Davis Site in Smithfield to Get Groundwater Cleanup

By ecoRI News staff

SMITHFIELD — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement with respect to the Davis Liquid Waste Superfund site, in which the defendants will implement a groundwater cleanup and be financially responsible for 100 percent of future response costs.

The Davis site has presented real and potential threats to the residents of Rhode Island for too long, according to Janet Coit, director of the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

Remediation of the site has been complex and time consuming, and has included the treatment of almost 30,000 yards of contaminated soil, the removal of buried hazardous waste drums and the purging of more than 6 million discarded tires, according to the DEM.

“We look forward to participating in this final step of the process by treating the contaminated groundwater that remains on the site,” Coit said. “This agreement further emphasizes that the (DEM) is going to work diligently to hold parties responsible for their acts, to ensure protective cleanups that safeguard our natural resources and protect environmental quality for all Rhode Islanders.”

In 1992, the attorney general initiated a suit against William Davis requiring the removal of millions of tires that had been disposed at the site as far back as the 1970s. Although the last of the tires were removed in 2000, the attorney general’s office remained committed to the remediation of the environmental hazards that existed on the site as a result of decades of solid and hazardous waste storage.

Throughout the ’70s, the 10-acre site on Tarkiln Road accepted liquid and chemical wastes such as paint and metal sludge, oily waste, solvents, acids, caustics, pesticides, phenols, halogens, metals, fly ash and laboratory pharmaceuticals, according to the EPA. Liquid wastes were transported in drums and bulk tank trucks and were dumped directly into unlined lagoons and seepage pits.

The major contaminants of concern that exceeded federal and state standards are: volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as tetrachlorethene, trichloroethene, vinyl chloride and benzene; semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), including bis (2-chloroethyl)ether; pesticides, such as aldrin and dieldrin; and metals, including arsenic and manganese, according to the EPA.

Exposure risks to residents from contaminated groundwater have been minimized since homes in the area are now on public water, the EPA said.

The settling defendants include: Ashland Inc.; the Black and Decker Corp.; FKI Industries Inc.; Bristol Inc.; Morton International LLC; Rohm and Haas Co.; and Life Technologies Corp.

The EPA will contribute up to $9.5 million to the groundwater cleanup from payments made by previous settling parties that were set aside specifically for use at this site.