WARREN — Crews from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are surveying a contaminated site off Birch Swamp Road this week in preparation for a cleanup of the privately owned one-acre parcel that was once used as a junkyard.

The federal agency started the survey yesterday and will continue the work today before beginning next Monday to remove soil tainted with such hazardous materials as lead and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The cleanup is expected to be completed by the end of October, according to Melanie Morash, the EPA’s on-site coordinator for the project.

Automotive parts, electronics and surplus military equipment were dumped on the property through the 1980s when it was used as a junkyard by the late Amilio L. Zompa, a self-employed scrap metal dealer from Barrington who died in May at 86. The land is now divided into two parcels, one owned by Zompa’s estate and the other by Warren residents Madeline and Robert Chace.

The contamination was discovered in 2006 by the state Department of Environmental Management during tests following up on a massive cleanup of a nearby site at 20-22 Birch Swamp Rd. That property was used by Bristol Sandblasting Co. to store and dispose of paint residue and sandblasting equipment from 1986 to 1992. The EPA removed thousands of tons of contaminated soil from there in 1995.

In the tests two years ago, the DEM took sediment samples from the Kickemuit River and found elevated levels of lead and other heavy metals along with PCBs, which are oil-based contaminants. Because the Bristol Sandblasting site had not been tainted by PCBs, the DEM started investigating another source of contamination in the river. The agency identified the Zompa property, according to Morash.

The EPA took soil samples from the site in 2007 and earlier this summer that confirmed the DEM’s findings. The samples showed elevated levels of both lead and PCBs in the soil. Samples were also taken from a stream that runs through the property but those tests did not show high levels of either contaminant. Additionally, Morash said that drinking water around the area was tested and is safe.

Because the EPA was not able to get Zompa’s permission to access the now overgrown property before his death, the agency was forced to get a federal warrant from the Justice Department. The warrant, issued July 30, gives the EPA 120 days to complete its work. The deadline is Nov. 30.

Although some lead and PCBs were found up to two feet deep on the property, most of the contaminants are contained in the first six inches of soil. An estimated 750-1,000 tons of tainted soil will be removed from the site and trucked to an unidentified site approved by the EPA. Excavated areas will be backilled with clean soil. In some disturbed areas, vegetation will be replaced.

The EPA is conducting what are known as “Terrain Conductivity” and “Magnetometer” surveys to ensure that there is no remaining metal equipment buried on the site.

The property is located off an unpaved access road that intersects with Birch Swamp Road to the west. Morash said the potential that anyone in the area could be exposed to contaminants from the abandoned junkyard is low.

“This site is isolated,” she said. “It’s off in the woods and not visible from the road.”

qakuffner@projo.com