Summary of Fifth WR Grace Five-Year Review

Overview: The Environmental Protection Agency has released a new Five-Year Review (FYR) Report on the WR Grace (WRG) Superfund site, a former industrial site that straddles the town line between Acton and Concord. The purpose of a five-year review is to evaluate how well a clean up plan (“remedy”) is working to be protective of… Continue reading →

Acton’s Health Department and Water Quality

Water is essential to life, and thus to health. Here in Acton, the Town Health Department oversees many water-related activities and entities. It attends to public and private wells, swimming pools, and the NARA Pond swimming beach, potential sources of groundwater contamination (including septic systems, underground storage tanks, and two Superfund sites), and potential sources… Continue reading →

Lack of Progress on Remediation of 1,4-Dioxane at WR Grace Superfund Site

The previous post described the recent progress that has been made in reducing the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the WR Grace Superfund Site by extracting and treating the groundwater, as called for in the 2005 Record of Decision (ROD). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for 1,4-Dioxane.

Green Acton Provides Stakeholder Input for WR Grace Superfund Site Five-year Review

As part of its regular schedule of every-five-years reviews of each active Superfund site, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks input from affected communities. The WR Grace site is up for review this year, and EPA sought input from Green Acton, the Acton Water District, and the Town of Acton Health Department.

More details on 2019 Warrant Articles #39 & 40: Stormwater

Stormwater is water that runs off the land, typically following rainfall, snow melt, or a leak or overflow. On landscapes impacted by human development, stormwater can carry sediment, fertilizer, harmful bacteria, oil, gas, toxic metals, and salt into nearby waterways. Water that runs into storm drains is water that is not available to nurture plants… Continue reading →

2019 Election for Acton Water District Commissioner

The Acton Water District (AWD) is an independent government entity, separate from Acton Town government. As such, it is led by a Board of Water Commissioners, analogous to the Board of Selectmen for the Town of Acton; both serve as the legislative bodies for their respective entities. The three Water Commissioners are elected officials, who… Continue reading →

Green Acton Position on Extending Nagog Pond Order of Conditions

At the Green Acton meeting on December 11, 2018, by consensus of the Directors present, Green Acton adopted the following position with respect to Concord’s application for a three-year extension to its Order of Conditions (“wetlands permit”) for the expansion of its water treatment facility at Nagog Pond: In view of the important new information… Continue reading →