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What lies beneath Pineknotter Park part two

What lies beneath Pineknotter Park part two - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 6:30PM EST

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 @06:30pm EST

The I-Team doesn't have professional equipment the DEP and EPA uses to test soil and water, but we used our own way testing the water and soil at Pineknotter Park in Northumberland Borough.

The testing sheds light on whether or not the park is still safe years after the borough cleaned it up.

By state standards, the landfill sitting underneath Pineknotter Park here in Northumberland Borough is safe.

Borough leaders say it's contained, and is pretty much a dead issue.

Northumberland council president Bryan Wolfe says, "For some time now this project has been completed and everything's fine."

But the I-team took another look taking 5 soil, and 2 water samples in early January.

We gathered water samples next to both pipes draining from the park.

The soil samples were taken next to the pipes, next to the ballpark fence, in the outfield, and next to the playground.

Former Bloomsburg University professor Douglas Dunham tested our samples, at his lab at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

He tested for metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead.

In an email response, he addresses all samples, saying "He didn't notice anything that stood out" as harmful.

We asked soil and water testing expert Jim Steigerwalt to take a second look the lab results.

This is the second time Steigerwalt helped us with test results.

Soil and water samples taken in 1998 revealed high levels of dangerous chemicals. to which Steigerwalt said this, "I think it should be closed down, or restricted to some other use rather than the use we're using it for now."

But for our results, and based on the method of testing I used he says the levels of metals tested are "slightly" elevated, not "extremely" elevated like the 98’ results.

Steigerwalt and Dunham both say based on the i-team test results, the soil and water don't seem to pose a significant health risk.

But our method of testing differs from the DEP and EPA.

I used plastic pipes, and airtight tupperware containers, while the state and federal agencies have professional equipment, and can dig deeper in the soil.

We also couldn't test for dangerous, non-organic compounds like vinyl chloride, which could lurk underneath the park.

The DEP has inspected the landfill several times after a leachate outbreak was contained in 2001.

But those inspections are visual, and new soil and water tests aren't taken every time.

Still, the state agency says all is safe.

"We're satisfied that the borough did perform what was their responsibility to do. We have not had any complaints from citizens about this landfill. Of course if someone has some information they think we should know about, we'd be happy to hear from them, and we'd investigate it properly."

We showed the I-team test results to the DEP today, and they responded by email.

A spokesman said, “A very quick review of your soil results does not seem to show numbers that exceed DEP standards."

The DEP also encourages the group of people asking for more testing to contact the agency directly to see if anything more can be done.
 


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