NDCA

DEC shows Victor 3 cleanup options

Steve Orr
Staff writer

November 29, 2007 3:08 am — Three interim cleanup options for contaminated groundwater in a part of western Victor were outlined Wednesday for citizens who trickled into public sessions held by state officials.

State environmental officials will select one of the options, all of which would cost more than $1 million to implement, early next year. If all went as planned, actual cleanup work could begin in mid- to late 2008, said Jason Pelton, state Department of Environmental Conservation project manager for the Victor site.

The cleanup techniques are intended to reduce concentrations of industrial solvents, including trichloroethene, or TCE, that were first found in groundwater in 1990. The continuing presence of TCE there has provoked an uproar in parts of the Ontario County town this year.

The DEC called the public sessions at Victor Town Hall so citizens could ask questions one-on-one. Fewer than a half-dozen people stopped by during the first two hours Wednesday. The sessions continue this morning.

State officials said they will slightly expand testing this coming winter for the presence of TCE vapors, which can rise from the tainted groundwater through the soil. Sixty-four homes were tested this year, with TCE found in high enough levels in six of them that the DEC installed special ventilation systems. As a precaution, seven more homes, on the fringe of the area where houses have already been tested, will be checked this coming winter, Pelton said.

The three cleanup options cited at the sessions were:

? Installing a permeable underground barrier that would intercept the flow of tainted groundwater and remove the solvents or break down the solvents.

? Injecting “bioremedial” micro-organisms such as bacteria into the groundwater, where they break down the solvents into harmless constituents.

? Extracting solvent vapors from under the ground after injecting air to enhance the process.

Pelton said the public will have an opportunity to comment on the interim plan after DEC has chosen its preferred option. The agency has said it will have a final cleanup plan — which could call for continued use of the interim measure — in 2009.

SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com