Date: Fri 26-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

school-Hawley-oil-spill

Full Text:

Clean-Up Of Hawley School Oil Spill Nearly Complete

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Work crews expect by the end of next week to complete excavation work on the

east side of Hawley School, where a fuel spill in November dumped 1,020

gallons of #2 heating fuel into the soil.

Dom Posca, supervisor of buildings and grounds for the public schools, said

Wednesday work crews have removed at least 320,000 pounds of contaminated soil

from the school grounds since the spill was discovered November 26. The

heating fuel had been leaking out of a pressurized underground supply line for

several days before the leak was discovered.

The leak was caused by an industrial accident on or around November 22 when

workmen who were finishing up the Hawley School renovation and expansion

project drove a metal stake into the ground, accidentally puncturing the fuel

line.

"Fortunately it (spilled fuel) stayed in the stone dust," Mr Posca said. Much

of the spilled fuel was contained in an area where the underground line is

packed in pulverized stone.

To keep the school warm, workmen have set up a 550-gallon temporary fuel

storage tank on the front lawn of the school on Church Hill Road. It is

checked regularly to ensure it contains sufficient fuel. The spilled fuel

leaked from a line connected to an underground 10,000-gallon fuel storage

tank.

After the contaminated soil is excavated, it is trucked to Waterbury where it

is decontaminated at Phoenix Soil's incinerator.

Sand and gravel is used to fill in the hole created by the excavation. The

sand and gravel is repeatedly recompacted to eliminate settling problems.

"I'll be glad to see this back to normal," Mr Posca said, looking at the

excavated area.

The heating fuel seeped into an area which had been newly paved as a parking

lot for the school, requiring about 1,000 square feet of pavement to be torn

up. Repaving will be done in the spring, Mr Posca said. A section of new

sidewalk also will have to be replaced.

"I've learned a lot on this thing with new (state Department of Environmental

Protection) laws" concerning soil contamination and restoration, he said.

"I thought it would be worse" he said of the extent of the contamination.

It is estimated that the clean-up and restoration work will cost more than

$100,000. ACMAT, the general contractor on the Hawley School project, is

covering the damages.

American Environmental Technologies, a Bethel hazardous waste clean-up

company, is working at the spill site.

The spill did not contaminate any underground water supplies, groundwater or

surface water.