• Casella wants to measure groundwater at Charlton homes

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  By Brian Lee
  Telegram & Gazette Staff
  

  Posted Feb. 16, 2016 at 9:46 PM
  Updated at 9:56 AM
  
  
  

  CHARLTON – Casella Waste Systems, operator of the Southbridge Recycling and Disposal Park, aims to identify the direction of groundwater in a nearby neighborhood of contaminated private wells by putting data-logging pressure transducers in seven residential wells, a spokesman for the company told the Board of Health on Tuesday.

  The Vermont-based waste management company wants to put the transducers in the wells of Charlton homes at 54, 81, 90, 102 H Foote Road, 9 and 19 Eleanor Lane, and 190 Berry Corner Road. A consultant for Casella explained that the homes represent a diversity of the wells’ depth and spatial geography.

  The toxin 1,4-dioxane was detected in 21 private wells in Charlton, eight at levels greater than safe drinking water guidelines.

  One of the eight exceeding water safety standards is also contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE, and Casella has installed a whole-house water filtration system there.

  With the homeowners’ consent, placement of the transducers would be performed by representatives of Sanborn, Head & Associates and Skillings & Sons.

  Members of the Charlton Board of Health unanimously endorsed sending letters advocating for the work.

  Nicole Roy, a geologist for Sanborn, Head & Associates, said the information would be collected for two weeks to a month. The transducers will collect water-level elevations to get minute-by-minute measurements of how deep the groundwater is below the ground surface.
  

  The various groundwater elevations at and between the landfill, and in the residential area will be compared, thus yielding what Ms. Roy called “a good picture of what’s going on with regard to groundwater flow.”

  If the entire residential area uses a lot of water on a weekend, for instance, the company expects to see a collective drop in water-level elevations, which is important information to understand how much flow may be moving in which directions at particular times, she said.

  Gary Magnuson of CMG Environmental, consultant to the board, called the plans reasonable and necessary. The work will affect the homeowners water use while the contractor sets up the well. Bottled water will be provided during that time.

  “If the groundwater is 100 feet higher at all the wells versus the landfill, it’s a hard argument to say it’s (groundwater) going uphill,” he said. “But we need the information and, topographically, most of those homes are at the elevation of the landfill, so it’s going to be very useful information.”

  Resident Kevin Weldon said that if he were asked, he would think twice about participating in the transducer study because it might help Casella disprove that the contamination is coming from the landfill.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Magnuson said that a landfill monitoring report from Tighe & Bond clearly showed that 1,4 dioxane was detected above 0.3 micrograms per liter in five monitoring wells at the landfill. The state drinking water regulation says 1,4-dioxane is dangerous when its concentration exceeds 0.3 micrograms per liter, or 3 parts per billion.

  He said 1,4 dioxane was detected in six of the landfill monitoring wells, but below the 0.3 standard.