Lagoon of arsenic discovered in North Woburn

(This is the story which put Woburn on the map as a city with some major environmental problems. A city hall official, who preferred to remain anonymous, had given me a tip in early July that I should check out what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA were doing in North Woburn. When I first approached the EPA the agency refused to release the information it had gathered, claiming it was in the middle of some legal action. I threatened to file a Freedom of Information Act complaint against the EPA. Agency officials huddled and changed their minds. They said I could speak with Rick Leighton. Once the muzzle was removed, Rick was more than cooperative and proved that there actually are people working for the government who really do care about the quality of the job they do, about the environment, and the nation's citizens. [Two other public officials who fell into this category were Richard Chalpin and Bob Cleary of the Mass Department of Environmental Quality Engineering.] On another note, once I had digested the volumes of information provided in the test results and tracked down experts who could explain the possible consequences of such hazardous wastes, I called the city's mayor, Thomas M. Higgins to get his comments. His first response was: "Don't publish that. It will only frighten people." Higgins was, up to that point, one of the best mayors the city had ever had. His fiscal management had brought the city back from the brink of collapse, very high tax rates, and near bankruptcy to having one of the lowest tax rates in the state. But on this one issue he had an enormous blind spot. He refused from that moment on to have anything to do with the city's hazardous waste problem. He appointed City Engineer Thomas Mernin to be his spokesperson. It was not a position Mernin wanted. He lived only two houses away from the Toomey family, whose son Patrick had leukemia. Tom was worried that his own children might get leukemia. But he was put in a position where he had to essentially downplay all of the problems. The worst irony was that Tom died from leukemia shortly after testifying in the trial. He had been worried about his children, but he was the one who ultimately suffered.)

By CHARLES C. RYAN

WOBURN - In July 1979, federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) field investigators discovered an abandoned lagoon, 34,918 square feet in size and five feet deep, contaminated with lead and arsenic, among other chemicals, near the site of the old Merrimack Chemical plant in Industri-Plex 128, North Woburn.

Arsenic in the pit was found to be in concentrations as high as 1100 parts per million (ppm). The interim federal drinking water standards recommend no more than .05 parts per million of arsenic be allowed in potable water.

In addition to the arsenic, other hazardous wastes were discovered in at least two and a half other pits in the same area. The other two pits had high concentrations of chromium (3,000 parts per million in one place and 78,000 parts per million or 7.8 percent by weight, in another) and lead (in concentrations as high as 1200 parts per million). The interim federal drinking water standards recommend no more than .05 parts per million of lead or chromium in public water supplies.

Even though these hazardous wastes were discovered in July (and suspected as far back as April of this year) not one official in the city of Woburn has been notified about the hazardous materials by either the EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which called the EPA for the study, or the state's Division of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE), which originally requested the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers in bringing the landfill operations of Mark Phillip Realty Trust under control.

According to the federal interim drinking water standards, "The toxicity of arsenic is well known, and the ingestion of as little as 100 mg (milligrams) can result in severe poisoning." There are 1,000 milligrams in a gram and there are 28.34 grams in an ounce.

A medical text states that between 200 and 300 milligrams of arsenic can amount to a fatal dose of the poison. At the 1100 parts per million concentration found in North Woburn, there is enough arsenic in a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the contaminated soil to kill five adults.

According to Dr. Peter Drotman of the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., arsenic in small doses is suspected as a cancer causing agent (carcinogen) as a result of studies of populations in Arizona where the metal occurs naturally in ground water.

Dr. Drotman said, "Chromium is definitely a carcinogen when it is breathed, but it is not known what it will do when it is taken in a drink." Hexavalent chromium is toxic to man when it is inhaled.

Lead, he said, is not implicated in cancer, but it does cause anemia, which looks like iron deficiency anemia and in heavy doses, can cause tiredness, nerve trouble and brain damage.

Other wastes found in high concentrations around the old Merrimack Chemical site include titanium (up to 11,500 ppm), copper (up to 1,600 ppm in one place), zirconium (up to 550 ppm in one spot), and antimony (100 ppm in one spot). High concentrations of iron, not considered as a hazardous material, were also found in many locations, with the highest concentrations reaching 37,000 parts per million (3.7 percent).

The findings of the EPA field tests were filed in federal district court in early August as part of the proceedings which allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain an injunction preventing Mark Phillip Trust from doing any more excavation or landfill work in the Industri-Plex area around the old Merrimack Chemical site.

In addition to the chemicals found, the EPA cited pits of buried animal hair and barrels filled with spoiled slaughterhouse wastes - believed to be, in part, responsible for the foul odor which is constantly hovering over the North Woburn area and drifting into Reading on the prevailing winds.

At the moment, through the injunction in another case has been lifted allowing Mark Phillip to work on lot 50 -- which is not near the hazardous wastes -- the firm is legally enjoined from doing any work near the chemicals discovered by the EPA.

According to EPA representative Russell Wilder, the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, the DEQE and William D'Annolfo, of Mark Phillip Trust, are in the middle of sensitive meetings, attempting to determine a method to contain the hazardous wastes.

Wilder reported the most immediate hazard from the arsenic lagoon is the chance workmen or others in the area may breathe contaminated dust.

He said that evidence of arsenic has been found in surface soil as far away as the west embankment of Interstate 93.

He said that no tests have been taken of the soil on the east side of I-93.

He noted that arsenic has been found in surface water downstream from the old chemical plant in concentrations of 185 parts per billion, three times the allowable amounts for drinking water.

Is It In The Water?

Has the arsenic gotten into the ground water from which G and H wells in Woburn have been drawing?

There is no evidence that it has. There is also no evidence that it has not.

The water has never been tested for arsenic, chromium or other heavy metals, as far as the Daily Times has been able to determine.

To understand this, it is first necessary to understand how long the arsenic has been in the ground, and the normal tests given drinking water.

The site of the chemical contamination is presently owned by Janpet, which owns the actual old chemical plant and some surrounding land, and Mark Phillip Realty Trust, which is largely under the control of William D'Annolfo.

Neither one, however, is responsible for putting the hazardous wastes into the ground.

The land in question was owned by a succession of chemical companies until 1971.

The land was originally purchased by Merrimack Chemical Co. and it began producing chemicals used in the textile industry in 1853.

In 1899, Merrimack Chemical acquired the plant owned by William H. Swift & Co. of Boston and took over producing that firm's products in Woburn. For the next 15 years, until 1914, Merrimack became known as "the leading manufacturers of arsenical compounds for insect control in the U.S.," according to Stone's History of Massachusetts.

During the 15-year period in question, the firm probably produced lead arsenate and lead arsenite, both of which are insecticides.

No one knows for certain when the arsenic found in the lagoon in North Woburn was dumped, but it is very likely that the dumping occurred between 1899 and 1914, which means it is possible the arsenic has been in the ground for as long as 65 to 80 years.

While arsenic in its pure form and lead arsenate or lead arsenite are not water soluble, it is apparent they do travel through surface water and leach into the ground in the particle form, according to some of the EPA's test results.

Arsenic was found in the ground around the lagoon and was found to have leached into a nearby pond, according to the EPA study conducted under the supervision of Richard T. Leighton, who works in the EPA's Lexington office.

Leighton also found .185 parts per million of arsenic in surface water near the lagoon of 80-year-old insecticide.

More tests are necessary, however, to know if downstream ground water is contaminated and to what extent that contamination may be.

Until the last five to ten years, the extent and degree of ground water, surface water, and air contamination was largely unsuspected.

Only in recent years have state governments and the federal government begun to address the problem.

Since that time, numerous and highly hazardous chemical waste dumps have been found all over the country.

Most everyone has heard of the contamination at Love's Canal in upstate New York, which resulted in the abandoning of a subdivision of homes and extensive health and genetic damage to persons living in the area.

But at this point in time, not enough is really known to say with any accuracy how much and what kinds of chemicals will cause immediate or genetic damage when taken in small doses over a long period of time.

The Past

In the past, for instance, water wells have only been tested for organic pollution, and that largely in the form of coliform bacteria.

While city and state officials have known for some time that G and H wells in East Woburn have high concentrations of manganese and iron and enough bacteria to require treatment with chlorine, it has only been recently that other tests have been used.

On May 14, 1979, the wells were tested for some organic chemicals they had not been tested for before and on May 22, the DEQE ordered the city to close the wells because they were contaminated by trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent that has been found to be carcinogenic.

Numerous other public water supplies have also been found to be contaminated with the same solvent in the past five months.

Ironically, almost a month later, on June 13, 1979, the DEQE tested Woburn's drinking water for inorganic chemicals by taking samples from city hall.

This was the first time in the history of G and H wells that they could have been tested for inorganic contamination and G and H wells were not pumping water at the time. This year is also the first time such tests have been required by law under the Clean Water Act of 1972, revised in 1976.

Even then, tests may not have shown anything even if the wells were contaminated, because water from G and H wells rarely goes any farther west than Main Street, according to William Nieman, the head of the city's drinking water department.

According to Nieman, G well came on line in October 1964 and can pump a maximum of 1.1 million gallons of water a day. H well came on line in 1967, but didn't really see much use until August 1974. It can produce about 460,000 gallons of water a day.

In the 15 years the wells have been there, they have usually only been used during the summer drought months, because of the water's foul taste and smell.

Are G and H wells contaminated with arsenic, chromium, lead and the other chemicals found in the waste pits at the old Merrimack Chemical Co. site?

No one knows.

"I can't really speak on that," explains Allan Randall, Chief Enforcement Officer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Waltham. "There is some likelihood that some quantities could get into that area (around the lagoons of waste material), but whether it makes its way down-stream into the actual well water, I don't know, but that's one of our concerns."

The Army Corps of Engineers' legal responsibility and authority only covers the dumping of illegal or hazardous fill within 100 feet of a watershed area - the Aberjona River watershed in this case.

It is the worry that the construction of planned roads and the proposed relocation of an unnamed brook through the contaminated area will spread the arsenic, chromium, lead, and other chemicals that has made the Corps obtain the injunction against Mark Phillip Trust and resulted in the study by the EPA.

Did the Army Corps of Engineers notify the city officials in Woburn of the dangers?

"No. We have just sent copies (of the report on the hazardous wastes) to DEQE. It's up to them to deal with local officials," explains Col. Randall.

Russell Wilder, EPA Coordinator, was asked if he felt the water in the wells should be tested for possible contamination by the hazardous waste materials from the upstream waste dumps.

"They (the state DEQE) should. Our (the EPA) water supply branch will check to see. We've notified them," said Wilder.

"Our main concern," he explained, is the tannery wastes, arsenic and chromium polluting the water and the air. The arsenic is being blown around in the form of dust. They found surface traces of it as far away as I-93.

"In fact our men probably shouldn't have been testing without protective gear."

Wilder said the EPA has advised Mark Phillip Trust that any workmen or heavy equipment operators in the area should wear protective clothing (arsenic and chromium are skin irritants) and breathing masks (to keep from inhaling the arsenic contaminated dust).

How Long?

Again, no one knows for sure how long the arsenic contaminated dust has been exposed and blowing around the area surrounding the old chemical plant. It may have been blowing around since it was put there 65 to 80 years ago, or, it may only have begun blowing around recently as a result of work in the industrial park.

A major problem facing the federal government, the state and ultimately Woburn and the residents in the neighborhood, as well as the industrial plants, is the ultimate disposal of the hazardous wastes.

A source in the federal government noted that there are no places in New England where the material can be taken.

In fact, excavating the arsenic laden earth may actually spread the contaminants around much more extensively and would be certainly be a hazard to the crews doing the actual work, the expert said.

EPA officials have explained that while there is some money available for testing, very little money is available to pay for the disposal of hazardous wastes unless they have become a clear threat to life and property.

DEQE water quality engineer William St. Hilaire noted that Massachusetts does not have any hazardous waste regulations. A bill proposing such regulations is presently before the legislature.

He said that the concentrations of chromium, arsenic and lead found in North Woburn are much higher than would be allowed in drinking water.

But, he, too, indicated there is no way to estimate whether the poisons have, in fact, entered the ground water or entered the Aberjona River which travels down through Winchester, between Medford and Arlington and ultimately to the sea.

"We have a severe lack of sampling in that area," he said.

"The first thing which should be done is to find out how serious the contamination is. There's also an air pollution problem with the tanned hides and other tannery material. Because of the problems associated with the pollution, most of the (Mark Phillip Trust's) permits have been pulled," said St. Hilaire.

How dangerous are the arsenic, chromium and lead wastes?

"All I can say is there is a potentially hazardous situation existing out there," commented St. Hilaire.

"They (the wastes) go back quite a way, there's no way of knowing," he said.

While the lead and arsenic found at the site are most likely the result of the operations of Merrimack Chemical Co. from 1899 to 1914, the chromium deposits are clearly from the tannery operations in the city and the chemicals used in those processes.

Hexavalent chromium is the most active and most dangerous form of chromium and is the form of chemical that was used regularly in the tanning of animal hides, according to every source contacted.

Experts

Dr. Drotman of the Centers Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga. and Al Comproni of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said that hexavalent chromium fumes can causes tumors and cancer of the nasal passages and lungs.

Another expert explained, however, that hexavalent chromium tends to break down when exposed to natural conditions into trivalent chromium, which is much less hazardous.

He said that chromium naturally occurs in concentrations as high as 100 to 300 parts per million and that the concentrations of 3,000 ppm is 10 times normal and the one pit with 78,000 ppm is an extremely high concentration.

Dr. Drotman agrees, "78,000 parts per million is way out of line," he said.

One text reports that lead arsenate, the insecticide that is most likely buried in North Woburn, is a mutagenic chemical -- that is to say it can cause genetic mutations, possibly birth defects.

But knowing the degree of concentration of the chemicals and knowing the effects of the chemicals does not answer the major question. Has anyone been affected by them?

The area in question is near "the pit" and was known as a hangout for gangs and youth in the recent past. Mishawum Pond and the surrounding environs were popular as a skating area and a place for children of that part of the city to play.

How many of them -- if any -- have been exposed to these chemicals?

How many people have breathed in the arsenic laden dust, and in what amounts?

How many kids, or workmen, have gotten their hands dirty with the dust and then eaten lunch or bitten their nails?

Have the winds, over the past 65 to 80 years, been spreading the arsenic contaminated dust as far as the homes just over I-93 in West Reading? To the homes surrounding the area in North Woburn?

Have the chemicals gotten into the Aberjona River and what has been their effect on aquatic life downstream? In the Mystic Lakes?

Have the lead, chromium and arsenic gotten into the water people in East Woburn have been drinking each summer for the past 10 to 15 years? (the half-life of arsenic in the human body is about 220 days. In other words, half as much is left and after 220 days, one-fourth, as much is left after the next 220 days, then one eighth after the next 220 days, assuming no more has been taken into the system).

If these hazardous wastes have been in the water in small amounts, what have been the effects on the consumers' kidneys, nervous systems, and accumulations in the bones, muscles and skin?

There are no answers, and that, at the moment is one of the biggest problems.

Resident

Albert Balestrieri of 26 Naples Ave., North Woburn recalls seeing all kinds of chemicals dumped in that area as a youth.

"I remember as a kid seeing broken cardboards of acid and big mounds of red dye, I think they were called pirate's ore, from Canada."

"I remember hearing about how canisters of arsenic and lead were dumped down along the old B & M tracks," he says.

"If anyone ever took the time to take a look up there, they'd know what's in the ground. I've always felt it was a possible problem to our water supply," relates Balestrieri.

"I've been concerned about this for years. I've spoken up before about it. I've felt if it wasn't in the wells already, it soon would be."

"When they talked about hazardous materials, there's all kinds dumped up there. God knows where they've moved it to," he worries.

Balestrieri feels local city officials should have known. Anyone in the city who knew that the chemical plants were operating up there should have known hazardous materials were being dumped onto the ground.

In fact, the first official note, which mentioned the possibility of lead arsenate being present at the Merrimack site, was the recognition of phone calls Balestrieri made to the DEQE.

In a report written by Robert Cleary in April of 1979, he notes: "Mr. Albert Balestrieri telephoned his department this date and said that he heard from a former Merrimack employee that arsenic of lead had been produced at Merrimack Chemical."

The lagoon of arsenic contaminated soil subsequently discovered in July by the EPA amounts to an estimated 6,500 cubic yards of hazardous, poisonous material.

There may be additional chemicals in the ground. During the time from 1853 to 1971, numerous potentially dangerous chemicals were produced or handled by chemical firms that occupied the same site.

In 1915, New England Manufacturing Co. was established by Merrimack Chemical to produce TNT and other chemicals used in explosives, according to Cleary's historical study.

In 1934, New England Chemical Industries bought the site. They were a producer of hide and bone glue.

From 1960 to 1971, Stauffer Chemical Co. took over the site. Stauffer also produced animal glue and grease.

From 1853 to 1930, Merrimack Chemical at various times handled the following chemicals: sulfuric acid, muriatic acid, nitric acid, soda ash, salt cake, alum, nitrate of iron, bisulfate of alumina, TNT, phenol, picric acid, sulfonating acids, nitrating acids, H acid, sulfide of soda, ethyl acetate, sodium hypochlorite, chromotrope, L-acid, Glauber's Salt, aqua ammonia, acetic acid, alumina compounds, dipilatory, tin crystals, tin liquors, perchloride of iron, and oxy-muriate of antimony.

Conclusions?

How many, if any, of these chemicals ended up being dumped or buried also remains an unanswered question.

Most of these chemicals were not tested for, though traces of separate elements of which they are comprised did turn up in the analysis done by the EPA.

DEQE official St. Hilaire explained that there are literally hundreds of tests that could be done on water, but they aren't unless there is some clear evidence that such chemicals exist.

Until specific tests are made of the surrounding soil, of the ground water downstream from the chemical dumps, and of the Aberjona River downstream, no one will really know just how extensive the contamination has spread.

And until G and H wells in East Woburn are given similar, extensive tests, no one will know whether or not those chemicals have gotten into the city's drinking water supply over the past 10 to 15 years.