DATE: Saturday, May 31, 1997                TAG: 9705310254

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   32 lines

5 FAMILIES AWAIT EXTRA CLEANUP NEAR ABEX SITE

Five families didn't go home to Washington Park on Friday.

They'll continue to stay in temporary quarters until their homes get the extensive cleaning ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup of the lead-contaminated Abex foundry site.

Meanwhile, 19 other families returned to their homes in Washington Park public housing. One family will stay at the Travelers Inn motel on Effingham Street until a child recovers from chickenpox.

The added cleanup was ordered after the five families told EPA officials that they were not comfortable with the spot cleaning of their homes after tests showed ``elevated levels'' of lead. ``We want people's minds to be at ease, so EPA is requiring the extensive cleaning of their homes,'' EPA community involvement coordinator Lisa Brown said Friday. ``The work plan called for spot cleaning, and that has been done. Now we are requiring that the entire home of each be cleaned again.''

The 25 families were relocated four weeks ago from homes adjacent to the factory site. They stayed at Travelers Inn and at Harbor Tower while the old foundry was razed and the site was cleaned of all contaminants.

The area around the foundry has been covered, and a new fence has been built. A second phase of the Superfund cleanup will involve removal of topsoil from a large area, including the soil around all of the public housing at Washington Park.

``But we don't have the plan complete for that part of the project,'' Brown said. ``I can't say when that work will begin.''

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