Multi-War Veteran Under Siege As Sewage Plant Din Roars On

Harry Kinnard, 92, has given much for his country.

He was at Pearl Harbor on the morning of the Japanese attack, manning a machine gun to defend the base. He parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day to help secure the beachhead and later played a key role in the Battle of the Bulge. He served in Vietnam, including in one battle so ferocious it was made into a movie.

Now the retired Army lieutenant general, who is under hospice care in his house in South Arlington, says he feels like he is fighting a losing battle. The enemy this time is mind-numbing noise from a trio of pile drivers operating 12 hours a day as Arlington County rebuilds its massive sewage treatment plant a few blocks from his split-level home.

"It's annoying, it's nerve-racking, but they apparently have the clout to continue it, and nobody knows how to stop it," said Kinnard, who has a nerve disorder.

Some noise readings in the area have exceeded 100 decibels, higher than the 55 decibels federal and state officials recommend as a reasonable intensity in suburban neighborhoods. Noise is measured in increments much like earthquakes: 73 decibels is twice as loud as 70.

Arlington officials generally disapprove of excessive noise and have taken steps in the past to crack down on noise abusers, including a Good Humor vendor. The county's noise ordinance outlaws construction noise that exceeds 90 decibels. Emergency repairs to public utilities are exempt.

Arlington officials have budgeted more than $700,000 to reduce noise at the plant site, but so far all attempts are failing, leaving hundreds of South Arlington residents to live with the din from the driver, which hammers the "legs," or piles, into the ground, supporting the plant's foundation.

A noise-reducing pad disintegrated. Hanging curtains on the pile driver didn't work; another technique using magnets had no noticeable effect. A hairpin device that sits atop the pile to disperse the impact seemed ineffective at reducing the racket. The county's hopes that a hydraulic hammer would prove the solution were dashed when officials learned that only a few such devices worldwide were large enough to do the work, and none of them are available.

"We've tried anything we can find, period," said Phil Loar, the plant's director of community relations.

Arlington's elected officials agree with the residents about the loud noise, but although they have asked the county government to find a solution, they emphasize that Arlington is under a court order to upgrade the plant.

Acoustics specialists say there is little that can be done.

"Unfortunately there is no magic bullet here," said Boston-based noise engineer Erich Thalheimer, who worked on Boston's Big Dig, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement and a light rail project in Denver. "Pile driving is exceedingly noisy, and it is still a necessary component of this kind of construction."