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EPA to Review Cleanup Progress at Savage Municipal Water Supply Well Superfund Site

Release Date: 09/23/2002
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1064

Boston--The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it is undertaking a review of the effectiveness of groundwater treatment remedies in place at the Savage Municipal Water Supply Well Superfund Site in Milford, New Hampshire.

The site consists of two cleanup areas. Operable Unit 1 is located near the intersection of Route 101 and Elm Street, and extends from the New Green Bridge along Elm Street to the Milford Police Station on the south and includes the land between Elm Street and North river road, completely encompassing the former OK Tool Company property. Operable Unit 2 is located east of the OK Tool Company property and is bordered by Old Wilton Road to the south and the Souhegan River to the north and east.

EPA and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services completed construction in 1998 of a circular shaped slurry wall to contain the contamination and constructed a groundwater pump and treat system that draws contaminated groundwater from both inside and outside of the slurry wall. Additionally, contamination is being removed from the soil using a soil vapor extraction system which captures contamination from the air between the surface of the soil and the top of the groundwater table.

This review, called a five-year review, is a comprehensive evaluation of the site remedy which will include: interviewing local officials and community members, collecting information from local officials, checking the well field and treatment systems to ensure that they are operating as designed and are being properly maintained, and assessing records and reports.

The review team will evaluate the information gathered and then make a determination as to whether the remedy is protective or not protective of public health and the environment. The team will then publish a five year review report that explains its findings after the five year review is complete. The five year review process is anticipated to be completed next summer, followed by a final report which will be made available to the public.

The Savage Municipal Well supplied approximately 40 percent of Milford's drinking water between 1960 and 1983 but was closed in 1983 after routine state wide drinking water sampling revealed contamination in the well. The site was placed on the EPA's National Priorities List in 1984. The site consists of approximately 235 acres including the municipal well and the underlying ground water aquifer.

More information about cleanup activities at the site may be found on the EPA New England web site at: www.epa.gov/region1/superfund. EPA technical reports and documents are available for public review in the site information repository located at Wadleigh Memorial Library at 21 Nashua Street in Milford, NH.