The multimillion-dollar effort to stop the flow of arsenic from the Vineland Chemical Co. federal Superfund site is nearing completion of another crucial phase.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s work will essentially stop the flow of arsenic from the site in the city’s North Vineland section into the adjacent Blackwater Branch, which drains into the Maurice River and, eventually, Union Lake in Millville.
The final phase of the work involves excavating 89,000 tons of arsenic-laced peat from a section of the Blackwater Branch between the river and Maurice River Parkway, EPA officials said. The combined four stages of that work involved removing 251,400 tons of peat, organic material found in marshy or damp regions, from the Blackwater Branch, they said.
The cleanup work on the Blackwater Branch began about four years ago.
Once the final phase of the Blackwater Branch work is complete, federal officials will begin a three-year period of monitoring the Maurice River for arsenic levels, said Nica Klaber, project manager for the Vineland Chemical cleanup effort. Any further work will depend on the results of that monitoring, she said.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_c953f956-5149-11e2-ac6e-0019bb2963f4.html
The Environmental Protection Agency’s work will essentially stop the flow of arsenic from the site in the city’s North Vineland section into the adjacent Blackwater Branch, which drains into the Maurice River and, eventually, Union Lake in Millville.
The final phase of the work involves excavating 89,000 tons of arsenic-laced peat from a section of the Blackwater Branch between the river and Maurice River Parkway, EPA officials said. The combined four stages of that work involved removing 251,400 tons of peat, organic material found in marshy or damp regions, from the Blackwater Branch, they said.
The cleanup work on the Blackwater Branch began about four years ago.
Once the final phase of the Blackwater Branch work is complete, federal officials will begin a three-year period of monitoring the Maurice River for arsenic levels, said Nica Klaber, project manager for the Vineland Chemical cleanup effort. Any further work will depend on the results of that monitoring, she said.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_c953f956-5149-11e2-ac6e-0019bb2963f4.html
