by Mike Dempsey
GROVELAND NEWS
Last year we featured a story about the former Valley Manufacturing Products facility at 64 Washington Street known locally as Valley Screw. The facility stopped production in the 1990’s and eventually was abandoned. The company still owns the site and building. The site and surrounding properties were the subject of a Superfund cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency. As we reported, the owners of the company allowed hazardous waste and organic chemicals to be regularly dumped into the ground rather than be disposed of properly. These actions risked the health of nearby residents. Part One of our story ended when the EPA took over the cleanup. In 1982 the EPA placed the site on its National Priorities List and later designated the area as a Superfund Site. What happened after 1982 and what is going on now?
According to EPA documents, in late 1987 and early 1988, the company used a small groundwater treatment system to remove contaminants from soil at the Valley Screw property, however, these systems were ineffective. The EPA later designed and constructed a much larger groundwater treatment facility. The facility, built on the Archdiocese of Boston property located at 62 Washington Street, began operation in April of 2000 with the EPA overseeing operation until 2011 when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) assumed control. Additional activities done during this period included the removal of abandoned underground storage tanks and a former underground disposal system, and removal of contaminated soil from the site.
In 2010, despite 10 years of treatment, groundwater and soil contamination levels remained above cleanup goals on the Valley Screw property and surrounding areas. To address this, the EPA funded the construction and operation of a system known as Electrical Resistive Heating, which operated from August 2010 through February of 2011. Due to the combined effectiveness of the new system and the older treatment method, by 2014 the contamination was reduced to such an extent that active groundwater treatment was no longer necessary. This resulted in the shutdown of both systems in May 2014. The EPA declared the contaminants removed to safe levels and our water supply no longer at risk. Monitoring wells throughout the 850-acre surrounding area remain and are regularly measured to assure contaminants remain below desired levels.
Meanwhile, to reopen Groveland’s water supply, a new well was built along the Merrimack River. Well number four was built with half a million dollars in funds paid to the town by Valley Screw owners during their initial settlement in 1980. During the early 2000’s well number one was reopened. This was after careful monitoring by EPA, a new filtration system at the well, and regular testing for hazardous chemicals in the water.
In 2020 the large brick filtration building behind Valley Screw under control of Mass DEP was decommissioned. All the filtration systems hardware was removed, and the building was turned over to the Boston Catholic Archdiocese, owners of that land parcel. The Valley Screw building itself continues to sit abandoned and falling apart after 44 years.
What will happen to that building and the brick filtration building? How about the surrounding land with restrictions placed on it by the EPA? We will try to get those answers for our next segment, stay tuned. ♦
