By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(March 19, 2020) Heron Park in Berlin has passed its tests, Berlin Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood announced at the Monday, March 9, mayor and Town Council meeting, following an analysis of water extracted from the grounds.

Jeff Fleetwood

Last June, an undisclosed amount of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda or lye) was spilled during demolition work by a contractor, resulting in the park’s closure.

Chesapeake Environmental Services handled the bulk of the clean-up for $283,000. Other work was done by town workers and contractors at a cost of about $3,000 rather than the $50,000-$60,000 quoted by other companies.

The Maryland Department of the Environment required an evaluation of the groundwater under the area where the spill occurred to determine if any caustic chemicals left behind. The testing, which was scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, involved drilling three wells about 15 feet deep near the original spill site.

“The engineers on site, a couple weeks ago, they did drill a number of shallow water wells,” Fleetwood said. “They did extract water … the initial field results on those tests for pH was very good, everything passed on that.

“However, the other test that they were testing for, the substance was chloride, the field test could not confirm any results so it was sent off to a lab,” he continued. “Last week we did receive final results — the pH is fine and the chloride levels are fine. Those result have been communicated to the Maryland Department of the Environment.”

Fleetwood had a conference call with the department director, who said “from his perspective, everything is fine, but he was going to pass it to his staff for their opinions as well.”

Heron Park was officially reopened to the public in February after five months of being closed. The park has resettled over 4,000 tons of soil and Fleetwood expects it to be seeded sometime between April and May.