HADLEY — Local officials are investigating the dumping of a massive amount of concrete construction debris along the banks of the Connecticut River.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said Monday the agency also would investigate after the Gazette inquired about the incident.
The debris was discovered Friday after Select Board member Donald Pipczynski received an anonymous email alerting the town to the pile of rubble, which stretches about 75 feet from the shoreline of the river.
The area is accessible from a sloped and unpaved road directly across from the intersection of Stockwell Road and River Drive (Route 47) in North Hadley.
“I was disgusted,” Pipczynski said of his reaction to seeing the huge piles of broken concrete and reinforcement bar. “For somebody to do that, it’s just astonishing.”
Pipczynski said the illegal dumping was particularly disturbing given that residents, including himself, recently participated in a townwide cleanup to get ready for events on Memorial Day weekend.
He said the anonymous tipster wanted to alert the town to the debris and provided its location, nothing more.
“Apparently they didn’t want to get mixed up in it,” Pipczynski said. “This can be very costly to clean up.”
Hadley Building Commissioner Timothy Neyhart said he is examining records, particularly of demolition activity in town, to try to establish a connection to those responsible for the rubble pile, which extends down to the water line.
“No good leads at this point,” Neyhart said.
Town officials said it is their understanding that the property is owned by Edward Gralinski Jr., whom they alerted about the dump site. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
“He’s very upset that somebody dumped it,” Neyhart said, noting that property owners are ultimately responsible for such messes if those responsible for illegal dumping are not caught.
The concrete debris chunks are so large and so numerous that heavy equipment was almost certainly used to get the debris to the river’s edge, according to town officials.
“There’s a lot there,” Neyhart said, adding that whoever did dump the debris was likely familiar with the terrain and had been there before.
“That’s a really long, long road,” he said of the steeply sloped and winding access road to the river.
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.