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This web page reproduces the text and graphics contained in the original brochure. However, the information has been reformatted for the web. To obtain a copy of the original brochure, please contact Jeanne D'Ascoli via email or by calling (631) 344-2277.
Letter from
Les Hill
Let Us Know What You Think
A Look Back
The Next Phase
The Role of the Community
Description of the Water-Treatment System
Locations of the Water-Treatment Systems
Features Common to All the Water-Treatment System Buildings
System 1
System 2
System 3
System 4
System 5
System 6
May 2002
Dear Resident,
Brookhaven National Laboratory soon will begin the next phase of an important environmental protection project - the clean up of groundwater that was contaminated by hazardous chemicals, resulting from past operations at the Laboratory. To clean up the groundwater beneath the communities south and southeast of the Laboratory, we are required to install treatment systems in your neighborhood. These systems will extract the water, run it through carbon filters to remove the chemicals, and then return the clean water below the ground.
This work is unrelated to the system that brings water into your home. Suffolk County Water Authority supplies your drinking water. Both the Water Authority and the Suffolk County Department of Heath Services routinely test the public drinking water supply to ensure it is safe.
The U.S. Department of Energy and Brookhaven National laboratory sincerely regret that our neighbors are being affected by the work we must do to clean up the contamination. We are committed to performing this work in a responsible way that appropriately considers impacts to you, and we are looking for your help.
This brochure gives details about the six treatment systems that we will install, including information on how they operate, where the groundwater extraction wells and recharge wells will be located, and where we will put the treatment buildings. We ask that you read the brochure carefully, and consider joining us at the Laboratory for a workshop on Tuesday, June 11 from 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. Our staff will be on hand to supply any additional information you need, respond to your questions, and consider your input on decisions described within this brochure. If you prefer, you may call us directly: Bob Howe, Group Manager, Groundwater Projects at (631) 344-5588 or Jeanne D'Ascoli, Community Relations at (631) 344-2277. We encourage you to fill in and send us the attached card to let us know how you would like to be kept informed.
Sincerely,
Les Hill
Director, Environmental Management Program
June 11
Please join us for a workshop, from 7:00 - 9:30
p.m., Berkner Hall at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The workshop will
consist of a general overview session. Then participants will break into
groups. Each group will address a system. Community members may
participate in any group they wish. The Laboratory's management and
technical team will be available to provide information, answer your questions,
and consider your input.
May 28 - June 8
The Laboratory's representatives will visit
residents in the areas where the systems may be located and where underground
piping may be buried.
May 28 - June 14
The Laboratory's project team will arrange to meet
with you in small groups if you wish. Please call Jeanne D'Ascoli (631)
344-2277 to set up a time.
Please fill in and return the attached postcard so that we know the best ways of keeping you informed.
All visitors must bring a photo ID for entrance into the Laboratory.
Directions: The Laboratory is on William Floyd Parkway about 1.5 miles north of exit 68 on the Long Island Expressway.
In 1989, Brookhaven National Laboratory was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "National Priorities List" for cleanup of hazardous waste and groundwater contamination. The Laboratory was added because of environmental effects resulting from our past practices, some of which impacted the aquifer.
Since that time, several important steps have been taken to ensure that residents continued to have safe drinking water. For example, more than 1,500 homes and businesses in the area that previously used private well water were connected to the public water supply.
Concurrent with these actions, the Laboratory launched several initiatives that have proven effective in preventing further contamination of the Laboratory site and the underlying groundwater. more than 100 sampling wells were installed and continually monitored to determine the exact locations of the "plumes," or areas of groundwater contamination. So far, nine water-treatment systems have been placed throughout the Laboratory property to ensure no more contaminants move off the site. One system already has been installed off site.
In the spring of 2001 and 2002, the Department of Energy, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, signed agreements called "Records of Decision," that mandate our future actions, including the installation of the six cleanup systems described in this brochure. For several years we have invited the community to be a part of our decision-making process and many people have become involved.
The Longwood Public Library, the mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, the Brookhaven National laboratory Research Library, and the office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in New York City have copies of the documents describing the investigations and studies related to the cleanup work. These reports are freely available to the public.
Once the Records of Decision were signed, the Laboratory installed more sampling wells to obtain detailed information on the extent of the contamination. With that knowledge, work started on designing and locating the six treatment systems that we expect to install between late 2002 and 2004. Systems 1 through 5 (as labeled on the inside map) will treat certain chemicals, known as volatile organic compounds, whose concentrations are above the drinking-water standards. These chemicals are common in household products, such as solvents, fuel oils, polishes, and cleansers. System 6 will treat water contaminated with ethylene dibromide, a chemical that once was commonly used as an agricultural pesticide. System 5 also intercepts contamination that contains low concentrations of tritium, well below the drinking water standard. The levels do not require any cleanup actions. The material will decay naturally.
The Laboratory also is making progress in determining the levels of contamination in the Magothy Aquifer, an aquifer several hundred feet deep. More temporary and permanent monitoring wells are being placed in the area south of the Laboratory, Once the Laboratory has further defined the contamination in this area, the regulators along with the Department of Energy and the Laboratory, will decide whether there is a need for a remedy for the Magothy Aquifer. If a remedy is necessary, the public will have an opportunity to review that remedy and comment about what must be done.
Both the Department of Energy and the Laboratory are committed to being good neighbors and good stewards of the environment. These two goals are extremely important to us as we move to the next steps in our plan to clean the groundwater.
The Laboratory needs your involvement in making important decisions about the location of one of the treatment system buildings. We are also asking for your input on the orientation, appearance, and landscaping of a number of th buildings. Several events are planned:
June 11: We will hold a workshop from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Laboratory in Berkner Hall. The Laboratory is on William Floyd Parkway about 1.5 miles north of exit 68 on the Long Island Expressway. The Laboratory's management and technical team will be present at the workshop to provide additional information on all of the projects, to answer your questions, and consider your input.
May 28 through June 8: The Laboratory's representatives will visit residents in areas where the systems may be located and where underground piping may be buried.
May 28 through June 14: The Laboratory's project team will arrange to meet with you in small groups if you wish. Please call Jeanne D'Ascoli (631) 344-2277 to set up a time.
All input from the community will be considered before the Department of Energy and the Laboratory make final decisions early this summer.
A pre-paid postcard is attached. Please fill it out and return it so that we know the best ways of keeping you informed.
We look forward to seeing you and/or hearing from you.
Please look inside of this brochure for details about the locations of the treatment systems and decisions being considered by the Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The water-treatment systems are designed to clean the groundwater, improve the quality of the aquifer and help to restore it back to its natural state. The systems that will be used in the off-site projects are known as carbon-filtration systems, used by the Suffolk County Water Authority in more than 40 locations throughout their system to purify drinking water supplies. Their safety is well established. They are emissions-free and virtually noiseless.
Typically, a water-treatment system consists of extraction wells that are from 125 feet to more than 200 feet below ground. Submersible pumps are installed deep into the well. The water is pumped up through a pipe to a large device that uses two carbon filtration vessels to remove the contamination. The pumps are typically installed in the bottom 50 feet of the well. The clean water is pumped back into the ground at about 50 to 100 feet below the land surface.
Contaminants are collected on granules of carbon as the groundwater passes through the treatment system. Several times each year the used carbon is pumped into a tanker truck and taken to a recycling facility where it is heated to a high temperature to remove and destroy the chemicals. Then it is ready for reuse. Fresh carbon is pumped into the empty vessel from the tanker to "recharge" the treatment system.
The pumping wells must be installed where they can most effectively remove the contamination. The filtering system, housed in a building about the size of a two-car garage, may be located near the pumping wells or some distance away, in which case the water is piped underground to the treatment system. At the center of this brochure is a map showing the pumping wells, recharge wells, piping and the possible locations of one of the treatment building systems.
All of the systems are expected to operate for 8 to 15 years. The Laboratory will regulatory monitor the groundwater and will turn off the systems when the regulatory agencies agree the cleanup of that area is complete.
We are asking for the community's help in deciding on an option for one of the buildings (System 1), and on the appearance, orientation and landscaping of all of the systems.
This page contains:
1. An Overview map that includes
- Contaminated plumes that are indicated by shading
- Locations of each system indicated by letters A-F
2. Descriptions of each system including
- Details of the location of wells, pipes and buildings
3. The decisions on which the community is asked for input
Features Common to All the Water-Treatment System Buildings
Carbon-filtration systems that are virtually noiseless.
Piping that is pressure-tested with clean water before operation begins.
Automatic shut down if there are operating problems.
Security systems that will alert the Laboratory's police if unauthorized personnel enter the facility.
Inspections, at least weekly, by Laboratory personnel.
Driveways for access.
The Legend for all System Maps
The Laboratory explored six locations for siting the treatment-system building. Three were not suitable because of much higher costs, problems with access, and the need for return piping. Three options were evaluated further (see comments associated with Option 3). The community is offered two options to review and comment on.
Option 1
Place the treatment building on the south side of the Long island Power
Authority right-of-way. See Marker A on the Overview
and System 1 maps. The
following are some of the factors to be considered:
Access to the property is conceptually approved.
It is the best location technically because it is close to the extraction wells and it minimizes the extent of piping.
Placing the building at this location is one of the most cost-effective options.
The building would be located in a residential area.
Option 2
Place the treatment building at the Airport. See Marker B on the Overview
and System 2 maps. The
following are some factors to be considered:
Access to the property at the airport is conceptually approved.
The building would be located on industrial property rather than in a residential area.
System 1 and System 2 would be combined and water would be processed in one building.
The water would be piped underground from the extraction wells at the LIPA property (at Marker A) down Puritan Drive to the airport, a distance of approximately 4,000 feet. The cleaned water would be returned to the ground at the airport.
The road would be repaved only where it is cut and excavated for the piping.
Option 3
Place the treatment building near Boxwood Drive and Stratler Drive. This
option was considered because some members of the community indicated this was a
desirable location, but the Laboratory decided not to evaluate further due to
the following:
It is technically more difficult to set up the treatment building at this location.
There is private property that must be crossed for this location and access is needed.
There are two additional road crossings.
There are additional piping and electrical costs; establishing a treatment building at this location is more costly than Option 1 or 2.
Option 1 is the preferred option for technical reasons. The Laboratory recognizes that placing a treatment building in a residential area may not be desirable. Therefore, it developed Option 2, which would pipe the extracted water down Puritan Drive to the Brookhaven Airport where it would be combined with the water treated by System 2. Both of these options are technically viable and either one could be implemented. Option 3 is not being considered for further input because of the drawbacks cited above. One of the objectives of the June 11 workshop is to seek further input from the community on these alternatives. Residents may also choose to express their views by returning the attached card or e-mailing Jeanne D'Ascoli at dascoli@bnl.gov.
The extraction wells and building will be located on Town of Brookhaven and Dowling College Property at Marker B on the Overview and System 2 maps.
A single option is being considered because this is the best place for a system that will prevent the plume from moving past this location. This site was selected because it is at the leading edge of the groundwater plume.
The Laboratory is considering a single option for the location of this building. An objective of the June 11 workshop is to seek further input from the community on its orientation, aesthetics and landscaping.
The Laboratory plans to locate the extraction wells and treatment building in the Industrial Park at Marker C on the Overview map. Technically, this is the best location. It is close to the extraction wells so the length of the piping would be minimal. The treatment building would be separated from Carleton Drive by the Long Island Railroad tracks. In addition, landscaping of the area would provide a further visual barrier from Carleton Drive.
More data are being collected for designing the layout, so further details about the location of the extraction wells and piping are not available at this time.
The Laboratory is considering a single option for the location of this building. An objective of the June 11 workshop is to seek further input from the community on its orientation, aesthetics and landscaping.
The building would be placed approximately 1,000 feet north of Moriches Middle Island Road on the west side of North Street at Marker D on Overview and System 4 maps. The property is owned by Suffolk County and is in an industrial-zoned area on North Street. The pipes and utilities would be placed underground along the Town's right-of-way on Sleepy Hollow Drive through a paper road at the east end of Waldorf Drive, and then through undeveloped land. (A paper road is land set aside by a municipality for possible future roads.)
The Laboratory is considering a single option for the location o this building. An objective of the June 11 workshop is to seek further input from the community on its orientation, aesthetics and landscaping.
This treatment system, including the extraction well, dry wells, and building, would be located on undeveloped land in an isolated area south of North Street at Marker E on the Overview and System 5 maps. The access road to this system would be located approximately 8/10 of a mile west of the corner of North Street and Weeks Avenue on the south side of the road. The Laboratory plans on siting the treatment system building on LIPA property approximately 1,000 feet south of North Street and the extraction well on undeveloped private property approximately 2,400 feet south of North Street.
The Laboratory is considering a single option for the location of this system. Since the system will be located in a heavily wooded area, the June 11 workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about the system and its planned location.
The extraction wells would be located on undeveloped land approximately 1,300 feet west of Weeks Avenue. The building would be erected at the northwest corner (Marker F on the Overview and System 6 maps) of adjacent land about 1,000 feet into the property from Weeks Avenue. Alternatively, it might be built on the south-west corner of the property depending on the owner's preference. Pipelines and utilities would be located entirely on private undeveloped land. The building would not be visible from Weeks Avenue.
The Laboratory is considering a single option for the location of this system. Since the system will be located in a heavily wooded area, the June 11 workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about eh system and its planned location.
Note: All buildings and well/piping locations are subject to the property owners' approval.
The Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory hope you will join us for the workshop that will be held on June 11. Your input is important to this project.
