By Jessica Coleman--Daily Staff Writer

FRONT ROYAL — With one major project completed, another is under way at the Avtex Superfund site.

Sewer removal is nearly complete, said John Torrence, site manager for FMC, the company in charge of the cleanup, with one major removal done. Now, the major focus is the closure of viscose basins 4, 5 and 6, which were basically landfills, he said.

The "big dig," a trench 1,200 feet long, 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep, was created to extract 7,200 feet of sewer from the site. The excavation was recently completed and the trench filled with soil and crushed concrete from buildings on-site.

"There were just as many sewers as we anticipated," Torrence said. "They were all found, and they were all removed."

The pieces of the sewers that were dug up are still on-site, but will soon be crushed and sent to landfills off-site. But before that takes place, the crushed pieces will go through a machine to sift out the soil.

"The soil doesn't need to go to a landfill, but the concrete does," Torrence said.

"These piles will slowly disappear," he added. "Eventually they'll all be removed or used as fill material on the site."

The "big dig" was part of the second phase of sewer removal. The first phase was completed in 2005 and centered on the lines in the northern part of the site. The third phase will probably begin in 2009, Torrence said in an earlier interview, and will focus on the sewers on the other side of the railroad that runs through the site.

"All the sewers that are attainable have been removed," he said, adding that some more soil tests need to be completed before the rest of the sewers can be removed.

On the other side of the site, at viscose basins 4, 5 and 6, construction started in July and is expected to be completed in October. First, the sites were cleared. Then they were graded at a slope to allow water to drain. A plastic layer and a cloth layer were then placed on top of the soil, which will be covered with 2 feet of clean soil. This fall, temporary grasses will be planted to see how things grow, until a more permanent planting can be done in the spring.

This week, dump trucks deposited clean soil obtained from a local source, which was in turn spread by bulldozers. A berm, with allocated drainage outfalls, was created around the top of each viscose basin to direct rainwater to a "French drain" surrounding the basins. These will direct the clean water into the Shenandoah River.

"The water is clean," Torrence said. "We're not going to be sending anything that's not clean into the river. That's not allowed."

Torrence said the work at the viscose basins is receiving the majority of attention at the Superfund site for the time being. At this point, he said, things are on track for a tentative completion date in 2010 for the 160-acre commercial-industrial park area.

"There is a sense of satisfaction when you can see the progress on this grand a scale," Torrence said.

* Contact Jessica Coleman at jcoleman@nvdaily.com