EPA To Review Cleanup Progress at Re-Solve, Inc. Superfund Site

Release date: 05/30/2003

Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064

Boston-- The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is undertaking a review of the cleanup remedies in place at the Re-Solve, Inc. Superfund Site in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

In this study, called a five year review, EPA will be looking at whether the groundwater treatment system, which has been in-place at the site since 1998, continues to be effective and will ultimately meet the cleanup levels set for the site.

Two other five-year reviews have already been completed for the Re-Solve site, one in 1993 and one in 1998.

EPA has formed a team to plan and conduct the review. The five-year review process involves a comprehensive evaluation of the site remedies including:

• interviewing local officials and community members
• collecting information from local officials
• checking the groundwater treatment system to ensure that it is operating
• as designed and is being properly maintained
• assessing treatment system records and reports

The Re-Solve, Inc. Superfund site, located on North Hixville Road in North Dartmouth, MA, was placed on the EPA's National Priorities List in 1983 when extensive polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and volatile organic compounds were discovered in the soil and groundwater. A state-of-the-art treatment system that treats contaminated groundwater and prevents contamination from migrating from the site was completed in 1998. The facility will operate until groundwater is cleaned to appropriate levels.

In 1988, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health established a fishing advisory in Cornell Pond and Copicut River due to elevated levels of PCBs in fish. Only catch and release fishing is permitted in the pond and river.

As part of the cleanup, approximately one acre of wetlands surrounding an area where contaminated soils were removed and restored. That area has now been planted as a native upland meadow to reestablish native species at the site and to recreate a more natural habitat for wildlife.

More information about cleanup activities at the Re-Solve, Inc. site may be found on the EPA New England web site at: www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/sites/resolve.