March 11, 1988 A spill of toxic chemicals from an underground tank was discovered at a Hauppauge firm in March and has led to the excavation of 340 tons of contaminated soil, Suffolk County officials said yesterday.
The spill at RAI Research Corp., 225 Marcus Blvd., a manufacturer of semi-permeable membranes used primarily in very small batteries and for filtration, poses “a severe potential threat” to groundwater in the area, according to a consultant hired by the company to oversee the cleanup. But county health officials stressed that it is not yet known whether any of the chemicals reached the water table, or whether it will pose a public health threat.
The toxic waste is composed of toluene and carbon tetrachloride – both industrial solvents – and methacrylic acid, used in the manufacture of membranes, county and company officials said.
Frank Randall, supervisor for inspection services at the county Health Department, said officials won’t know if there was groundwater contamination until test wells are dug.
Homes closest to the spill are hooked up to public water, Randall said, and the Health Department “is preparing a notification” to the Suffolk County Water Authority to look for the chemicals when it samples water from wells in the area.
Vincent D’Agastino, vice president of RAI’s membrane division, said, “Test monitoring wells will go in to check contamination and to make sure we don’t reach the groundwater.”
Smithtown Fire Marshal Richard E. Gadzinski, who said he stumbled upon the chemical clean-up while on routine inspections last week, said RAI was given a summons yesterday for failing to report a flammable liquid spill to the local fire department.
D’Agastino said the state Department of Environmental Conservation and county Health Department were contacted as soon as the spill was discovered on March 11. He said RAI was unaware that it also had to notify the Hauppauge Fire Department. “The fire department, we figured, would be notified by the county,” he said.
Donnelly Engineering of Nesconset, which has coordinated the cleanup effort for RAI and probably will install the groundwater monitoring wells, originally estimated the size of the spill at about 1,000 gallons. But Lawrence Donnelly said yesterday his firm’s 1,000-gallon figure was an “upper limit” estimate at the time the spill was found and that it is not possible to determine how much liquid actually escaped.
“It takes a very small amount of solvent to contaminate soil,” he said.
Randall said the 1,000-gallon estimate was arguable. He said the extent of the spill and exactly how long it continued won’t be known until groundwater tests are conducted.
“It was only reported a month ago,” he said. “When it happened, we’ll only know when the groundwater study is completed . . . If it’s down into the groundwater, then it probably happened significantly earlier . . . “
A report submitted to the DEC by Donnelly Engineering states that the spill “poses a severe potential threat to the groundwater flowing under the site as well as to the surrounding environment.”
According to that report, waste solvents at RAI are normally dispensed into a 5,000-gallon underground hazardous-waste holding tank. A 2,600-gallon liquid waste overflow tank is located next to the 5,000-gallon tank to handle overflow from the larger tank or to collect spills from the building itself.
Readings taken by RAI on March 11 revealed that the liquid level in the 5,000-gallon tank had not increased since Jan. 26. The company estimated that 3,500 gallons of hazardous waste had been discharged from the plant to the tank during that period. RAI inspected the overflow tank on March 11 and discovered that the tank was overflowing into the ground.
The cause of the spill was determined to be a blockage in the pipes leading to the larger tank, Donnelly said. That caused the smaller overflow tank to fill and overflow.
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(Copyright Newsday Inc., 1988)
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