WEST NEWBURY — Residents living near the old town dump are one step closer to finding out if ongoing flooding around their neighborhood has compromised the water quality of their drinking wells.
At a selectmen's meeting on Wednesday, Bob Janes, chairman of the Board of Health, presented a plan to test surface and groundwater near the Steele landfill at the corner of Middle Street and Georgetown Road. The dump was capped in 1987, but never properly maintained.
"There are some who will tell you that anything decomposed in that dump is long gone. I have no idea if that is the case," Janes said.
Recent flooding due to beaver dams on adjacent land in Groveland owned by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is alarming residents who fear rising waters may contaminate the underground aquifer. And they worry that poor maintenance may have jeopardized the integrity of the landfill cap.
Lack of proper care has led to severe overgrowth of dense grasses, brambles, wild grapevines and groves of small trees, making it extremely difficult to walk across or monitor.
"Those who were supposed to maintain it, didn't," said Janes, indicating to selectmen that he preferred not to dwell on finding blame for why maintenance was not done previously and instead move forward with the necessary monitoring procedures now in place.
The town was cited in 1994 for failure to conduct monitoring of the landfill. But although it responded to the Notice of Noncompliance stating that an appropriation was made for additional monitoring, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has no record of any monitoring after December 1989.
Residents have been asking for more than six months for the beaver dams to be removed so water flow can normalize and flooding recede, but that would require issuance by the DEP of an emergency order to the landowner.
Despite a declaration by the Board of Health last June that the rising water levels posed a potential public health threat and efforts by Health Agent Paul Sevigny over the summer to try to resolve the issue, state officials insisted that monitoring and testing of the water must take place before it will consider issuing any order for beaver dam removal.
Selectmen unanimously supported a recommendation by the health department to hire New England Environmental Technologies of Groveland to oversee the monitoring and testing. The purpose of the testing is "to provide current water quality data in terms of current monitoring standards" in accordance with DEP regulations, the proposal stated. A total of seven sampling points will be reviewed — five monitoring wells and two surface water locations.
Cost for the project is $4,610, which includes $1,110 for the field and report services and $3,500 for analytical services. A Reserve Fund Transfer will be needed to cover work done this year, but an annual appropriation is anticipated for future years, Janes said.
Costs are based on analysis of the following parameters: pH, alkalinity, temperature, specific conductance, nitrate nitrogen, total dissolved solids, chloride, calcium, sodium, iron, manganese, sulfate, chemical oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen. Samples will also be reviewed for the presence of the following inorganics: arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, cyanide, lead, mercury, selenium, silver and zinc; and for volatile organic compounds as well as methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetone and 1,4-dioxane.
Quality assurance and control information will accompany all sampling and analytical reports. "Any samples which require off-site analysis will be forwarded to a Massachusetts Certified Laboratory under a detailed chain of custody procedure," the proposal states. Results should be available within 30 days of collection.
Additional costs for work to repair gas vents and sample the vents for methane could push the overall project cost as high as $8,000, Janes said. According to a DEP report issued in September, the lack of proper maintenance at the landfill has resulted in the gas vents being frost heaved, leaving the concrete collar suspended several inches above the ground surface and the vent pipes leaning over at a severe angle.
When asked for his input at the conclusion of Janes' presentation, former selectman Albert Knowles Jr. said, "It sounds like the Board of Health has done what they should have done in the past and remedied it."
Selectmen Chairman Glenn Kemper said neighbors living near the landfill will be given an update about the testing and monitoring plans.
