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Spring Valley
Washington, DC

The Restoration Advisory Board meets the second Tuesday evening of every month from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Meetings are open to the public. View the 2009 Meeting Schedule.

Project Update
November 2008

This monthly Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site project update is provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, as part of our ongoing efforts to make information regarding the Spring Valley Partnership and neighborhood investigation more accessible to community members, elected officials, Restoration Advisory Board members, and other interested stakeholders.  Specifically, the monthly update is produced to provide those who follow the project with a current snapshot of our partnering, planning and field activities, and is not designed to provide historical information or an overview of the project.  Those individuals interested in broader project information, or who have follow-up questions regarding this update, are invited to contact our Community Outreach Team at (410) 962-0157.

Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP)

• The South Extension of the Glenbrook Road Pit 3 Area containment structure was fully dismantled in November as preparations for ‘East Extension II’ continued. The site operations team coordinated supporting efforts involving carefully removing more of the existing retaining wall along the side of the house, creating a level ground surface on which to build East Extension II. The intrusive digging investigation inside the East Extension II is scheduled to begin early in January 2009.  All those involved in the Neighborhood Shelter-in-Place program will be contacted prior to our ‘start up’ date.

During the East Extension II construction period, much of the staging equipment used for intrusive digging under the containment structure was removed. This opened up the space needed to access the test pits and arsenic contaminated soil located in a small area on the adjacent property, between the house and retaining wall along the property line.The last 5 test pits and nearby arsenic contaminated soil at the adjacent property were completed. Only one AUES-related item, a small glass pipette, was found as a result of this November effort.

• USACE continued digging soil and carefully removing World War I debris in the area around American University’s Public Safety Building. Completion of this project effort is still anticipated in Spring 2009. 
  
  

• The Community Outreach Team contacted the homeowners at 10 properties located near historical activity areas, helping with the preliminary site assessments and coordination for upcoming geophysical surveys. Other preparations (D.C. utility calls, field team scheduling, etc.), as well as meeting and coordinating activities with homeowners were completed so that 5 of the proposed 10 properties could be surveyed in December. The next 5 will be prepared for survey efforts to begin in early February. 

Site preparations for three geophysical anomaly investigation and removal program properties were completed this month. The investigation involves digging select underground metallic items (also referred to as ‘anomalies’) at these geophysically surveyed properties. The anomaly investigation and removal operation was completed at one of the three properties on the 4800 block of Glenbrook Road. No WWI-related items were found. Following the completion in mid-December of the anomaly removal activities at the two other properties, the anomaly investigation along the DC right-of-way is scheduled to begin. These are all low probability investigations, where there is a very low likelihood of finding any potentially hazardous munition items.

Removal of Soil with Elevated Levels of Arsenic from Residential Properties

• In November, soil removal activities were completed at a property on the 4200 block of Alton Place and a property on the 4900 block of Quebec Street. This brings the total number of completed residential properties to 88 since work began in the summer of 2002. Site preparation activities were initiated at a property on the 4800 block of Glenbrook Road and a property on the 4600 block of Rockwood Parkway, and these soil removal activities are expected to continue through the end of December.  
  

Restoration Advisory Board (RAB)

• As there is no RAB meeting in December, the next RAB meeting will not be until January 13th of 2009. RAB meetings are open to the public, start at 7 PM and are held in the basement meeting room of St. David’s Episcopal Church at 5150 Macomb Street, NW.    
  

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