Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England
Serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont & 10 Tribal Nations
Massachusetts Military Reservation
Protecting
Cape Cod's drinking water continues to be a major focus at EPA New
England. The Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR), a 22,000-acre
property that has been used for military training activities since
1911, is located over a sole source aquifer that provides drinking
water for 200,000 year-round and 500,000 seasonal residents of Cape
Cod. Parts of the aquifer have been contaminated by fuel spills
and other past activities at MMR's Otis Air Force Base. Two environmental cleanup programs at the MMR are addressing areas of groundwater contamination, known as plumes, and their sources. One program managed by the Air Force 
is addressing contamination found primarily on the southern portion of the MMR under the authority of Superfund. The other, managed by the Army, is addressing contamination from the northern portion of the base, Camp Edwards, under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Both of these program's efforts are being conducted with oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Latest Neighborhood Testing: The U.S. Army's cleanup program has been performing environmental investigations in the neighborhood of Williams and Windrush Avenues as part of the Demolition Area 1 groundwater plume. *All homes in the neighborhood are confirmed to be using public water supplies and are not impacted at this time. More information can be read here (PDF) (2 pp, 327K).
- Area Plume Map (PDF) (1 pg, 1.7MB)
Latest Cleanup Information at the Massachusetts Military Reservation
- Groundwater Plume Maps & Information: Army Cleanup Program, March 2011 (PDF) (26 pp, 3.5MB, about PDF)
- Groundwater Plume Maps & Information, Air Force Cleanup Program (PDF) (31pp, 13.4MB, about PDF)
- Final Community Involvement Plan Addendum, March 10, 2010 (PDF) (20 pp, 3.5MB, about PDF)
- Q&As about the Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP), March 2011 (PDF) (2 pp, 470K, about PDF)
Camp Edwards
Concerned that military training was causing even more damage to
the groundwater, EPA's New England Office in February 1997 (AO1 (PDF) (29 pp, 63K, about
PDF)) ordered the National Guard to conduct a study of the effects of
military training on groundwater. In May 1997 (AO2 (PDF) (33 pp, 73K, about
PDF)), EPA suspended most military training at Camp Edwards, including
all use of live explosives, propellants, flares and lead bullets.
It was the first time in our country's history that military training
activities had been halted due to environmental and public health
concerns. The groundwater study, which is ongoing, has produced
evidence of serious groundwater and soil contamination from training
with munitions, from unexploded ordnance and from disposal of munitions
and other hazardous materials.
As a result of the evidence of contamination, EPA in January 2000
(AO3 (PDF) (44 pp, 107K, about PDF)) ordered the National Guard to begin the process for the removal
of unexploded ordnance from the base and to clean up contaminated
groundwater and soils. The order was the first of its kind in the
country. And in January 2001 (AO4 (PDF) (39 pp, 102K, about PDF)), EPA ordered the military to use a detonation chamber at the base
to destroy the more than 2,500 rounds of different kinds of ammunition
dug out of burial pits on the base during the course of the military's
investigation of pollution at the firing ranges.
All four of EPA's orders were issued under the agency's emergency powers to prevent imminent and substantial endangerment to public health. (The first three orders were issued under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the fourth under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.)
| EPA Administrative Orders |
EPA Decision Documents | |
| Perchlorate Read about EPA's study on perchlorate... more |
Press Releases | |
| Resources Otis Superfund Fact Sheet and related EPA Web sites ... Mass. DEP MMR site and other MMR sites ... more |
Small Arms Ranges |