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042503 New well must be dug at Pound Ridge school
BY FRANK NARDOZZI
A new well will have to be dug at Pound Ridge Elementary School (PRES) to provide water free of the salt contamination that has seeped into many wells in the Pound Ridge area.
The salt contamination is suspected to come from the overuse of salt by the Pound Ridge Highway Department during the course of wintertime snow removal from town roads.
Assistant Schools Superintendent Mark Betz stated at the Bedford Central Board of Education meeting on Wednesday that the Westchester County Department of Health (DOH) had notified the school district twice in the last two years that the water at PRES was contaminated with high levels of chlorides. Both times, the building had to be taken off of its underground water supply and switched to bottled water. he said.
Mr. Betz said that the school district was concerned that the contamination may be from road salt in the area. He said the district had contacted the Town of Pound Ridge, as well as various state and federal agencies, to help with the problem.
Paul Pelusio of J. Robert Folchetti & Associates of Somers, the consultant for the school district, stated that the district was first notified by the DOFF in December 2001, pursuant to water samples taken in September and October of that year. A mitigation plan was implemented in February 2002 that consisted of lining and extending the school's well to a lower depth.
"The initial results were excellent," Mr. Pelusio said, and the school was put back on well water in December 2002.
However, in March of this year, the DOH notified the district that its monitoring had revealed elevated levels of chloride at the school once again, as well as in nearby wells, including the Pound Ridge Community Church next door.
Mr. Pelusio said that the use of a system called "reverse osmosis" could not be employed to clear the school's well because of the lack of a sewer system to accept the rejected water. The only option, he said, was to dig a new well.
New well construction
The new well will be constructed with a full casing through the contaminated layers of soil down to a new water source.
"The full casing will seal out the contaminants from the ground above," Mr. Pelusio said. He told the board that he would be contacting the DOFF in the "next few days" for approval.
Mr. Betz asked why digging to a deeper level worked when there was contamination in the soil above. The consultant replied that deep rock wells naturally filter out contaminants from higher strata.
School board member Elm Sullivan asked how long it would take for the contaminants to wash out of the soil.
"You cant tell. It takes years in some cases," Mr. Pelusio replied. "It depends on how fast the water moves through the soil. The goal right now is to provide a better quality water source for the school."
Mr. Betz said that the school was restricted as to where it could drill another well on the PRES campus because of nearby septic systems. He and the consultant agreed that the new well would have to be built near the school to take advantage of the existing piping system.
The new well will cost $10,000 for drilling and design fees. The overall cost to the district over the past two years will be about $35,000, Mr. Betz said.
The assistant superintendent said that he and Tom Briggs, the school district's director of buildings and grounds, planned to be at the public hearing to be conducted on the town's road salt practices by the Pound Ridge Town Board on Thursday, May 1. School board member Mark Slivka, a Pound Ridge resident, said that he also planned to be there.
PRES Principal Eric Byrne said that he had received "not a whole lot of feedback" from Pound Ridge residents since Don Heppner's story about road salt contamination appeared in The Record-Review last week.
"I've gotten several calls of concern," he said, "and have met with the PTA presidents."
In the meantime, PRES has made bottled water available for students and employees. The water fountains were shut off last month when school officials learned about the contamination.