Fill 'er up

The lead-contaminated soil found at Harris Park will be removed during the next six weeks, and the fields could be in use again by fall 2010, said program manager Frank McCue at a Feb. 24 meeting of the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee.

The City’s Parks Department brought HDR, an environmental consultant, in on the project to supervise the removal and remediation of the soil, Mr. McCue said. Kevin McCarty, the vice president of HDR, was also at the meeting to discuss his company’s role in the operation.

There are several steps being taken in order to ensure the contaminated soil is removed in a safe and efficient manner, Mr. McCue said.

After the dirt is carried off, six inches of clean fill will be added, on top of the fill already in place. The fields will then be re-graded, after which a geotextile material will be installed to protect the field and its patrons, and then on top of all that will be the sod, which must knit before the fields can be used again.

The geotextile they are planning to use “prevents the historic fill from migrating upwards,” Mr. McCarty said. He described the geotextile fabric as “porous” and “finely woven,” and noted that water would still be able to get through to the soil below.

At Harris Park, much of the lead-contaminated soil came from that “historic fill” which “basically goes down to the bedrock,” and is comprised of cinders, ash, and other material dating back to the early 1900s, Mr. McCarty said at the meeting.

“The clean-up standards for lead have been exceeded,” Mr. McCarty said. “We want to handle it correctly.”

This is part of the March 4, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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