USA

The Environmental Protection Agency has now closed the public consultation period on its proposal to clean-up a former drycleaning site in Summit, Ohio and said it expects to announce the final decision in the autumn.

EPA has reportedly already spent $2million on cleaning the soil and the shallow aquafer at the Copley Square Plaza site in Summit County but the latest proposal is to spend up to $4.9million cleaning the intermediate and deep aquafers in the area.

The agency’s preferred option is to treat the aquafers by injecting microscopic particles of specially-treated iron. These particles would then flow to reach areas of contaminated groundwater that cannot be cleaned by other means. It argues that although this method is more costly than others it is the only one that meets all clean-up criteria.