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.
Progress on Remediation of VOCs at WR Grace Superfund Site
Since 1985, groundwater at the WR Grace Superfund Site in southeast Acton has been extracted and treated for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Data from the 2018 annual monitoring report suggest that this remediation is making progress.
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.
Warrant Articles #39 & 40: Amend General Bylaws: Stormwater Management Revisions, Amend Zoning Bylaw: Stormwater
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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 →
Missed the 1,4-Dioxane Panel? View it here.
On Oct. 25, 2018, Acton residents benefited from a crash course on 1,4-Dioxane in Acton’s groundwater and drinking water.
Has Acton’s 1,4-Dioxane situation been getting better or worse?
The previous post looked at the 1.5-year-old effort to divert 1,4-Dioxane in the Nuclear Metals, Inc. (NMI) plume before it can reach the public water supply. This post looks at a longer time frame, and asks whether dioxane levels in the Acton public water supply wells have been getting better or worse over the scale… Continue reading →
The intervention to divert Nuclear Metal’s 1,4-Dioxane from reaching the public water supply
As discussed in earlier Green Acton posts, there is a plume of 1,4-Dioxane flowing from the Nuclear Metals, Inc. (NMI) Superfund Site, passing under the Assabet River, and impacting the water quality at the Assabet 1 public water supply well. Fortunately, there is a pro-active remediation effort underway to intercept and treat this contaminated water.
How can the NMI dioxane plume go underneath the Assabet River?
One of the more surprising aspects of Acton’s 1,4-dioxane situation is that the contaminant plume coming down from the NMI Superfund site goes underneath the Assabet River and thus reaches the Acton Water District’s Assabet 1 public water supply well.