JAN 7–ENDICOTT, NY–IBM says that it can clean up most of the groundwater pollution its accused of causing in the Village, but the timetable might be a lot longer than many residents would like.

IBM says it will take five years to clean up half of the groundwater contamination in Endicott from a 1979 spill and ten years to remove 80 percent of it, according to a plan the company submitted to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

IBM cannot project a time when it can eliminate all of the contamination. The plan calls for an underground construction system and two extraction wells that would inject clean water to flush out contamination, one between Grant and Garfield Ave and another on Columbus Ave. Endicott Trustee Betty Havel, who lives in the plume area, is happy IBM has a plan for accelerated cleanup and is confident the DEC will scrutinize it.