Snohomish makes progress on cleanup near river

Published 10:44 pm Monday, January 21, 2008

SNOHOMISH — Work to clean up soil contaminated with diesel and motor oil at a former sewer settling pond continues to cost the city money.

The city has already spent $40,000 removing dirt and rocks from street sweeping and storm water at the one-acre parcel near the Snohomish River, said Tim Heydon, the city’s public works director.

It’s expected to spend $500,000 this year containing the soil contamination to protect the environment.

The work needs to be done by Oct. 1, a deadline set by the state Department of Ecology. Otherwise, the city could face a fine.

“We are on track,” Mayor Randy Hamlin said. “We are very sensitive to the deadline.”

City officials don’t know how the oil ended up in the ground at the site. They hope to cap the contamination without removing polluted soil, Heydon said.

“It’s incredibly expensive,” he said. “We’d be spending a whole lot more than half a million dollars if we dug all that out. You have to ship it to a specific location, and it needs to be handled appropriately.”

The site has other problems as well.

The contaminated land sits next to a 25-acre lagoon, which had been used as a sewer settling pond before the city upgraded the sewer plant in 1996.

The state had ordered the city to clean up biosolids left in the lagoon by October 2006, but a noxious weed infestation prevented crews from planting and growing a crop that would make the residuals harmless.

After missing the deadline, the city paid a $25,000 fine to the Ecology Department, said Larry Altose, a spokesman for the department.

In 2007, the city finally planted the crop, Heydon said. The crop is likely to stay for a few years to adjust nutrients in the soil.

“It’s well on its way to closure,” Heydon said. “It’s basically done.”

The Ecology Department is reviewing the city’s cleanup plan on the 1-acre parcel, Altose said. State officials hope that the city will meet the deadline this year.

“The response (from the city) has been so far satisfactory,” Altose said.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.