The soil readings do not pose any threat to nearby properties or Miamisburg’s drinking water supply, according to the city. But local officials last month announced a delay in the project for the pump station - which serves all of the city’s sewer customers - until the lead is removed, said City Manager Keith Johnson.
“The site’s clean – as far as the surface of that site. What’s below it is an issue,” he said. “We’re actually going to make the site safer than it was before.”
The pump station’s lead issues will be discussed tonight at a 6 p.m. community forum at the Baum Opera House, 15 S. First St. The meeting – to which OEPA and local public health officials have been invited – is intended be “very transparent” about the issue, Johnson said.
“It’s not that moving on (the pump station) is going to create an environmental issue. It wouldn’t at all,” he said.
“But I don’t want people who see work going on a certain way to say ‘that looks a little different’ and then finding out later on that we found something and we’re mitigating it,” Johnson added. “I think if I were a resident I would want to know what you found and why it’s there.”
By the end of July work to replace soil five feet below the surface at the site is expected to begin and Miamisburg Mayor Dick Church Jr., said he “has full confidence in the city’s contractors” and the cleanup plan approved by the Ohio EPA.
Replacing the pump station is one of the more costly parts of Miamisburg's $69 million water and sewer master plan, which is being financed through customer rate increases. Cleaning up the site is expected to add about $700,000 to the cost, according to the city.
Lead was discovered in the soil in early April, about seven months after Dugan & Meyers Construction was awarded the contract initially estimated to top $11 million.
To protect worker safety, soils will be kept moist to minimize dust, and truck wheels will be washed to prevent waste and affected dirt from leaving the site, Ohio EPA spokesman James Lee has said.
In addition, monitoring will be done in compliance with health and safety plans, and a safety contractor will be on site to ensure compliance, Lee added.
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