WPCNR Environmental Epitaph. By John F. Bailey. November 15, 2006: The 35-year contamination by TCEs – a documented  carcinogen – leaking from the City Dump into the Mamaroneck River will continue for at least another year according to Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti told WPCNR Tuesday evening as it has for the last  three and a half decades,  according to Nicoletti with the approval of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.  

Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti, City of White Plains briefing the Council of Neighborhood Associations on the status of his negotiations over the dump with the Department of Environmental Conservation. Photo, WPCNR News.

Nicoletti said he was willing at the time to clean up the TCE contamination in 1986-87, but that  “The state, at the time, said it was not worth the risk of opening that up.” There are no documents so far encountered in the DEC paper trail on this 30 year contamination that support that statement. A call has been made to the DEC press office to confirm this was the DEC directive at the time.

The Dump Update.

Nicoletti described the city dump situation with the Department of Environmental Conservation to the CNA. He told WPCNR that 20 new Test Wells have been drilled in the city dump at the request of the DEC to measure the current levels of TCEs in the dump. He advised the next step in the city efforts to continue the $100,000 plus-a-year composting operation in the dump is to test the ground water encountered in the new wells. He would forward the new levels of TCE contamination to the DEC. He and the DEC will evaluate the results.  At that time, he will advance possible solutions for cleanup to the DEC, if deemed necessary.

Asked if one of the solutions to the TCE leakage into the Mamaroneck River could be a filtering system, Nicoletti said possibly. The timetable the Commissioner told WPNCR would take a least a year from now to analyze what the new wells are telling him, discuss it with the DEC, and propose solutions for the remediation, if the DEC said it was needed.

A Limited Composting Operation Continues.

 Meanwhile, he told the Council of Neighborhood Associations the composting operations continues with DEC approval. It was not clear from what he told the CNA if or when the concrete pad (which he described would cover about two acres), as requested by the DEC, has been poured yet.

Leaving the CNA meeting, Nicoletti told WPCNR he did not expect any resolution on cleanup procedures to remediate the TCE contamination, if it is necessary at all, for at least a year.

This means the 36 years of leaking of TCEs from the City Dump/Compost adjacent The Greenway, into the Mamaroneck River from the dump will continue into a 37^th  consecutive year, after having been identified by the DEC in the mid-70s and reconfirmed in 1986, according to DEC documents.

Just a Little Over Drinking Water Standards

Nicoletti described the seriousness of the leak saying it was “just a little over” the parts per billion standard for TCEs for drinking water that the DEC uses.

The Commissioner’s description “A little over” in 2006, according to the last Department of Environmental Conservation test report conducted on April 3, 2006, documents that the contamination level is 223 ppb, as opposed to the 005 ppb standard for drinking water. A contaminant level of .11 ppb was found in the West Branch of the Mamaroneck River according to the report:

The April, 2006 DEC Test Report Shows 180 ppb of TCEs as the level of TCE contaminent in a test well at the dump and a smaller level found in the Mamaroneck River on the site. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

In other comments, Mr. Nicoletti said it was unfair to complain about his DPW not clearing drains on county roads: North Street, Mamaroneck Avenue, Old Mamaroneck Road, Bryant Avenue because he does not have jurisdiction over their roads.

At no time did Mr. Nicoletti say he wanted to clean up the TCE or how it would be accomplished or the cost.