Soil Remediation -- March 27, 2010 -- Collinsville, OK -- www.cvilleok.com

Previous Coverage:

Feb. 2010 -- Park Improvements Groundbreaking

March 2009 -- Soil Program Office Open

July 2008 -- On-site Smelter Cleanup DEQ Plans

Nov. 2007 -- DEQ Request For Off-site Smelter Material Locations

July 2007 -- Smelter History Sample

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Ted Wright -- last update 3/27/2010 (SoilRemediation.html) www.cvilleok.com
Copyright 2010 -- Collinsville, Oklahoma

Private Property Soil Remediation

This activity Friday (March 26, 2010) near 16th and Spring appeared to be soil remediation on a property just north of the City Park.

Ted Wright Note: I am not privy to anyone else's testing results but will share the results I received about a week ago for my yard about 3 blocks east of this one.
The testing took place Feb. 6, 2010 and no remediation was required there.
Ten test holes were drilled with depths from 0-3 inches and 6-12 inches. The arsenic results ranged from 7.7 to 12.2 parts per million (ppm) with the residential threshold for remediation at 37 ppm. The cadmium results ranged from 1.2 to 2.4 ppm with 75 ppm the limit before cleanup necessary. My lead test results ranged from 53.9 to 207 ppm with 500 ppm being the cutoff for remediation.

Ted's Yard Test

City Park Soil Remediation

I've included this 2008 photo as a recognizable reference to the approximate location in the city park that has had contaminated soil removed in the past week or so. Sorry, I don't have IDs for the horse shoe throwers. --Ted Wright

One of the early activities in the park improvement construction (that began Feb. 23rd with pool demolition) was taking down 5 damaged/designated trees, the short retaining wall for the horse shoe pit area, and the former fittnes course as shown in this March 3rd photo.

I first became aware of the remediation in the park via discussion at the 3/15/2010 city meet when a temporary location was approved for staging the removed soil from the park and other remediation areas. These March 16th photos show the park remediation area marked with lead hazard signs (and orange fencing material) as the removal work was in progress (above and 3 photos below). -- Ted

By Thursday March 25, 2010 the impacted soil had been removed (down to bed rock) from the park. The skate park features will be added in this general vicinity on a concrete slab. Park improvement construction schedules are not expected to be impacted by the soil remediation work. The new basketball court (also on a slab) will be nearby.

Quick Summary

2 City Park locations have been identified as requiring soil remediation. Soil removal is completed (to bed rock) at one location (near former horseshoe pitch area and future site of skate park features over concrete). Second area is north of softball field near creek. Check back later for specific test results (requested from the City) for levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead.

No school locations have yet been identified that require remediation but testing is not complete. High School, ECC and Herald sites tested negative (i.e. no remediation required) according to Supt. Terry Due.

Private and business property results are harder to track due to privacy laws but a report at the 3/15/2010 City Commission meeting indicated about 10 properties had been identified for remediation so far (with testing still scheduled for many properties)

According to the Collinsville Soil Program (an Environmental Project of Cyrus Amex Minerals Co) soil testing and remediation if required is at no cost to the property owner and the property will be restored to its previous condition after contaminated soil is removed. You can still sign up at their office at 707 W. Main (918-371-8300).

Two large zinc smelters (just south of town) were prominant in Collinsville's economy from 1911 (when they opened) until they went mostly inactive in the early 1920's. Smelter operations or relocated material are likely sources for today's off-site contaminants but direct connection would be hard to determine. The EPA is tasked with cleaning up one of the old smelter sites and Cyrus Amax the other. Initial DEQ testing in 1994 confirmed the Collinsville smelter site as a potential EPA cleanup site.

Additional Park Remediation Info

"In the fall of last year the Collinsville Soil Program notified us that some remediation was needed in the park. A meeting was set up to devise a timeline that would not interfere with the impending park construction. The remediation was to take place the first two weeks of January but because of a failure in procuring a temporary off-site staging area by the Soil Program to place the removed soil, it was delayed. The City and the Soil Program has been working feverishly since that time to find a suitable site and that was accomplished a couple of weeks ago." -- Steve Tinker, City of Collinsville (3/26/2010)