EPA Announces Groundwater Cleanup Plan For N. Smithfield Landfill

NORTH SMITHFIELD, RI — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its plan to cleanup groundwater contamination at the Landfill and Resource Recovery, Inc. (L&RR) Superfund Site in North Smithfield, said the EPA in a news release Wednesday.

The cleanup plan is expected to take approximately two to three years to complete and cost about $11.7 million. The groundwater is expected to achieve cleanup standards within 20 years.
The EPA's plan includes the following components:

• In situ (below ground) treatment and sequestration of groundwa­ter contaminants using a two-stage reactive treatment zone.
• Land use restrictions (called “Institutional Controls”) to prohibit the use of contami­nated groundwater until cleanup levels are met and to require evaluation of the vapor intrusion pathway as part of new building construc­tion.
• Contingency implementation of active groundwater extraction and ex situ (above ground) treatment, if results from treatability studies indicate that the proposed remedy will not be effective in attaining cleanup levels at the Site.
• Restoration with native vegetation of any wetland habitat altered by the remedial action.
• Long-term groundwater, surface water, and residential well monitoring.
• Periodic reviews, at a minimum of every five years, to assess the protectiveness of the remedy.

The 28-acre Landfill & Resource Recovery Site, located on Oxford Road, is an inactive landfill that began accepting waste in 1927 and stopped in 1985. The EPA estimates that over two million gallons of hazardous chemicals were brought to the landfill for disposal.
A cleanup plan was selected for the landfill in 1988 and completed in 1995, but maintenance is ongoing.

More information about the cleanup plan can be found here.