As a result of heavy rains in July and August, 2009, water overflowed the Containment (cap) Area (CA) (which has contaminated material in it) into a drainage feature (the South Swale) outside of the CA and into the basin on July 31, August 10, and on August 12, 2009. While every effort has been made to keep this type of overflow from occurring, the possibility of it happening was considered in the design, and so the overflow water flowed into the sediment basin as it is supposed to do where the lead contaminated sediment could settle out before the water is discharged. Tests conducted after the overflows show that the discharges were well below the limits that were set by the State to protect the Lackawanna River.

When each of the overflow incidents has occurred, the skimmer in the basin has been raised (if it wasn’t already) to prevent the flow of water from the basin through the discharge channel. Water in the basin was tested for turbidity and when it was below the performance standard, the skimmer was lowered to allow water to discharge.  After the overflow in July, the basin water was also tested for total and dissolved lead. Any sediment and battery casings that have floated onto the CA berm and into the swale were removed and placed back into the CA. XRF analysis (an XRF is a portable instrument used for testing lead concentration in substances such as soil) for lead has been performed on the berm and in the swale to see if the overflow contaminated any previously clean areas.

If the soil lead levels were above the cleanup level, then soils on the berm and swale were excavated and placed into the CA. The excavated areas were rechecked with the XRF to be sure lead levels were below the cleanup standard.

After the first overflow, a meeting was held to discuss how to better control an overflow if it happened again. In order to get more room to hold the contaminated water so that it would not go off-site, it was decided to pump the contaminated water from the CA to a strip pit that was previously excavated – Area B – instead of back into the CA as the practice had been. Area B was tested near the end of the project and was re-excavated  with the contaminated material being placed in the CA and solidified. Subsequent efforts after the overflows focused on making sure that the pumps were ready when rain occurred during the night and that the pumps could handle all of the water. While the overflows are not what we would like to see, the important point is that the lead is being contained within the site as it is supposed to be while we are managing the water as best we can with the unfavorable weather we have been having.

Reports with the details of the overflows have been submitted to EPA and DEP. Click on the links below to review the reports. 

Report on July 31, 2009 Overflow                                Report on August 10 and 12, 2009 Overflows