The cleanup of contaminated properties surrounding the former Geneva Foundry on Jackson Street has entered its seventh and final year, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
David Chiusano, project manager for the DEC’s Division of Environmental Remediation, said that the DEC is pleased with the way the project has turned out, and that they have met the commitments made seven years ago.
The project involved removing contaminated soil, lead and arsenic, and restoring properties in the Foundry Zone on the city’s north side. Air emissions from the facility’s furnace contained lead and arsenic, which were deposited into the soil in the surrounding area.
State officials determined that more than 200 properties were contaminated.
In 2016, residents discovered that the soil on their properties could pose health hazards, even though state and city officials knew of the contamination many years earlier. One year later, the DEC began a more than $16 million project funded by the state’s Superfund program to remove the contaminated soils from properties in city wards 5 and 6.
The final 38 properties on the list of those to be remediated will be addressed in the coming months.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]