DEC says drinking water along Freemans Bridge Road not at risk
Underneath the ground in Glenville by Freemans Bridge Road lies a chemical contamination that can’t be cleaned up quickly.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation held a meeting at Glenville Town Hall on Monday, Oct. 18, to discuss groundwater contamination stemming from the former Kenco Chemical Company, Inc. property, which was located at 107 Freemans Bridge Road, Glenville.
The chemicals contaminating the ground water are tetrachloroethene and its breakdown chemicals, and petroleum compounds. The contaminates discovered by the DEC are typically used for dry cleaning or industrial cleaning.
Along Freemans Bridge Road everyone is on public water, so there is no risk of drinking the contamination, said Stephanie Selmer, research scientist for New York State Department of Health. `We don’t know when this got into the ground. I can’t address whether it is a long-term or a short-term [effect on residents].`
The information sheet provided by the DOH at the meeting discussed exposure to general chemicals and dangerous substances, but there was nothing directly addressing a certain type of chemical on the sheet.
Selmer also said the only studies that have really been done on the chemical is with actual dry cleaning workers, which would have been exposed to a higher level of the chemical.
`Short term [affects] at very high levels can be headaches and dizziness, something like that,` said Selmer. `It is a possible carcinogen, but that is typically longer term exposure.`
Selmer said all the DOH can do at this point is make sure that there are no more future exposures to the contaminates and deal with the problem at hand.
Christopher O’Neill, PrDEC, said the after the clean up process is done, which would be long-term, followed up by monitoring the contamination are for several more years.
`I suspect that will a maintenance of long-term monitoring for many years,` said O’Neill. `The clean up, the remedial action on the greater neighborhood if you, will depend on what we find further into the investigation and the feasibility.`
The goal of the project, said O’Neill, would be to restore the groundwater to the condition before chemicals were released. This would result in a groundwater level of contamination to be less than 5 parts per billion on the chemical.
`We can attack some of the higher concentrations with treatment and then typically we would monitor to make sure [the contamination] is either shrinking or stable over years or periods of time to make sure it is not being a problem and further exposure issue,` said O’Neill.
Further off-site investigations from the former Kenco 0.86 acre parcel of land has shown groundwater impacts from the solvent for approximately 0.5 miles southernly from the site. There have been several residential and commercial buildings have been equipped with soil vapor intrusion management systems to mitigate risks and release the vapor below properties.
The data collected by DEC found small areas of significant contamination, with large areas within the plume have lower concentrations of pollution. The chemical containment also doesn’t seem to be able to pass through the underground clay layer, which has made the containment form a horseshoe pattern as it has spread.
There have not been any other sources identified for the 0.5 mile downgradient contamination plume at this time. The DEC plans to keep the public updated as the investigation progresses.
For project related questions you can O’Neill at 357-2394 and for site-related health questions contact Selmer at 402-7860. The full report is also available electronically upon request.“