will be on-site to transport the contaminated soil to a permitted off-site facility for disposal. Once the contaminated soil has been removed, the area will be backfilled with clean soil and the site will be graded and seeded. Measures will be taken to suppress any dust that is generated as part of the excavation to ensure that the cleanup activities do not impact the air quality of residents or pedestrians in the vicinity of the work area.

During previous investigations of the site by EPA and the New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services (NH DES), the soil was determined to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals such as lead. In order to access the contaminated soils, the building first needed to be demolished. This was undertaken during the first phase of the cleanup, conducted in Fall 2005, and included restricting access to the site and removing all paints, paint thinner, fluorescent lights and other materials from the buildings and the actual demolition of the main building. Materials from inside the building, as well as the building debris, were transported off-site for disposal at a permitted facility.

EPA will continue to work closely with NH DES and the Town of Chesterfield as the cleanup work progresses. The upcoming work is expected to take between four to six weeks to complete.

More information on the Electrosonics cleanup project (www.epaosc.org/Electrosonics)

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