Fisherville Mill – Risk Reduction and Source Cleanup
Jim Soukup, Weston Solutions, Inc., Manchester, NH  

Fisherville Mill: Cost Effective Remediation through Collaboration
Eugene Bernat, Fisherville Redevelopment Corporation, Springfield, MA

Fisherville Mill – Site History and the Initial Conceptual Model

Paul Ollila, MassDEP, 627 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608, Tel: 508-849-4015, Fax: 508-792-7621
Janis Tsang, USEPA, Region I, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 , Boston, MA 02114, Tel: 617-. 918-1231, Fax: 617-918-0231
Dean Brammer, Bette Nowack and Jim Soukup, Weston Solutions, Inc., 1 Wall Street, Manchester, NH 03101, Tel:  603-656-5480, Fax:  603-656-5401

The Fisherville Mill site is located on the Blackstone River in Grafton , MA . Soil and groundwater are contaminated with chlorinated VOCs and petroleum. The mill and a groundwater recovery system designed to prevent VOCs from migrating to a nearby public water supply well were destroyed by fire in August 1999. Immediately after the fire, remediation efforts focused on removal of asbestos contaminated debris, removal of lead contaminated ash, and monitoring the VOC plume.  A passive vapor diffusion sampler (PVDS) study identified locations where contaminated water was discharging to the Blackstone River and Canal and the PVDS results were used to select vertical profiling locations.  In November 2000, the South Grafton Water District (SGWD) reported that 0.7 ug/l of TCE was present in a sample collected from a public water supply well (Well #3) located approximately 1000 feet southwest of the site. After notification the USEPA, MassDEP and SGWD collaborated on efforts to define the migration pathway and establish safe operating parameters for Well # 3.  Pumping test and monitoring data was consistent with a model where the VOC plume shifts south and west towards Well #3 during low water conditions in the fall.  Based on the conceptual model, initial risk reduction measures involved installation of a temporary dam to raise water levels in a portion of the former Blackstone Canal .  Subsequent monitoring refined and verified the conceptual model for the downgradient part of the site, and increased water levels in the canal allowed continued use of Well #3 during remediation of the VOC source area. 

Fisherville Mill – Risk Reduction and Source Cleanup

Jim Soukup, Principal Hydrogeologist, Weston Solutions, Inc., 1 Wall Street, Manchester, NH 03101, Tel:  603-656-5480, Fax:  603-656-5401
Dean Brammer, Weston Solutions, Inc., 1 Wall Street, Manchester, NH 03101, Tel:  603-656-5502, Fax:  603-656-5401
Bette Nowack, Weston Solutions, Inc., 1 Wall Street, Manchester, NH 03101, Tel: 603- 656-5410, Fax:  603-656-5401
Janis Tsang, USEPA, Region I, One Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA 02114, Tel: 617-918-1231, Fax: 617-918-0231
Paul Ollila, MassDEP, 627 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608, Tel: 508-849-4015, Fax: 508-792-7621

The US EPA, MassDEP, and Weston Solutions, Inc. collaborated to devise and implement a removal action to protect municipal water supply wells from groundwater contamination emanating from the Fisherville Mill Site (Site). A hydrogeologic investigation showed that extended pumping of the well field under drought conditions could draw contamination from the Site beneath the Blackstone Canal and toward the supply wells. A temporary dam was installed on the Blackstone Canal to impound water thereby creating a hydraulic barrier to contaminant migration while source area treatment technologies were evaluated.

In June 2000, an in-situ bioremediation technology demonstration project utilizing Hydrogen Release Compound (HRC7) to treat chlorinated VOC contamination was conducted under the EPA Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program.  However, after 18 months of monitoring it was uncertain whether the dechlorination/degradation process would proceed to completion.  As a result, evaluation of an alternate remedial technology began in January 2002.

In 2002, after bench-scale testing and on-site injection tests, In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) using sodium permanganate was selected as the preferred alternative. The cleanup objective was to decrease TCE concentrations in the source area by two orders of magnitude, thereby reducing the size of the contaminant plume, and the risk of drawing TCE into the downgradient water supply wells. Three rounds of permanganate injections into a grid of approximately 100 wells were conducted. Performance monitoring including pre-injection and post-injection groundwater VOC and permanganate monitoring and groundwater profile sampling upgradient of the injection grid was implemented. Re-circulation of permanganate in selected grid/areas was conducted twice to ensure optimal distribution of permanganate.  The post-removal groundwater VOC sampling confirmed that the cleanup objective was achieved.   

Fisherville Mill: Cost Effective Remediation through Collaboration 

Eugene Bernat, Fisherville Redevelopment Corporation, 95 State Street, Suite 812, Springfield, MA 01103, Tel: 413-734-3688, Fax: 413-734-3765
Eric Hultstrom, Woodard & Curran, Inc., 980 Washington Street, Dedham, MA 02026, Tel: 781-251-0200, Fax: 781-251-0847

Fisherville Redevelopment Company was formed by the principals of Cover Technologies, Inc as a special purpose entity in 2004 to undertake the remediation and redevelopment of the Fisherville Mill site. The principals of Cover Technologies undertook the remediation and redevelopment of the Fisherville Mill site believing that they could utilize the knowledge, expertise and experience accumulated during its thirteen year history to cost effectively convert the contaminated Fisherville Mill site into a valuable asset.

A collaborative approach and strategy was developed between FRC and our environmental engineers (Woodard & Curran), MassDEP and the Town of Grafton that would encourage significant remedial actions while environmental assessment and engineering activities were ongoing. The tangible out come of this approach allowed FRC to remove and dispose of visible uncontaminated solid waste debris including bricks, steel and wood, install a # 6 oil interception and collection infrastructure, clean up and partially restore a portion of the historic Blackstone canal, remove and dispose of contaminated soil, recover and inventory historic and architecturally valuable cut granite elements of the original mill building, encapsulate 100% of the asbestos impacted debris and lead containing soil present at the site in flowable fill, partially restore Fisherville Dam, and re-grade, seed and prepare the site for future construction.  The interim result of the approach is an engaged and enthusiastic public and vastly improved site both environmentally and visually.

Additional site assessment activities focused on developing an accurate understanding of subsurface soil conditions in the VOC source area and concluded that remediation will require a combination of SVE systems and in situ treatment. A pilot project is underway to evaluate use of fungi and higher plants to remediate oil contaminated sediments.  A remedial alternative analysis will be completed by the Fall of 2007.

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