The cleanup of a sewer line and soil in a Franklin neighborhood is complete after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Franklin asked Amphenol Corp. to address contaminants that spilled from its former facility in the city.
Amphenol recently completed a sewer line and soil cleanup in the neighborhood south of the company’s former facility at 980 Hurricane Road in Franklin, according to a news release from the EPA.
The project is part of a larger cleanup required by the EPA to address historic contamination originating at the former facility. Before 1983, solvents were released to a floor drain at the facility, which spread through some of the sanitary sewer line in the adjacent neighborhood, the news release said.
“I am grateful to the mayor and all the residents of Franklin for their cooperation and patience in getting this important project completed,” said Kurt Thiede, EPA’s Region 5 administrator. “EPA is committed to addressing contamination from the Amphenol site and to keeping residents informed every step of the way.”
Amphenol committed to paying to replace a city sewer segment, upgrade a treatment system and continue paying for testing and treatment of homes that are in the path of the contamination. The company agreed to pay for crews to dig up a city street and remove contaminated soil and replace a sewer line that carried toxins from its plant on Hamilton Avenue into a nearby neighborhood, according to newspaper archives.
Contaminants that were thought to have been contained at the site since the 1990s had actually escaped the property and traveled along the sewer under Forsythe Street, as far south as Ross Court, archives said.
The issue was discovered after a concerned group of parents dubbed If It Was Your Child raised concerns about certain locations that could be contaminated across the city. The Amphenol site and others have been monitored by the EPA or the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for decades, but Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett asked for proof that the ongoing cleanup and monitoring was working properly, according to archives.
In August 2019, Amphenol Corp., in coordination with the City of Franklin, began to remove or line 2,600 feet of damaged sewer pipe. The private sewer main connections of several homes were replaced after inspections showed existing pipe that was either in poor condition or made of clay. The company also removed contaminated soil near the sewer pipes. In all, 4,700 tons of soil were removed and sent to a landfill for disposal.
Work to restore streets and rights-of-way will be done this spring. Amphenol also must take further actions to address the remaining groundwater contamination, the news release said.
