All News Releases By Date

EPA to Continue Cleanup of CT Dry Cleaners

Release Date: 07/25/2003
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue cleanup activities at a dry cleaners located at 428 Rubber Ave. in Naugatuck, CT on Monday, July 28, 2003. The site has been operated as a dry cleaners since 1964.

Extensive EPA sampling at the site has identified an area immediately abutting the building and along the bank of the Long Meadow Pond Brook that contains elevated levels of dry cleaning contaminants in the surface and sub-surface soils. A cleanup plan has been developed which calls for the removal of the contaminated soil, and replacement with clean soil. The project is expected to take about two weeks to complete.

Residents should be aware that cleanup workers will be wearing white coveralls according to state and federal protection requirements. Although these protective suits attract attention, residents should not be alarmed as this is not an indication that there is an environmental danger to the surrounding neighborhoods.

The agency has allocated $360,000 for this project.

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection conducted an environmental study at the property in 2000 and found high concentrations of commonly used dry cleaning chemicals (tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene) in soils, surface and groundwater near the site. The contamination is believed to have occurred in the 1990's while the facility was under previous ownership and management.