Hey Greenwich! Did You Know ... Soil Testing Closes GHS Fields?

Today is Friday, June 29, 2012, and it's National Almond Butter Crunch Day.

Today's birthdays:

• Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger is 34.
• Fred Grandy, Gopher of the "Love Boat" was later elected Iowa congressman, is 64.
• Comedian Richard Lewis is 65.
• Actor Gary Busey is 68.
• Movie producer ("Chinatown" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days") Robert Evans is 82.

This day in history:

In 1967, Blonde bombshell actress Jayne Mansfield was killed instantly  when the car in which she is riding strikes the rear of a trailer truck on Interstate-90 east of New Orleans, Louisiana.

In 1995, the American space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir to form the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth.

In 2003, Katharine Hepburn—a four-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress and one of the greatest screen legends of Hollywood’s golden era—died of natural causes at the age of 96, at her home in Old Saybrook.

Things you should know:

Some GHS athletic fields off limits

As environmental officials continue their research and testing of athletic fields on the campus, several fields have been closed to the public.

In two reports released this month, school officials say at least 100 test borings of soil, 15 water monitoring wells, testing of nearby streams, and air quality tests will be done in July.

"The sampling activities completed so far have provided a good understanding of environmental conditions at the site, but samples still need to be collected under artificial turf fields 3, 4, 6, and 7, as well as additional areas at the site, to have a more complete understanding of overall environmental conditions," according to a report released last week. (A copy of each detailed report can be found at right.)

Approximately 340 soil samples at various depths will be collected from approximately 100 soil boring locations during the soil boring program. The soil samples will be sent to a state-certified testing laboratory for analysis. The samples will be analyzed for PCBs, volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), polynuclear aromatic compounds (PAHs), metals, pesticides and/or extractable total petroleum hydrocarbons.

Also, according to the report, "Approximately 30 groundwater samples will be collected from the monitoring well network during the investigation. The groundwater samples will be sent to a state-certified
testing laboratory and analyzed for PCBs, VOCs, PAHs, metals, pesticides, and extractable total petroleum hydrocarbons.

"At the completion of this phase of study, there will be a network of monitoring wells at the Site that will allow for continued monitoring and assessment of groundwater conditions. Groundwater samples will be collected from the monitoring wells on an approximate quarterly schedule, and will continue even after cleanup activities -- to monitor postremediation conditions."

Meanwhile environmental consultants are reviewing "the sample results (that) show some areas of environmental impacts; these impacts appear to be largely focused in areas where fill material was imported to the site during the development of the school (in particular beneath the west parking lot and fields 2, 3 and 4)."

A project update will be prepared in August to notify the GHS community about the status of the fields for access and the beginning of the fall scholastic athletic season, officials said in the report. In September, a report on the findings of the tests slated for July, will be released.

The cleanup recommendations are expected to be compiled into a report in late fall. The Music Instructional Space and Auditorium (MISA) has been on the drawing boards for years. When work began in July 2011, the existence of PCBs, arsenic and other contaminants were discovered, prompting the hauling away of hundreds of yards of dirt from the Hillside Road campus to a certified hazardous waste dump in New York state.

Meanwhile, the pricetag for the project originally expected to be phased in over a number of years continues to rise with some officials estimating it could cost about $38 million.

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Greenwich Community Television

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