GUILDERLAND — The United States Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for cleaning up formerly used defense sites, is seeking community interest in forming a restoration advisory board for the former Army Depot located where the Northeastern Industrial Park is now located.

The land was set up as a depot in 1941, during World War II, and the Army diverted the Black Creek into two halves, and sent waste into the creek and buried it on site. The Black Creek feeds the Watervliet Reservoir, Guilderland’s major source of drinking water, and some of the debris left by the Army was hazardous.

The Army Corps identified nine areas of concern in the Guilderland area and has worked to clean and close four of them; it declared another two to require no action.

Citizens on the original Restoration Advisory Board, led by Peter Buttner, and later Ted Ausfeld and Charles Rielly, pushed for the cleanup.

The old Army burn pit close to the Guilderland High School is the last area left for remediation.

Two of the AOCs comprised a former Army landfill over 60 acres in the Northeastern Industrial Park, which the Army Corps spent $3.3 million to cap and cover, completing that project at the end of 2013.

The Army Corps is required to assess community interest in forming a restoration board every two years. The board would facilitate public participation by providing a forum for community members, government agencies, and property owners to discuss the proper means to restore the environment.

The Army Corps installed three monitoring wells at the site for the former landfill to check environmental impacts to soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment.

The Army Corps welcomes public feedback about establishing a restoration advisory board. Questions can be submitted within 30 days by e-mail, to NAERABFile@usace.army.mil, or by mail to USACE, courtesy of H2H Associates, LLC, 179 River Street, Troy, New York 12180.

Individuals who express interest will be notified of the Army Corps’ decision.