CORINNA – When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is through cleaning the contaminants out of the soil at the Superfund site here, it will be safe enough to use in playgrounds, the project manager told residents Wednesday night.

Ed Hathaway said that the cleanup of the former Eastland Woolen Mill site – one of the most polluted sites in the country – will have cost $40 million by the end of this year, the fifth year of the cleanup.

From 1909 to 1996, Eastland contaminated downtown Corinna, the Sebasticook River and a mile-long area downstream with cancer-causing chemicals once used to dye wool.

The project has involved removal of the mill, removal and treatment of the soil under the mill, rerouting the Sebasticook River, removal of all the buildings on Corinna’s Main Street and rerouting Route 7. At the present rate of accomplishment, the soil treatment will be done and the EPA will pull out its equipment in 2005.

Groundwater monitoring, however, will continue for decades, said Hathaway.

The process of treating the more than 14,000 tons of soil handled thus far has been slow and complicated, Hathaway said. “We’ve picked it up. We’ve piled it. We’ve moved it. We’ve moved it again. We’ve screened it to remove large rocks. We’ve cooked it and forced steam through it. The stuff [contaminants] doesn’t want to come off. That’s just the reality of soil treatment.”

As well as continuing the steam treatment of contaminated soil, Hathaway sketched out this summer’s plans for studying the effects of widespread contamination found downstream in the Sebasticook River and alongside in wetlands, particularly an area near an old dump.

Hathaway stressed that nothing found in that area should be of concern to humans but that the natural food chain might be affected. He said a summer study will focus on crayfish, the natural food for mink, raccoon, short-tailed shrews and other mammals.

Meanwhile, the first sign of life in the barren Corinna center will appear May 16, according to Town Manager Judy Doore. The Village Market, an open air market for farmers and crafters, will open that Friday, said Doore, and continue every Friday afternoon until fall.

Other noticeable activities will be beautification of the downtown green space and construction of a boardwalk on the east side of the river and Arundel Lake west of downtown. The project is being funded by a $20,000 grant Corinna was recently awarded by the Maine Department of Conservation. “This is the second-largest flyway [of migratory birds] in Maine,” said Doore. “This boardwalk will go along the wetlands. It is incredibly exciting.”

Behind the scenes, town planners will be busy creating a subdivision plan for the downtown area so that when EPA leaves, construction of a new combination business and residential area can begin. “That plan will be the hub of the entire downtown,” said Doore. “It will dictate the entire infrastructure, roads, lights, everything.”