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EPA Completes Review of Environmental Progress at Former Superfund Site

Release Date: 09/06/2002
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1064 Anna Krasko, EPA Remedial Project Manager, (617) 918-1232

Boston - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has completed reviewing groundwater monitoring data from the past five years from the former Davis (GSR) Superfund Site in Glocester and Smithfield, Rhode Island and has determined that the site remains protective of human health and the environment. The Davis (GSR) site was deleted from the Superfund list in 1999.

Since EPA's 1997 decision not to conduct Superfund-financed cleanup actions at the landfill, EPA and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management have continued to monitor groundwater in 20 residential wells on Tarklin, Evans, Eddy, Mann School, and Long Entry roads. All the wells are located within a one mile radius of the landfill. EPA and the state sampled for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and metals in February 1999, April 2000, April 2001, and April 2002.

Consistent with testing results in 1980s and 1990s, the latest results indicate no site related contamination in these wells. Several naturally occurring metals, including lead and arsenic, were detected in some wells. The Rhode Island Department of Health has sent testing results to individual home owners and provided advice and interpretation of the testing results.

The Davis GSR Landfill Site was added to the Superfund list in 1986. The 58-acre site includes a 21-acre landfill located in a semi-rural area off Tarklin Road which took municipal waste from 1974 to 1982. The landfill had been cited numerous times for environmental violations and was closed following a court order to do so. In the early 1990s, EPA conducted an extensive Remedial Investigation which concluded that the landfill appeared to be the source of various chemicals found in groundwater, but that contamination was limited to the immediate vicinity of the landfill with no evidence of contamination off the site. No distinct plume of groundwater contamination was found to be emanating from the landfill. In August 1999, the site was deleted from the Superfund list.

EPA will conduct another round of residential well testing in 2003, after which the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management may continue such monitoring. No additional five-year review reports are expected for the Davis (GSR) Site in the future.

A copy of the Five-Year Review Report can be found in the site repository located at the East Smithfield Public Library, 50 Esmond Street, Esmond, RI and at the EPA Records Center in Boston, MA.

Note: This site is not Davis Liquid Waste or Davis Tire Pile Site, which are also located in Smithfield, Rhode Island.