EPA to Clean Up Contaminated Area in Hewlett

The Environmental Protection Agency will clean up a contaminated site in Hewlett near where a defunct dry cleaner had contaminated ground water with dangerous chemicals, it recently announced.

The ground water under the superfund site is contaminated with tetrachloroethylene and tricholoroethylene, which are used in dry cleaning and can adversely affect people’s health, the EPA said.

The Five Towns and surrounding areas’ water provider, Long Island American Water, operates a well about 1,000 feet north of the Peninsula Boulevard contamination. EPA did not detect any contaminants above acceptable levels in the LIAW well, it said. But it also said that one of LIAW’s well fields may have been impacted by the contamination.

“Volatile organic compounds can pose serious health risks — especially in drinking water — so removing them is the best way to protect the health of people who live and work in the area,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck said in a statement. “We encourage community residents, business owners and area workers to give us feedback on EPA’s proposed plan to clean up the contamination on the Peninsula Boulevard site.”

The EPA will host a public meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at and encourages public comment on its proposed cleanup plan.

The EPA’s options, according to a press release, for cleaning up the site include:

· “Extracting ground water from the site using pumping wells and treating the water to remove the contaminants before the water is disposed of at a public wastewater treatment facility or sent back into surface or ground water. This is EPA’s preferred option for the cleanup.

· Using microorganisms to break down the contaminants in the ground water.

· Installing devices that aerate the ground water and capture contaminants in air vapor, which are then treated or released into the atmosphere.

· Taking no action, which is an option that EPA is required to consider for any cleanup plan.”

The site, the former home of Grove Cleaners from 1987 to 1992, was added to the superfund list of the most contaminated hazardous waste sites in 2004, according to the EPA. An investigation held from 1991 to 1999 showed an extensive ground water contaminant plume extending to the north and south of Peninsula Boulevard. The EPA conducted its investigation of the site from 2005 to 2010.

Comments on EPA’s plan will be accepted until August 27, 2011. Written comments may be sent to:

Gloria M. Sosa
Remedial Project Manager
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10007-1866

sosa.gloria@epa.gov