Suspended operations minimize worker exposure risk to virus

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Nov. 11 – The second phase of the interim groundwater cleanup on Garfield Avenue is underway.

Last month a network of approximately 190 wells began a process designed to pump, treat and monitor groundwater in the northwestern and southeastern portions of Site 114, which was home to PPG’s chromium processing plant formerly located at 900 Garfield Avenue.

Installation of the infrastructure for the second phase was completed after a temporary suspension of work at PPG cleanup sites in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Field operations at all sites were suspended by mid-April. Limited activity resumed by mid-June at the Garfield Avenue Sites with workers returning to the Dennis Collins Park site in Bayonne by mid-August.

As in the first phase of the interim cleanup, wells at 900 Garfield are extracting groundwater from depths ranging from 20 to 65 feet below ground surface. The water is being conveyed to a new treatment plant installed near an existing treatment facility located south of Carteret Avenue. The treatment plant removes chromium and other contaminants before the water is discharged to the municipal sewer system.

Public water mixed with molasses and in some cases other reagents is being injected into the aquifer via wells. This will continue the treatment of impacted groundwater through the conversion of hexavalent chromium to a more benign form of the metal.

No groundwater in Jersey City is used for drinking purposes.