[CPEO-MEF] Westford investigates perchlorate

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Westford hires firm to investigate water contamination

By Meaghan Wims
Lowell Sun (MA)  
December 21, 2004 

WESTFORD - The town has signed a contract with an environmental firm
that will investigate the source of perchlorate contamination in town
and determine whether additional homes are at risk.

Comprehensive Environmental Inc., of Milford, Mass., and Merrimack,
N.H., will do the work, funded by a $55,000 appropriation by voters at
the October Town Meeting.

Perchlorate is a chemical used in blasting materials that can cause
health problems in sensitive populations, such as those with thyroid
conditions or pregnant women, and it is a suspected carcinogen. 

Tests in August found unhealthy levels of perchlorate 545 parts per
billion (ppb) compared to the state's acceptable 1 ppb in the well owned
by Kenneth Winchester at 1 Emily Way. Perchlorate was also found in the
Cote well near North Street, one of the town's eight wells.

Winchester's house is located near two sites with tainted groundwater:
The town's new highway garage off North Street and a quarry owned by the
Tresca Corporation, where blasting had been done until it was suspended
more than a year ago. Those sites are suspected as the cause of the
contamination, but no source has been officially named.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4761~2611090,00.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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