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RAYMARK SUPERFUND SITE: EPA TO SAMPLE INDOOR AIR IN SOME STRATFORD HOMES

Release Date: 04/18/2000
Contact Information: Jim Murphy, EPA Community Affairs Office, 617-918-1028

Boston - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has discovered elevated levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in shallow groundwater in a residential neighborhood near the Raymark Superfund site in Stratford, Conn. In order to address any concern over potential impacts to indoor air quality, the agency will begin an indoor air sampling program. The residential neighborhood where the groundwater contamination has been identified is bounded by Ferry Blvd., Willow Ave., Riverview Pl. and the Housatonic River. The groundwater is not used as a drinking water source in this area.

EPA discovered the groundwater plume during its investigation of groundwater contamination at the Raymark facility. VOCs evaporate easily, prompting EPA to conduct targeted air sampling in residents' homes that sit on top of the contaminated groundwater plume to learn if VOCs are migrating into homes.

"This sampling of the air inside homes is being conducted as a precaution only," said Mindy Lubber, EPA New England regional administrator. "Since people are not drinking this water, they are not directly exposed to the chemicals in the groundwater. We want to make sure that the contamination in the groundwater beneath the homes is not affecting air quality within the homes."

Staff from the EPA, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Public Health, and the Stratford Health Department canvassed the neighborhood last week to talk with residents about the groundwater contamination and next steps. EPA will finalize sampling plans after talking with residents and obtaining further information about the construction of the homes. Sampling is planned at the end of this month with results going directly to the residents and the state and local health departments.

From 1919 to 1989, Raymark manufactured friction products, such as brake pads for the automobile industry, disposing of wastes containing lead, asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous substances at its Stratford manufacturing plant. Raymark dried the waste material and made it available for use as fill material for lawns, playgrounds, and schoolyards. In 1993, the EPA and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection began working together to complete the cleanup of contamination Raymark left behind in Stratford. EPA completed its cleanup of contaminated soil at both the residential properties in 1995 and the former Raymark plant property in 1997. Plans for cleanup of the Ferry Creek area and surrounding commercial properties where additional Raymark waste was historically disposed are currently being developed by EPA.