Downstream of Canfield spill, Austintown creek samples being analyzed

 Test results are pending on samples taken late last month from nine locations along Sawmill Creek in Canfield and Austintown. The sampling occurred downstream from a July spill near the Material Sciences Corporation facility on West Main Street, just west of the MetroPark Bikeway.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency personnel visited the nine locations on April 30. The sampling sites along Sawmill Creek in Canfield are where the creek crosses Main Street, Cardinal Drive, Verdant Lane, Glenview Road, Sleepy Hollow Drive, Camelot Court, Herbert Road, and the MetroPark Bikeway. In Austintown, samplings occurred near Turner Road and Kirk Road.

The Ohio EPA has stated that any changes to the work plan resulting from the site visit will be documented in a later investigation report.

The sampling plan, submitted by August Mack Environmental Inc. on behalf of Material Sciences Corporation, detailed the proposed collection of soil and sediment samples from a wetland adjacent to the Material Sciences Corp. property in Canfield and from points downstream in Sawmill Creek. The Ohio EPA approved the plan last month.

The work is part of an ongoing Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action process at the metal galvanizing and coil coating facility.

In July 2024, a brown liquid was seen in a ditch near the facility. Material Sciences Corp. believes the discharge, linked to past contamination, occurred during routine cleaning. Subsequent investigations indicated contamination in soil, surface water, sediment, and groundwater on and off the company's property.

The work plan calls for collecting up to 19 soil and sediment samples from the wetland and sediment and surface water samples from nine locations where Sawmill Creek crosses public roads. An additional sample was to be taken upstream to determine typical conditions in the creek.

  August Mack