[CPEO-BIF] "Drinking Water Pollution Endures at R.I.-Mass. Border"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Drinking Water Pollution Endures at R.I.-Mass. Border
Excessive number of contaminated properties in northern Rhode Island have fouled private wells

By TIM FAULKNER
ecoRI News (RI)
September 7, 2020

The companies accused of contaminating drinking water wells in North Smithfield, R.I., and Millville, Mass., aren’t accepting responsibility for the contamination, but both states are taking steps to reduce the public-health risks while urging the property owners clean up the mess.

North Smithfield has an inordinate number of contaminated sites associated with industrial operations and dumping. A total of some 40 locations in town and in nearby Millville are considered as sources of water contamination. Several highly polluted sites have received the most scrutiny.

The Stamina Mills Superfund site in North Smithfield was a textile mill that used the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) to clean new fabric. A TCE spill occurred in 1975, the same year the mill closed. By 1987, residences threatened by the spill were connected to a public water system. In 2006, North Smithfield prohibited the use of private wells near the site to prevent any further contamination from the chemical plume. Groundwater treatment is ongoing.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.ecori.org/pollution-contamination/2020/9/7/pollution-endures-at-massri-boarder

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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