EPA issues plan to cleanup Woonasquatucket River

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BOSTON – The Environmental Protection Agency issued Thursday its proposed $101 million cleanup plan for the Centredale Manor superfund site in North Providence.

Officially known as the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superfund site, the polluted area – “source area” – is approximately nine acres and home to the Brook Village and Centredale Manor apartment complexes.

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Long an industrial site, it was home to Centredale Worsted Mills prior to 1936 and then Atlantic Chemical Co. – later Metro-Atlantic – from 1943 to the early 1970s. In addition, New England Container Co. Inc. operated an incinerator-based, drum-reconditioning facility in the area from 1952 until 1971. In 1972, a fire destroyed most of the industrial facilities.
The Brook Village apartments opened in 1977. And the Centredale Manor apartments opened in 1983; a year before the R.I. Department of Environmental Management ordered the removal of about 400 drums of hazardous waste and 6,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil.
In 1996, the EPA found dioxin – a possible carcinogen – in fish collected from the Woonasquatucket River. Since that time, EPA has documented elevated levels of contaminants, including dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants at the site.

The EPA’s proposed plans outlines multiple long-term cleanup option for the cleanup for the sediment, soil, surface water, and groundwater contamination of the site. It recommends that 120,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment be disposed of in a facility located on higher land “designed to permanently and securely contain excavated contaminated sediment and soil.”

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The EPA said its preferred alternative “generally includes:”

  • Removing buried waste material from the source area (where contamination originally occurred) and majority of contaminated Woonasquatucket River sediment and floodplain soil near and downstream of the source area, using a combination of containment and treatment methods.
  • Installing new hazardous waste isolation caps over remaining source area contaminated soil and placing thin soil covers over contaminated wetlands and floodplain areas to speed up natural recovery processes and preserve valuable habitat.
  • Placing restrictions to permanently prevent use of groundwater and to temporarily prohibit eating fish, as well as restricting other activities that could potentially expose remaining contamination;
  • Monitoring long-term to assess cleanup’s effectiveness and recovery of Woonasquatucket River and its floodplain, and to evaluate potential need for other response actions in the downstream reaches beyond Lyman Mill Dam into Providence area.
  • Minimizing contribution of site contaminants to Woonasquatucket River’s surface water.

    The proposed plan will be discussed at three public meetings – Nov. 8, 7 p.m., North Providence Town Hall second floor Council Chamber; Nov. 9, 7 p.m., Johnston Senior Center; and Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Centredale Manor. Public comment will be accepted Nov. 14 to Jan. 12.

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