June 12, 2003

Thank you to everyone, (including WR Grace, EPA, DEP, the AWD, the Town of Acton, ACES members, & all the consultants) who have been involved all these years in making progress toward cleaning up contamination at the WR Grace Superfund (hazardous waste) site in Acton. Thank you to the Beacon, and the Boston Globe for keeping the public informed.

ACES urges WR Grace to actively clean up both affected aquifers so that the in situ groundwater throughout the entire site [especially in the northeastern area] meets or exceeds drinking water standards.

Due to active remediation on the southern part of the site (including by the ARS system), we have seen significant reductions in the level of contamination in the groundwater on that part of the site.

To date there have not been any cleanup efforts on the northeastern part of the site where contamination is in bedrock, in residential areas. Now that the contamination in the northeastern part of the site has been delineated, ACES especially urges Grace to actively clean up the contamination of groundwater in this northeastern area, so that it meets or exceeds drinking water standards.

We know the contamination in the northeastern area reaches three of our public drinking water wells, and higher concentrations of contamination are being pulled toward the wells. This contamination should be cleaned out of the groundwater by WR Grace before the water reaches the public wells. It should not be the responsibility of the Acton Water District to remove the WR Grace contamination from our drinking water, even if they have the technology to do so. The aquifer should be remediated to drinking water standards by Grace, so that any additional treatment by the Acton Water District is just an extra layer of protection for the public.

ACES June 2003 Public Statement

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