Orlando pollution sites targeted for high-voltage cleanup

By Kevin Spear

Process is expected to take eight months

A poisonous mess of industrial solvent lurking underground near downtown Orlando is about to get hit with the "big hammer" of environmental cleanups, while a smaller but similar problem near City Hall will be treated this week using more conventional methods.

After equipment tests this week, project managers will flip some switches to send electricity pulsing 50 feet into the ground just north of Lake Highland, near Virginia Drive and Orange Avenue. The current — enough to supply several blocks of homes with power — will pass between clusters of steel contacts and, as it encounters resistance from sand, clay and water, will turn the subterranean environment steaming hot.

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