After Spill, Regulators Keep
Eye on River State regulators and local environmentalists are satisfied that the water main break under Gun Hill Road on July 13 did not significantly harm the Bronx River, though they continue to monitor the situation. After a 10-inch feeder cable blew a hole in a 48-inch water main, "16,500 gallons of dielectric fluid mixed with 100,000 gallons of water traveled through storm sewers into the Bronx River," according to Peter Constantakes, a spokesman with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), a state agency. Constantakes emphasized that the fluid did not contain any PCBs, a common concern when dielectric fluid is involved. In addition to the DEC, several other agencies responded at the time of the incident including the city's Department of Environmental Protection, the Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management. Con Edison, the utility company responsible for the dielectric fluid spill, deployed cleanup crews and had a contractor install containment booms in the river. One boom is left at 177th Street "in case any oil appeared downstream," Constantakes said. The DEC will inspect soil adjacent to where the water main break occurred. "Depending on what was shown, we may ask them to put in monitoring wells to see if there's any impact on groundwater," Constantakes said. "We'll have people out there. We'll assess what we see and make a decision based on what we see." Local river advocates say they are satisfied with the cleanup. "We've been watching it carefully," said Linda Cook, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance. "I do think that it's mostly over." Jeffrey Katz, a Con Ed spokesman in the Bronx, said the environmental health and safety department of the company "continues to work with the DEC and other agencies to [make sure] that the river has been cleaned up properly."
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