SMITHFIELD – The cleanup phase of the state and federal remediation of lead-tainted soil at the former Providence Barrel site has been wrapped up on time and under budget, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA “has been working closely with the R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management (DEM), local officials and residents throughout the cleanup,” the agency said today.
Excavation of contaminated soil at the Providence Barrel site – active as a barrel-reclamation facility from 1972 to 1980 – began in May, the EPA noted. That phase of the cleanup wrapped up in late summer, as the remediation of 17 nearby residential properties was getting under way. (READ MORE)
Besides lead, several semivolatile organic compounds were found at the Esmond village site. Testing and evaluation – by the DEM, the EPA and the federal agency’s Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) contractor – began in October 2005.
The excavation of contaminated soil from the adjoining private properties was completed Oct. 8, the EPA said. Those parcels have been “backfilled with clean soil, re-seeded and landscaped to ensure a return to original, but clean, conditions,” the agency added.
At the Providence Barrel site itself, about 7,000 tons of contaminated soil were removed in the cleanup phase of the remediation project. The EPA said it will return in the spring “to complete vegetation restoration and repair any damage that has occurred over the winter.”
For additional news and information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England (Region 1) office in Boston, and its cleanup efforts, visit www.epa.gov/region1.
