ASHLAND, Mass. (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public information session to inform Ashland residents about the updated groundwater cleanup plan for a contaminated industrial site.
The public hearing Thursday at Ashland High School is for the EPA to go over its approximately $20.5 million plan to clean up the remaining contaminated groundwater at the Nyanza Superfund site, The MetroWest Daily News reports.
From 1965 until 1978, Nyanza Inc., a dye and chemical company, buried more than 45,000 tons of chemical sludge from its wastewater treatment process at the site, according to the EPA. A 2006 study confirmed that cancer clusters in Ashland were attributed to the pollution.
While much of the remedial work has been completed, the EPA is still working on tackling a groundwater plume carrying toxic chemicals.
To reduce the size of the plumes,the EPA plans to use chemical oxidation to reduce and degrade volatile organic compounds, including chlorinated ethene and trichloroethylene, both of which have been linked to cancer.
The EPA estimates the project will take five to 10 years to design and implement.
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