Clearing out the old Continental Steel dam was supposed to be a one-day job, but contractors turned to other work Thursday as environmental concerns stalled the dam demolition.
Crews with Bowyer Excavating of Peru broke through the outer concrete shell of the dam Wednesday, uncovering an unidentified fill material inside the structure.
Obviously contaminated with a petroleum product of some sort, the polluted fill caused a quick end to what was supposed to have been a quick project.
City officials thought the dam, which stretches across the Wildcat Creek about 300 yards south of the Markland Avenue bridge, was made of solid concrete.
The discovery of the fill material brought out the state’s emergency environmental response unit, and Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials assessed the situation.
The fill material, they determined, would have to be transported and disposed of off-site. City engineer Carey Stranahan said samples of the polluted material have been sent out for chemical analysis, and results are expected next week. Those results will determine where the material can be taken, and at what cost.
Workers will continue to dismantle the dam today and should have it completely removed by the end of the day, Stranahan said. While the chemical test results are pending, workers will segregate all the polluted material in roll-off containers and keep it there until the lab results come back.
Stranahan said the contractors removed a large snag of tree trunks and branches from the creek early Thursday, before removing a 36-inch, water intake pipe.
The concrete part of the dam, Stranahan said, can be taken a short distance and dumped at the steel mill’s old acid lagoons site.
“It’s just the ugly stuff in the middle that has to be taken away,” Stranahan said.
Some of that material — everything excavated Wednesday — sat in roll-off containers next to the creek Thursday. Water poured through the breach in the dam created Wednesday, past a system of concrete weirs in the creek, through a fence, and past an underwater “turbidity curtain.” Even further downstream, an absorbent boom stretches across the Wildcat, catching any oil floating on the surface.
Bowyer bid $31,000 to remove the dam, but that was with the understanding that the structure was solid concrete and wouldn’t have to be taken to a landfill.
Stranahan said Thursday afternoon he was still waiting to hear what landfill would accept the petroleum-stained fill. The city budgeted about $60,000 for the project, and city officials were hoping the project would cost considerably less.
Those hopes faded as soon as Bowyer Excavating broke through the concrete shell.
“It’s just hard, knowing what all was done in the past. Boy, it sure would have been cheaper in the long run to take care of that stuff the right way,” David Inskeep, a member of the Wildcat Guardians, said Wednesday. “But I know that’s not very helpful now.”
• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at 765-454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com
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