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U.S. EPA to host open house for update on the Olin Chemical Superfund Site

November 1st 6:30-8:30 Wilmington Middle School Cafeteria 25 Carter Lane, Wilmington, MA 01887
Posted on: October 25, 2023 - 10:20am

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: JoAnne Kittrell, kittrell.joanne@epa.gov, 857-262-3789

U.S. EPA to host open house for update on the

Olin Chemical Superfund Site

BOSTON (Oct. 25, 2023) –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold an open house to update residents on investigation and cleanup activities at the Olin Chemical Superfund Site in Wilmington, MA. Community members are invited to stop by at any point during the two-hour session, interact directly with project staff, and ask questions about the site.

Representatives from EPA and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) will be available to talk individually to the public during the open house. To find out the latest information on the site, please visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/olin. The open house will have posters on the following topics:

  1. Community Involvement
  2. Superfund Process
  3. Groundwater Contamination
  4. Cleanup Plans

Site Background 

Chemical manufacturing by a series of owners and operators began at the site in 1953 and continued until 1986. Olin Corporation purchased the property in 1980. The facility was used to produce blowing agents, stabilizers, antioxidants, and other specialty chemicals for the rubber and plastics industries. Prior to the early 1970s, chemicals were discharged into several unlined pits and ponds in the central portion of the property, and later even when lined lagoons were used, leaks in the liners resulted in additional releases of fluids. The wastes percolated into the soil or overflowed into streams. As the liquid materials moved downward through the soil, they reached the groundwater table – because the liquids were denser than water, they continued to sink downward (as dense aqueous phase liquid or “DAPL”), pooling in a series of cascading depressions on the bedrock surface.  

Ultimately, contaminated groundwater migrated nearly a mile to the west and northwest of the property and resulted in the Town of Wilmington placing its municipal drinking water supply wells in the Maple Meadow Brook aquifer off-line due to contamination from the site.  

EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List in April 2006. The cleanup plan for the site was selected by EPA in 2021 and includes interim actions to remove ongoing sources of contamination in groundwater and final cleanup actions for addressing contaminated soil, sediments, and surface water at the site:  

  1. Construction and operation of new groundwater extraction and treatment systems. 
  2. Capture and treatment of oily waste and contaminated groundwater that flows into surface water by construction and operation of new multi-phase extraction and treatment systems. 
  3. Construction and maintenance of caps and cover systems on areas of soil contamination, including an impermeable cap over the feature on the Olin property known as the “Containment Area.” 
  4. Remediation and restoration of contaminated wetlands.   
  5. Long-term monitoring and land use controls. 

In parallel to the cleanup, studies are ongoing to improve the characterization of the bedrock and further define the extent of groundwater contamination. These studies will be used to evaluate long-term groundwater remedial alternatives, leading to the selection in the future of a final cleanup plan for groundwater. In the near term, these aquifer surveys will help identify the best places to locate groundwater extraction wells for the selected cleanup. 

Learn more about EPA Region 1: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-1-new-england