EPA plans Franklin meeting to explain sewer work

<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is hosting a meeting later this month to walk Franklin residents through sewer work that will be completed during the next few months related to contamination caused by a former manufacturing facility.</p><p>Th event is billed as an open house and is from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Franklin library, 401 State St.</p><p>Residents are encouraged to attend any time that evening and the event is informal. Representatives from the EPA and the engineering company will answer questions and hand out flyers about the project, said Kirstin Safakas, EPA’s community involvement coordinator.</p><p>Sewers on Forsythe Street, Hamilton Avenue, Glendale Drive and Ross Court will be relined to be sure that contamination from the former Amphenol facility does not cause further vapor intrusion from those sewers. The work is expected to start this month and will continue over the next few months, Safakas said.</p><p>Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett got Amphenol to commit to paying for the work in November as part of an ongoing effort to clean up contamination left when a facility operated on Hamilton Avenue in Franklin.</p><p>The former manufacturing company is also upgrading its own treatment systems and is continuing to pay for testing and treatment of homes that are in the path of its contamination. The company has also been digging up a city street and removing contaminated soil.</p><p>The EPA conducted ambient air monitoring of the streets and sewers and discovered that some contamination had been going through the sewers, Safakas said.</p><p>Contaminants that were thought to have been contained on the site since the 1990s had actually escaped the property and traveled along the sewer under Forsythe Street, as far south as Ross Court.</p><p>The sewer project should address the vapor intrusion that has been found and the concern that the contamination was coming from underground, Safakas said.</p><p>The air will be tested once the work is complete to be sure that it is no longer causing vapor intrusion, she said.</p><p>Issues with the site were discovered after a concerned group of parents, called If It Was Your Child, raised concerns about certain locations that could be contaminated across the city.</p><p>The Amphenol site and others have been monitored by the United State Environmental Protection Agency or the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for decades, but Barnett asked for proof that the ongoing cleanup and monitoring was working properly.</p><p>Amphenol is one of thousands of contaminated sites across the country, created due to workplace practices before modern environmental laws were enacted. The EPA has been overseeing the cleanup at the site for more than 30 years.</p><p>The EPA planned the open house as a way to reach residents directly and to inform them of what is going on with the project, Safakas said.</p><p>&quot;It is a way to have one-on-one contact with the community residents,&quot; she said.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>What: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informational event to address the sewer project.</p><p>Amphenol is paying to reline the sewers near a former plant on Hamilton Avenue.</p><p>When: 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 14.</p><p>Where: Franklin library, 401 State St.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]