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EPA HOLDS AN OPEN HOUSE AT GROUNDWATER TREATMENT PLANT

Release Date: 06/09/2000
Contact Information: Stacy Greendlinger, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, 617-918-1403 Amy Miller, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1042

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding an open house at its groundwater treatment plant at 62 Washington Street in Groveland, MA on Saturday, June 10, 2000 from 10:00 am until noon. The public will tour the facility and have the opportunity to ask questions about the Groveland Wells Superfund site and the operations of the treatment plant.

"The public will have the opportunity at the open house to tour the plant and see first hand how contamination is removed from the area's groundwater," said Mindy S. Lubber, EPA New England regional administrator. "By removing contamination from the aquifer, this plant will ensure that the quality of the town's drinking water and the Merrimac River will not be affected from groundwater contaminants at the site."

Ten groundwater extraction wells pump 150 gallons of contaminated groundwater per minute from the area's deep and shallow aquifer and transfer it to the groundwater treatment plant. The groundwater is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a manmade chemical used in industry as a degreaser for metal parts. The treatment process includes removing suspended solids from the groundwater, destroying the contaminants in the groundwater, and preventing airborne emissions of contaminants from entering the atmosphere. Prior to being discharged to Mill Pond, treated water is monitored to ensure that it meets discharge limits.

EPA will operate and maintain the facility for the first ten years, after which the MA Department of Environmental Protection will assume operating and maintenance responsibility. The groundwater treatment plant will operate until Superfund cleanup goals have been met, which is estimated to be up to thirty years.

The 850-acre Superfund site includes most of the aquifer that supplied the town of Groveland's drinking water. The town shut down two wells in 1979 after finding TCE contamination. Water rationing was imposed and the town developed a new well drawing from a different aquifer. Of the original two wells, one was permanently abandoned and the other was reopened after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) installed a well-head treatment system which removed TCE and provided potable water. The well-head treatment system currently is not operating because contamination is no longer detected in this particular well.

The source of contamination was determined to be solely from the Valley Manufactured Products Company (VMPC), in operation since 1963 and located off of Washington Street. Evidence shows that at least 3,000 gallons of waste oil and TCE were released and other accidental spills occurred. As a result of these activities, an extensive groundwater plume containing principally TCE exists in the aquifer under the site.

The groundwater treatment plant is located between the VMPC and Mill Pond. The Archdiocese of Boston owns the property and under an administrative order of consent has given EPA the right to build, operate, and maintain the groundwater treatment plant. In return, when the groundwater cleanup goals have been met, the equipment inside will be properly decomissioned and removed and the ownership of the building will be retained by the Archdiocese.