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Update: GE PCB Site Tour

About 28 people attended the GE PCB site tour to see regrowth of trees and riverbank vegetation at Fred Garner Park, probable remediation site at Canoe Meadows and the “core area” that may never be cleaned, and the on-going work at Unkamet Brook. The tour came about at the request of the Citizens Coordinating Council (CCC).  The Citizens Coordinating Council (CCC) is a group of individuals representing various interests in the Housatonic River Watershed that meets throughout the year with General Electric Company, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The CCC members ask questions and raise and discuss issues. The meetings are public meetings, and the public is welcome and usually has an opportunity to ask questions of the regulatory agencies, GE, or the other CCC members.The meeting usually starts with GE, EPA, or DEP making a presentation about the latest events taking place in the “clean up”. The CCC members [BEAT is a member] can ask questions and let these governmental agencies know how the organizations’ constituents feel about events and issues associated with the PCB remediation in Pittsfield and throughout the Housatonic River watershed which extends through Connecticut to Long Island Sound.

About 28 people attended the GE PCB site tour to see regrowth of trees and riverbank vegetation at Fred Garner Park,…

See photos from the day on BEAT’s Facebook page  here.

Update: Some toxic soils being removed and the brook moved and capped

Posted July 14, 2015

The work at the Unkamet Brook Area is in progress.  At the end of December 2014 work started to remove the invasive Phragmites along Dalton Ave in Pittsfield. Now the brook is being pumped to one side and the contaminated areas remediated. Some of the contamination will be removed, the rest capped, and the brook will be forced to flow in a new, capped channel.

 

Here are some photos of the work taken July 14, 2015.

Here is a link to the EPA Unkamet Brook remediation webpage.

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A Brief History

Unkamet Brook in Pittsfield flows into a wetland where Merrill Road and Dalton Avenue converge. This is the marshy area behind the current development that includes Dick’s Sporting Goods – the former site of Bradlees. The outflow from this area flows into the Housatonic River at a point that is upstream from the major PCB remediation. The marshy area is contaminated with high levels of PCBs and many other toxic chemicals. This is not in dispute. This characterization is based on GE’s data and public statements made by GE officials. BEAT has been requesting for a long time that the flow coming out of this area be monitored. Our most recent concern is related to a proposal by the City of Pittsfield to facilitate flow in Unkamet Brook. BEAT is pleased to report that both these issues are being addressed!


stylized map of discussion area

This is a stylized diagram of Unkamet Brook, the marsh, and the brook’s convergence with the Housatonic River. The important points to note for our discussion are the following. Unkamet Brook flows into the marsh. The marsh is contaminated with PCBs. Unkamet Brook leaves the marsh and flows into the Housatonic River. The place where Unkamet Brook flows into the Housatonic River is upstream of the part of the Housatonic River that has been “cleaned” of PCBs. Back to top

Some previous Unkamet Brook stories

End at the Top – Big Equipment in Unkamet Brook

Three years ago, GE and the EPA finished their “cleanup” of a two-mile stretch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield. What many people didn’t know is that two very contaminated areas, Silver Lake and Unkamet Brook, are upstream of this part of the river, and for three years have been bringing more PCBs into the already-“cleaned” Housatonic. But finally, Unkamet Brook is being dealt with.  (Silver Lake wasn’t cleaned.  It was capped.)  This is the reason for the big equipment you may see along Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield. Why didn’t the cleanup start with the highly polluted upstream areas?  There hasn’t been a good answer to this question.

If you see sediment flowing in the East Branch of the river downstream of Unkamet Brook, please take a photograph and let the Dave Dickerson, Project Manager for EPA know immediately.  Sediment is supposed to be confined to the work area.   ( Dave Dickerson  (617) 918-1329  dickerson.dave@epa.gov

Any time you are driving by the work at Unkamet Brook, if you can take pictures and send them to Jane at BEAT, we would really appreciate it!  ( jane@thebeatnews.org )  We love receiving your photos! And please let us know if it is okay to put them up on our website, and whether or not you would like your name credited.

Here is a link to the Unkamet Brook piece of the EPA Housatonic River website.

A few highlights

  • 2 acres of the invasive wetland plant, phragmites, will be removed right next to Dalton Ave
  • Unkamet Brook will be re-routed so it will no longer run through an old GE landfill, and
  • 7 acres of a former GE landfill will be capped

BEAT has real issues with “moving the brook” and just capping the landfill that it ran through.Aerial view of Unkempt Brook area Groundwater will still flow through this area, and that groundwater could carry contamination. BEAT doesn’t believe that the capping of this landfill in the wetlands is the best (although it may be the least expensive) way to protect human health and the environment.

Check out our photos of the removal of phragmites here.

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DEP to Review City Plans

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is reviewing the plans by the City of Pittsfield to “improve flow” in Unkamet Brook upstream of the GE marsh site. There are plans to remediate the marsh in the future, but according to GE, “we do not expect any work there for at least a few years.”It is unfortunate that in the meantime, PCBs are running into the Housatonic River’s PCB cleanup area. The City of Pittsfield is about to begin a project to clear areas of Unkamet Brook starting above the marsh. BEAT’s concern is that this project, the cost of which will be over four hundred thousand dollars and which will begin in the spring of 2007, will increase the flow of Unkamet Brook. The city will fund $267,600 of the project, with the rest coming from grants.BEAT requested that DEP look at the project plans and the hydrology of this area to assure that more PCBs will not be flushed out of the marsh and into the part of the Housatonic River that was recently “cleaned”. DEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup agreed to review all the plans before the City can proceed with each phase of the work.

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GE to Finally Monitor the Flow of Unkamet Brook

Posted November 2006

BEAT has been complaining bitterly about there being NO data on the flow of Unkamet Brook. This lack of data means that no one knows how many PCBs or other chemicals are flowing out of Unkamet Brook, into the Housatonic River, ABOVE the two mile “cleanup”.Finally, GE released a report in November 7, 2006, titled: Proposal for Initial Unkamet Brook Flow Monitoring (pdf). As BEAT suggested, this monitoring will be done over an extended period of time including the usual spring high flow season. It will be automated to get as much data as possible. And it will be done at the culvert at Dalton Ave and at a culvert under the railroad tracks on the property to get the data of how much flow enters the GE site and how much leaves. BEAT would prefer the second reading be at a location as the water leaves the GE site, or even closer to where the brook flows into the Housatonic River. However, we are thrilled that we will actually have some flow data for this brook!

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