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U.S. EPA Begins Surface Soil Sampling in Newhall Street Neighborhood

Release Date: 04/17/2001
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs, 617-918-1064

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today begins collecting surface soil samples in the Newhall Street neighborhood in Hamden, CT. Samples will be analyzed to determine if there is landfill material in the yards of residential properties in this neighborhood.

EPA will be testing for contamination in surface soil (soils between 0 - 6 inches in depth) to determine whether there is a health risk to residents should they come in contact with surface soils.

EPA's sampling plan focuses on various residential blocks in the Newhall Street neighborhood. They include: sections of Newhall, Morse, Marlboro, Newbury, and Wadsworth Streets; Winchester Avenue; Bryden Terrace; and the Auger, Remington and Harris Streets area. Surface soil samples will be collected from front and back yards of several of the individual properties within each sampling area. At a public meeting in Hamden last week, EPA met with many of the residents of the Newhall Street neighborhood to discuss the sampling program.

Community members can expect to see work crews in the neighborhood over the next few weeks beginning today. EPA staff and contractors will be surveying the area, selecting sample locations, and collecting surface soil samples. EPA will also have a mobile lab in the neighborhood so that staff scientists can screen the soil samples prior to sending them off to an EPA lab for analysis.