EPA Rest of River Weekly update of field activities

Here is the weekly update on site activities at the GE Housatonic site.

• GE is continuing with the installation of groundwater monitoring wells, piezometers (smaller scale groundwater monitoring device), and soil borings (for geotechnical and chemistry analysis) in the UDF area.
• The week of 5/23, GE contractors are continuing sampling in the Reach 5A Floodplain. The work is being conducted pursuant to GE’s Second Revised Pre-Design Investigation Work Plan for Reach 5A Non-Residential Floodplain Exposure Areas. EPA contractors will be providing daily oversight of the sampling activities.
• GE will be collecting the second round of Baseline Monitoring surface water samples on May 24-25 from the eight stations along the Housatonic River including the East and West Branch. EPA will be collecting a split sample from one location for QA/QC purposes.
• GE will be conducting the second quarterly dam inspections at Rising Pond Dam and Woods Pond Dam on May 27.
• The Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring Plan for Woods Pond Dam (the “OM&M Plan”) and the 2020 Amendment to the OM&M Plan requires that a spillway inspection occur during the Phase I Inspection/Evaluation of the Dam every four years. Due to high flow conditions at Woods Pond Dam during the Phase I Inspections, the spillway inspection was not completed in 2021. GE intends to complete the required Woods Pond Dam spillway inspection during the second quarterly inspection. In preparation, GE plans on removing one of the stop logs at Woods Pond Dam on Wednesday, May 25. A second stop log may be removed on Thursday, May 26 pending flow observations. You can expect to see an increase of flow through the raceway during this period. Once the inspection is complete, the stop logs will be returned and flow through the raceway will be reduced. The spillway inspection at Rising Pond Dam was completed during the 2021 Phase I Inspection/Evaluation.