Environmental testing at O’Sullivan’s Island in Derby should be underway shortly, according to Rick Dunne, executive director of the Valley Council of Governments.
“Work should start in a week or so,” Dunne told the Valley Indy Friday (June 27).
At a meeting June 26, Derby Aldermen voted to approve a $65,256 agreement with HRP Associates, an environmental firm.
The work is being paid for through grants acquired by the Valley COG.
O’Sullivan’s Island, a fishing spot and picnic area on a peninsula where the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers meet, has been closed to the public since January, after Dunne raised concerns about possible contamination to the Board of Aldermen.
While the federal Environmental Protection Agency completed a PCB “removal action” at O’Sullivan’s Island in 2009, hauling away 14,000 tons of contaminated dirt and drums full of toxic waste, Dunne said the EPA cleanup did not deal with non-PCB contamination previously known to be in the dirt on the city-owned property.
Over the decades, various parts of the property had been used as a dumping ground, and a firefighters’ training school.
“We’re going to look for the contaminants we knew were there, we’re going to formally identify PCBs the EPA’s contractors said they left behind and we’ll find out what levels they’re at, and we’ll look for any contamination related to the fire training school that was not documented during the EPA action,” Dunne said.
Click here for a website detailing the O’Sullivan’s Island issue, and click here for a previous story.
HRP Associates will probably be on the property for a week. Results from the soil analysis should come back within two months or so, Dunne estimated.
Valley COG has about $300,000 in state funds and grant money that can be used to assess the extent of the problem at O’Sullivan’s Island.
After the test results come back, Valley COG and the city will figure out how much money is needed to clean the property.