Ground water contamination from the idle Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal is apparently spreading farther into an abandoned subdivision on the opposite side of the Shenandoah River, a preliminary study of the contamination says.

Because of those findings, the FMC Corp., a former owner of the plant that is partially responsible for its cleanup, may need to conduct more study to determine the boundaries of the plume of contamination, Bill Ferguson, FMCs senior remediation engineer, said Tuesday at a public meeting on Avtex attended by about 50 people.

FMC sampled water from a well that was thought to be beyond the plume several years ago. The water showed signs of carbon disulfide, used in the manufacture of rayon. Ground water samples also included arsenic, zinc, phenols and levels of high alkalinity.

Kimberly A. Hummel, the Environmental Protection Agency's chief of the remedial section for Superfund sites in Virginia and West Virginia, said the ground water contamination has been known for years and its spread would be no cause for alarm because it's still within the boundaries of the subdivision.

Virtually all of the property was bought by Avtex in the mid-1980s after carbon disulfide was found in residential wells.

Eleven basins at Avtex hold scrap viscose, the product from which rayon is made. Eight of them don't appear to be leaking, but three have thin soil bottoms and the water table is 10 to 20 feet above the bottom of the basins, according to the study.

More study is needed to determine the degree to which the three basins are acting as a source of ground water contamination, the study says.

Ferguson said the additional work will be done on the ground water and at six of 16 areas of soils for the final study report.

After that, the focus will shift to finding the best way to clean up the contamination, he said.

FMC is responsible for studying the series of waste basins along the river, the ground water on and off the site, on-site soil and the fly ash landfill.

The EPA is responsible for studying the other areas impacted by Avtex, including the air, the river and the buildings.

Ferguson said FMC is generally pleased with the results of the testing.

Arsenic found in fly ash hasn't turned up in the downgrade well and contaminants found in the areas of soil sampling are shallow, he said.

Also represented at the meeting were the Friends of the Shenandoah River and the Warren County Redevelopment Corp., a non profit corporation formed to take title to real estate at the plant.