DEP extends Spring Pond cleanup deadline to Dec.

PEABODY – Spring Pond is still murky, despite the fact that today is the Department of Environmental Protection’s deadline for it to be crystal clear.However, City Clerk Tim Spanos informed councilors last week that the state agency has extended the cleanup deadline by two months to Dec. 1, which means the city is in the clear of $1,000/day fines for now.The DEP first fined the city $25,000 back in 2006 when reports of contamination arose.It was later learned that between 1997 and 2006, the city was denied permission to dispose of residual waste through the South Essex Sewerage District. Public Services Director Dick Carnevale made the decision to pump all the waste into two onsite lagoons built with the ability to handle only half that amount. The lagoons overflowed and waste found its way into Lower Spring Pond.The fine was lowered to $6,000 after the city consented to cleaning the pond entirely by Oct. 1, 2008, or face daily fines until they do.The city has since worked feverishly to get the job done and avoid any potential added costs or further impact to the environment. In May, the Council voted to bond for $960,000, the estimated cost of the clean up. And, just last month, the Health Department approved a request to dump sludge dredged from Spring Pond into the landfill at Farm Avenue.”It would really make for a much more cost effective process and allow them to comply with the requirements to clean it up,” said Peabody Health Director Sharon Cameron.Weston and Sampson, the engineering company managing the cleanup process, will have special access to the landfill until May 2009 for the sole purpose of dumping plant, dirt, iron, and aluminum residuals removed from Lower Spring Pond. Any other use is prohibited.The temporary waiver will allow the group to dump no more than 10,000 tons of sludge, although the anticipated amount removed would only add up to about half of that.