By Dominik Lobkowicz
One of the two leach fields at Medomak Middle School, partially excavated in late February. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Replacement leach fields at Medomak Middle School are up and running and water testing will be ongoing following an event in February where Rockland-based Maritime Energy
accidentally pumped 2,087 gallons of heating fuel into part of the school’s septic system.
On Feb. 4, a delivery driver for the company mistakenly pumped the oil into the access to the septic system’s lift tank, which has a quick-disconnect fitting similar
to the oil fill.
An estimated 780 gallons of oil were removed from the system on Feb. 5 and the balance of the oil had likely already been pumped by the septic system out into the
leach fields, Regional School Unit 40 Facilities and Transportation Director George Bridges said previously.
Since the event, Maritime Energy and its contractors have been working with the district and state agencies to remediate the issue.
Chris Fournier, the Department of Environmental Protection’s project manager for the remediation, said the two leach fields at the school were removed, the oil-
contaminated soil was excavated and removed from the site, and after the areas were deemed clean, the leach fields were reconstructed and put back into service.
In total, 5,800 cubic yards of soil were removed from the site and replaced, according to MMS Principal Kate Race.
“Anywhere we had a trace [of oil], we dug down quite deep,” said Jeff Marcotte, Maritime’s safety and training coordinator.
At a public meeting in February, Marcotte said the plastic from the system was to be put into lined, covered containers and taken by environmental services company
ENPRO to be processed in Rhode Island.
George C. Hall & Sons, the Rockland-based general contractor for the project, was going to store the contaminated soil – covered and on top of plastic – at their
property on Buttermilk Lane in Thomaston before the soil is incinerated at the Dragon Products cement facility nearby, Marcotte said at the time.
While the leach field replacement was going on, Interstate Septic pumped out the septic tank at the school each morning before staff or students arrived, Race said.
A series of monitoring wells have been drilled encircling the leach field area, Fournier said, and after water samples are taken to determine the groundwater’s
direction of flow, the DEP will make recommendations of whether or not further monitoring of the wells is needed.
Marcotte said no migration of the oil has been found so far.
“At least in the wells we have around the units, we would see something there before it would ever go” any further, Marcotte said. The oil would have to run in the
groundwater before it could go anywhere else, he said.
The DEP will monitor the water wells for the middle school and Medomak Valley High School next-door for the remainder of 2015 and possibly 2016 to make sure there’s
been no impact, Fournier said.
Regarding testing, “everything has come back … as though it never happened,” Race said.
Maritime was professional and collaborative throughout the process, as was the state, according to Race.
“There were no hiccups,” she said.
As of May 11, the only item remaining on a punch list for the project was the repair of a bent fence post, Marcotte said.
Marcotte was unsure of the total cost for the project.
“The soil’s not even completely remediated yet,” he said. “Expensive would be the word, but I can’t say anything more than that.”
To avoid an accident like this in the future, the sewage connections have been color-coded and locked and Maritime has adopted a policy that every oil tank over 500
gallons has to have a plastic tag identifying it.
“Without that label, we can’t pump into that tank,” Marcotte said.
Calls to George Bridges for comment on the cleanup were not returned.