FairfieldONE

Mill River Cleanup Coming to an End

The portion of the Mill River next to Martel Bistro and Bar and the property that used to be an Exide Battery Co. factory, at 2190 Post Road, is planned to be finished by the end of the year. According to Barry Culp, senior project manager at TRC, the goal is to finish the dredging process by the end of the year, but the equipment is not expected to vacate the land at 2190 Post Road until the summer of 2016. This long-awaited process is seeing improvement as the water in Mill River is being treated to reduce the lead contamination levels. The land and water was contaminated because of the battery factory that operated on the land. Exide closed in 1981 and the factory was demolished in 2005 after being vacant for 25 years. The cleanup of the Mill River is the final part of the remediation process and is said to be going as planned. Once the remediation process is complete, the plot of land can be developed on. Everything that is being dredged will leave the site and be placed in landfills. The cleanup process is being fully funded by Exide Group Inc. and will not cost the town anything.