Home » News » Health
October 12. 2012 7:53PM
EPA: Auburn Road landfill Superfund site not a danger
LONDONDERRY — Though the former town landfill on Auburn Road remains a Superfund site, federal health officials said Friday that the area poses no immediate danger to residents, based on the site's most recent Environmental Protection Agency review.
On Friday afternoon David Deegan, spokesman for the EPA's New England Regional Office, said the agency completed the fifth, five-year review report on cleanup work done on the local Superfund site.
Consisting of three separate disposal areas totaling 180 acres, the Auburn Road Landfill was used as a town dump during the 1960s, with more than 1,000 drums of chemical waste, discarded tires and solid waste buried there.
About 12 of the site's 180 acres were believed contaminated.
The state closed the landfill in 1980, after hazardous substances were found in nearby surface and groundwater. Later, it was determined by the EPA that the contaminated water was flowing toward residential wells at the nearby Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park.
In 1987, the government agency declared the area a federal Superfund site, mandating that most of the 570 residences within a one-mile radius of the area be supplied with municipal water.
In 1996, a cover was installed over the disposal areas. The cover is about 4-feet thick with a impermeable membrane, a clay liner and a grass cap. Londonderry town officials said the landfill site in a monitoring phase, and the town's task is mainly to ensure that the site's fencing, drainage and upkeep are maintained, according to John Trottier, Londonderry's assistant public works director.
“Auburn Road predates my career with the town, but my understanding is the town's role in this is one of institutional controls,” Trottier said on Friday.
At the recommendation of EPA officials, municipal water has since been provided to the residents whose wells might have been compromised. At the 2005 Londonderry Town Meeting, a group of residents petitioned for a municipal water extension into affected neighborhoods.
As the result of the petition, voters agreed to spend $75,000 to extend the municipal water lines.
With the EPA's most recent review complete, Deegan said it has been determined that most of the cleanup remedies have proven a success, pointing to a potable water supply that serves residences in the affected area and groundwater use at the former landfill site that remains restricted.
Arsenic concentrations remain in the site's groundwater, and Deegan said the EPA is working with state environmental officials to maintain required cleanup levels. Deegan said a meeting would be scheduled soon to address options for arsenic mitigation, with state, town and federal officials to work out a plan.
Copies of the EPA's fifth five-year review report may be downloaded from the EPA New England web site at www.epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/auburnroad.
Documents on the site's cleanup activities and copies of the most recent and previous EPA reports are also available for viewing at Londonderry Leach Library, 276 Mammoth Road.
aguilmet@newstote.com
On Friday afternoon David Deegan, spokesman for the EPA's New England Regional Office, said the agency completed the fifth, five-year review report on cleanup work done on the local Superfund site.
Consisting of three separate disposal areas totaling 180 acres, the Auburn Road Landfill was used as a town dump during the 1960s, with more than 1,000 drums of chemical waste, discarded tires and solid waste buried there.
About 12 of the site's 180 acres were believed contaminated.
The state closed the landfill in 1980, after hazardous substances were found in nearby surface and groundwater. Later, it was determined by the EPA that the contaminated water was flowing toward residential wells at the nearby Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park.
In 1987, the government agency declared the area a federal Superfund site, mandating that most of the 570 residences within a one-mile radius of the area be supplied with municipal water.
In 1996, a cover was installed over the disposal areas. The cover is about 4-feet thick with a impermeable membrane, a clay liner and a grass cap. Londonderry town officials said the landfill site in a monitoring phase, and the town's task is mainly to ensure that the site's fencing, drainage and upkeep are maintained, according to John Trottier, Londonderry's assistant public works director.
“Auburn Road predates my career with the town, but my understanding is the town's role in this is one of institutional controls,” Trottier said on Friday.
At the recommendation of EPA officials, municipal water has since been provided to the residents whose wells might have been compromised. At the 2005 Londonderry Town Meeting, a group of residents petitioned for a municipal water extension into affected neighborhoods.
As the result of the petition, voters agreed to spend $75,000 to extend the municipal water lines.
With the EPA's most recent review complete, Deegan said it has been determined that most of the cleanup remedies have proven a success, pointing to a potable water supply that serves residences in the affected area and groundwater use at the former landfill site that remains restricted.
Arsenic concentrations remain in the site's groundwater, and Deegan said the EPA is working with state environmental officials to maintain required cleanup levels. Deegan said a meeting would be scheduled soon to address options for arsenic mitigation, with state, town and federal officials to work out a plan.
Copies of the EPA's fifth five-year review report may be downloaded from the EPA New England web site at www.epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/auburnroad.
Documents on the site's cleanup activities and copies of the most recent and previous EPA reports are also available for viewing at Londonderry Leach Library, 276 Mammoth Road.
aguilmet@newstote.com
