Blasting for construction of Stratford pumphouse to last three weeks

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An undated photo of a public health warning sign at Ferry Creek in Stratford, Conn. The creek is one of several properties dumped with toxic waste from Raymark that are in the process of being cleaned.

This undated photo provided by the Environmental Protection Agency shows the Raymark property, in Stratford, Conn. prior to demolition in the 1990s.

An undated photo of a hazardous materials sign at the Raymark property in Stratford, Conn.

Remediation efforts continue at the Raymark Industries, Inc. Superfund Site, in Stratford, Conn. June 2, 2022.

U.S. EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe speaks during a news conference on the site of the former Raybestos Memorial Ballfield, in Stratford, Conn. June 2, 2022.

STRATFORD — Crews are preparing to use explosives to blast away up to a foot of rock as part of the construction of a new crucial pumping station that will help mitigate flooding near the banks of the Housatonic River, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The drilling and blasting work, which could begin later this month, will take place over the course of three weeks in an area east of Platt Street, according to Mike Looney, a project manager with the corps.

To ensure the surrounding homes are unaffected, Looney said federal officials will conduct inspections in the area around the blasting. He also noted vibration monitors will be deployed across the secured site and a series of 6000-pound blasting mats will be used to help contain the about 10 planned explosions.

"Our approach is to minimize ground vibrations as much as possible when we’re doing that work," Looney said at a community meeting Wednesday. "We don't expect this to cause a lot of nuisance or vibration."

The construction of the pump station is a key part of a new stormwater conveyance system that has been designed to handle what is expected to be a significant amount of rainwater runoff at the former Raybestos Memorial Field on Frog Pond Lane.

The Environmental Protection Agency is using the once-abandoned softball field to consolidate tens of thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil that was dumped across town by Raymark Industries, a defunct automotive parts manufacturer.

Engineers are currently "capping" the harmful soil with a clay-type material to prevent the toxic chemicals from emerging from the ground. But the shell-like layer also prevents rainwater from seeping into the land.

To prevent flooding, crews are building a conveyance line that will link the field to the planned pump station a third of a mile away on the edge of the river. Looney said the pump station will operate during significant storms and other high water events.

The conveyance line is expected to be finished by this summer and the pump station is expected to be completed by mid-2024. Once the Raymark clean up is complete and the entire field is capped, buildings may be constructed on the site.

Meanwhile, the work to remove soil polluted by Raymark with cancer-causing agents such as asbestos, lead, and polychlorinated biphenyls is ongoing, according to Jim DiLorenzo, an environmental engineer with the EPA.

As of June, crews have dug up about 52,800 cubic yards of contaminated soil from 23 private and town-owned properties as part of the $95 million cleanup effort. Another 6,252 cubic yards of hazardous waste have also been removed and transported to a disposal site outside of town since the work kicked off in 2020.

Crews are now finishing up remediation work at Beacon Point, including the reconstruction of a town-owned recreation dock and pier, and are in the midst of clearing polluted soil from badly-polluted Ferry Creek — an intensive project that DiLorenzo said will take up to nine months to finish.

"Ferry Creek is the most significant remediation that is going to take place this year," he said.

DiLorenzo has said that by the time the project is expected to end in late 2024, somewhere between 100,000 to 125,000 cubic yards of toxic soil will have been extracted and consolidated at the former Raybestos field.

Federal officials are scheduled to hold another community meeting updating the public about the effort to remove Raymark waste at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26. Information about the meeting can be found at stratfordct.gov/raymark.