BARNSTABLE – State environmental officials are asking Barnstable County officials to cleanup groundwater at the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy.
The groundwater was recently found to have over 3,000 times the level of a chemical “hot spot” than allowed by a federal health advisory for drinking water.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection asked the county in an August 4 notice to submit a comprehensive cleanup plan by September 15.
“We’re in the process of extracting some of the soils that have been there for half a century, that have been accumulating this residue and we’ll be taking the soils out and disposing them in a DP certified landfill,” said Barnstable County Administrator Jack Yunits.
A transfer of $200,000 from existing accounts to fund the cleanup was approved by Barnstable County Commissioners last month.
The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates will vote on the funding this month.
The “hot spot” covers around 400 square feet of the academy property and is located in a wetland buffer zone bordering Flint Rock Pond.
The county is in the midst of a lawsuit from the Town of Barnstable for the contamination of the Hyannis wells from pollutants at the academy.
The town is seeking $2 million in damages.
In May, a health advisory warning was issued to pregnant women, infants and nursing mothers not to drink the water in Hyannis as PFOS contaminants were found in the Mary Dunn wells to be higher than federal standards.
The town lifted the advisory in July.
Yunits said that despite the lawsuit, the county has a good rapport with the town.
“We all share the same ultimate goal and that’s to fix as many wells as we possibly can until we either get a new treatment system or a new well source on board,” said Yunits.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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