PARIS – The cleanup of the old tannery lagoons was initially expected to cost $1 million, but the contaminated ground is considerably greater than thought, pushing the final cost closer to $2 million, according to the on-site coordinator.

“The lagoons were bigger than they were mapped, and it looks like there is more contamination along the riverbank,” said Amy Jean McKeown, the EPA coordinator for the former A.C. Lawrence tannery site between Oxford Street and the Little Androscoggin River.

When state surveyors examined the area with ground-penetrating radar last spring, they did not accurately assess the size of the multiple underground lagoons.

After the EPA team came in this summer and actually began digging, the breadth of the underground sludge became easier to assess, McKeown said.

She added, too, that the weight of the waste makes it costly to dispose of in a landfill.

Since the tannery cleanup began in August, 9,200 tons of chromium-contaminated soil, or 310 truckloads, have been shipped to the Crossroads landfill in Norridgewock. About 12,000 tons still need to be removed, McKeown said.

The contamination was left behind by the A.C. Lawrence tannery, which used the 7-acre lot across the Little Androscoggin River as a repository for its leather-treatment waste products, the most pernicious of which was chromium.

The tannery closed in 1985, capping the lagoons but leaving the sludge in place.

The EPA is paying for the Superfund cleanup, which requires digging up the contaminated soil and hauling it to a landfill. But it was uncertain whether the extra money will come through soon enough for the 7-person team to finish the job this year.

If the funding is not available, McKeown said the team will pack up and return when the project is financed again, hopefully next year.

“We’ll continue working on it until we’re done,” McKeown said.