State Set To Begin Cleaning Up Farmingdale Superfund Site

New York plans to begin work on cleaning up a Superfund site in the heart of Farmingdale in November.

The site is the former Plaza Cleaners, located at 450 Main St., in the former Waldbaum's shopping center. One of the businesses connected to Waldbaum's was Farmingdale Plaza Cleaners, a dry cleaner that operated from 1983 to 2003.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says the main contaminant is volatile organic compounds. The DEC has already constructed a system to keep them out of the air, but they are seeping into ground water as well.

The new plan is for the DEC to build a well with a pump that will remove the chemicals from the water. The DEC plans to visit the site on Nov. 12 and work for five days to dig the well and take measurements to set up the pump, as well as starting work to design it. Then, in the spring of 2019, the DEC will return to install the pump and start removing the contaminants from the water.

All of the documents related to the project are available for viewing at the Farmingdale Public Library. Anyone with questions about the project can contact Brian Jankauskas, the DEC's project manager, at (518) 402-9626 or at brian.jankauskas@dec.ny.gov.

Photo courtesy Google Map