Last week, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Health held a public informational meeting at Salk Middle School, to discuss the Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PARP) for the Wantagh Cleaners Site, located on the corner of Wantagh Avenue and Sandhill Road.

In April 1994 Wantagh Cleaners was listed as a suspected inactive hazardous waste disposal site, as Class 2a in the NYS Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites. Following that listing the NYSDEC performed several studies to see if the site should be reclassified or delisted.

In May 1995, NYSDEC reclassified the site from a Class 2a to a class 2. According to the DEC "A Class 2 site presents a significant threat to the public health or to the environment and action is required."

This property was first leased to the current operator in May 1991 but the property has been a dry cleaning site since 1974, the current owner purchased the property in 1984. According to the DEC, "Site contamination was caused by the introduction of dry cleaning process wastewater into two on-site leaching pools." The property owner, although not the owner when the contamination occurred, was named the responsible party for the disposal. In September 1996 the property owner entered into an Order of Consent with the NYSDEC for a Focused Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study and IRM (Interim Remedial Measures).

The NYSDEC did Phase I of the Focused Remedial Investigation from August-September 1997 and Phase II in July 1998. According to the DEC, "Based upon the results of the FRI, the contaminants exceeding their NYS Standards, Criteria, and Guidance values are volatile organic compounds."

Anna Ruepp, from the NYSDEC stated, "Soil contamination at the site is not really an issue." There were no contaminants detected in sediments collected from the intermittent creek or from the drainage ditch. Groundwater contamination was found at shallow depths on the site with only low concentrations migrating off the site. The plume, according to the DEC, stops at Sandhill Road.

According to the NYSDEC, "Disposal activities pose a significant threat to human health associated with this site's contravention of groundwater quality standards in a sole source aquifer." An air sparging/soil vapor extraction system IRM is being undertaken to mitigate significant threats to the public health or environment posed by the hazardous waste present at the site. The equipment building for the treatment system is located on the south side of Sandhill Road.

Monitoring of the site will include: field testing of effluent air at a minimum of once a week during the first month of system operations and monthly or on an as needed basis after that; sampling for lab analysis at the time of system start up, once per month during the first three months of operation and on a quarterly basis following that; and monitoring of groundwater on an annual basis and sample collection from the three on-site monitoring wells, the deep cluster well and the guard well.

The proposed remedy includes the use of an air sparging/soil vapor extraction system to address soil contamination on-site and on-site and off-site groundwater contamination. The air sparging component of the system pumps air into the soil and groundwater, volatilizing the contaminants. The contaminants are brought to the surface through a vacuum inside the guard well on Sandhill Road and filtered to get rid of the contaminants.

There will be deed restrictions put on the property to restrict the future use of groundwater at the site. Quarterly reports will be submitted to the NYSDEC for the duration of the system operation. The operation will continue until the contamination source has been remediated.

When asked about the Little Red Schoolhouse and the baseball fields located near the site, the DEC representatives responded that they would not be affected because the contamination flows southward and mainly any contamination would go under the Southern State Parkway.

A final remedy will not be selected until after the public comment period has concluded. Following complaints that residents were not given enough time to respond, the DEC extended the comment period on the remediation plan until April 15. Written comments may be sent to Anna Ruepp, Project Manager, NYSDEC, 50 Wolf Road, Room 242, Albany, NY 12233-7010.