"We’re not concerned that there’s an unacceptable risk, but we agree that monitoring the data and monitoring the situation is very important," he said after the meeting.
The issue of PCB contamination seeped into public view again last month as members of the City Council reviewed recent sample data gathered from groundwater near Building 71 and Hill 78, two landfills near Allendale Elementary School that GE used to consolidate toxic chemicals during the company’s cleanup activities.
Tagliaferro addressed the city’s concerns, pointing to the data as he stated the contamination poses no immediate threat.
More samples are being collected in the coming weeks, and Council President Peter Marchetti said Thursday he suggests convening another meeting around the issue as those figures become available.
And he said average PCE and TCE concentrations from the 16 wells fall well below standards applicable to surface water standards.
But standards set for nearby buildings and their occupants are more relevant to the contamination — that is the benchmark against which recent samples showed elevated levels.
Still, samples that contained above-benchmark levels of PCE and TCE were not found near enough to occupied buildings to pose any established risk, he said.
He said his data also shows the groundwater in that area was contaminated before the landfills were created.
"PCBs are pretty ubiquitous, if you look at other areas of the country," he said.
"What’s the action plan?"