Church Officials Move Swiftly To Address
Contamination Found At Building Site

by Tim Wood

            CHATHAM --- Contaminated soil and groundwater have been found at the site of the new edition being built behind St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church.

            Although the contamination appears to be minimal, the cleanup has added tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of the project and may have to continue for several months.

            About 150 cubic yards of soil was removed from the site in mid December, after the contractor digging the foundation for the new addition reported detecting an odor of gasoline coming from the excavation.  Bruce Wood, chairman of the church’s building committee, said the contractor immediately stopped work and notified the proper authorities of the problem.  Bennett Environmental Associates of Brewster was hired to assess the situation and file the necessary documents with the state and federal governments, Wood said.

            Pre-construct soil testing had not shown any contamination.  The problem, however, turned out to be beneath the rear section of the church that was torn down to accommodate the new addition. 

            A water purification system was brought in to filter the groundwater beneath the site.  The process will be ongoing until the no further contamination is detected.

            A gasoline station once existed at the site of the current chapel and parish hall, said Wood, and is the most likely source of the contamination.

            “It appears to be minor. It appears to be old,” Dr. Robert Duncanson, director of the town’s department of health and environment, said of the contamination.  Last year, when new sewer and drainage lines were installed in the area, no contamination was detected, which shows that the problem is limited in area, he indicated.  “We did quite a bit of digging and didn’t find anything.”

            The contamination appears limited to the east side of the property. Some contaminated soil may remain beneath the parish hall foundation, Duncanson said.

            “Trying to remove that is next to impossible without taking the building down, which is not going to happen,” he said.

            Because groundwater in the area is high, dewatering of the new foundation hole was necessary anyway, said Wood.  The water was going to be discharged into the town’s drainage system, which empties into the Oyster Pond.  After the contamination was found, however, that plan was modified.  A special permit from the federal Environmental Protection Agency was necessary to discharge the cleaned-up water into the drainage system, according to Duncanson.

            There has been no sign of the contamination reaching Oyster Pond, he added.  Because of its size and age, the likelihood of the pollution impacting the pond is “remote, if any,” he said.

            Because of the experience of Bennett and contractors Delphi Construction and Robert Our, Inc., the process has gone “very smoothly,” said Duncanson. 

            Under the state and federal permits, the cleanup will be monitored until the foundation dewatering process is completed and the new foundation is in place.  That will probably take six to eight weeks, Duncanson estimated.

            According to the church’s website, the cleanup cost is estimated at between $60,000 and $100,000, and is a financial setback for the project, Wood said.  It will also likely cause some delay in completion of the work, although he said the contractor indicated that once the foundation is in place lost time may be made up during the building phase.

            The new addition involves increasing the size of the sanctuary by about 1,000 square feet, adding office and meeting space at the rear of the church and a central elevator for access to all levels.   The multi-million dollar project was expected to take one year to complete.

1/8/09