DOVER — At a public information session Tuesday evening hosted by the U.S. EPA, a representative of engineering company GeoInsight announced the creation of a well and sewer system along the outskirts of the city's former municipal landfill on Tolend Road to lessen the level of harmful chemicals escaping the site.



Mike Webster, project manager for GeoInsight — the environmental engineering company responsible for the activities at the city's former landfill — said the company is proposing to implement a two part plan throughout 2011 that would call for the construction of a set of wells that will extract contaminated groundwater that is seeping out of the southern part of the landfill.



Webster said the wells would prevent volatile organic compounds from leaving the landfill, as it would be extracted and disposed of appropriately.



The second part of the plan involves the creation of an extended piping system that would connect to the wells and deposit the extracted water into the city's sewer system.



According to Webster, the pipe lines would run from the landfill, up Glen Hill Road, over the river by Covered Bridge Lane, cross county land and ultimately end up in the city's sewer near County Farm Crossroad Subdivision.



Webster said he hopes to see the well construction begin in April, and said he expects that the creation of an extended sewer system could be finalized by October. He noted that if the proposed dates are met, it would make the entire extraction system ready for use by the end of the year.



Webster also provided attendees with information from the EPA's recent quarterly report. The report includes activity that occurred at the landfill during July, August and September of 2010.



After studies were conducted throughout the summer months and showed that volatile organic compounds were present, the EPA suggested investigating where the source, or what Webster called a "hot spot," for the compounds were located in the landfill.



Once those sources were discovered in the northern section of the landfill, Webster said his company took remedial actions and utilized a vacuum system that removed the compounds from the source.



During the past year, Webster said elevated concentrations of arsenic were found in sediment that surrounds the landfill as well. The engineering company devised and implemented a plan that dug out what Webster said was close to 1,000 tons of contaminated sediment from the perimeter of the landfill and disposed of it at the Turnkey Landfill.



Webster said the trenches were then filled with clean soil so that an access road can be built over the area in the upcoming year to make the mobility of vehicles and installation of structures around the landfill easily attainable.



For access to information pertaining to the landfill and Tuesday evening's presentation, visit http://www.epa.gov/region1/cleanup/resource/findnesites.html and click on the link for "Dover Municipal Landfill" under the New Hampshire tab.