State Identifies Seven New Hazardous Waste Sites in Norwood, Bringing Total to Eight-September 25, 1986

State environmental officials have released a new list of hazardous waste sites that places Norwood at the top of the region for reported locations, adding seven new sites to a toxic waste inventory compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE).

Winslow Tannery Site and DDT Contamination

Among the newly listed properties is the old Winslow Tannery site on Endicott Street, where childhood memories for longtime residents now carry new concerns. Barbara Owen, 38, of Laurel Road, recalled playing on the grounds and using barrels as boats on the site’s small pond as a child—activities later repeated by her son. The DEQE list revealed that the area is contaminated with DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), a potent insecticide banned by the EPA in 1972 due to its environmental persistence and accumulation in animal and human tissues, alongside volatile organic contamination in the groundwater.

The pond flows directly into Hawes Brook, Ellis Pond, and the Neponset River. Neighbors living near the site expressed mixed reactions. Frank Delloiaconio, whose Holly Drive backyard sits just a few shrubs away from the tannery, noted that the area has long resembled a junkyard, though he expressed little immediate concern over property values. His daughter, Karen, who previously worked for four years at United Chemical—one of the businesses operating within the refurbished industrial plaza on the site—noted that EPA testing had been a frequent sight.

Additional Pleasant Street and Route 1 Sites

The DEQE list incorporates a total of eight hazardous waste and petroleum release locations in Norwood, the highest count among 30 communities south and southwest of Boston:

• New England Arborware (674 Pleasant St.): Identified as having soil contaminated by pesticides from a garden supply warehouse, alongside groundwater contamination by the suspected cancer-causing chemical TCE (tetrachloroethylene).
• Pleasant Street Properties (600-604 Pleasant St.): Noted for potential soil and groundwater contamination with volatile organic compounds, as well as a coal tar residue discovered on the edge of the Neponset River.
• Everett Street and Route 1: A designated hazardous waste site surrounded by commercial businesses, with state evaluations underway to determine efficient cleanup methods.
• Petroleum Leak Sites: Three fuel release locations were added to the list: Norwood Dodge (441 Providence Highway), Norwood Mobil (450 Walpole St.), and the Old Colony Gas Station (580 Providence Highway).
• Grant Gear Site (Dean Street and Route 1): The sole Norwood location previously on the DEQE list prior to April 1985, this 10-acre site was discovered in 1983 and carries Federal Superfund status due to PCB toxic waste.

Reflecting on the industrial legacy along the river, 51-year-old Pleasant Street resident Gordon Ginn recalled seeing multicolored industrial runoff stream down the water in decades past, remarking, “As a kid, I remember seeing different colored paint going down the river in the area… I see people fishing there, but they’re not going to catch anything. I don’t think they’d want to eat anything they caught anyway.”

State environmental officials indicated that investigation and sampling studies are ongoing across the newly listed properties to assess public health exposure risks and evaluate alternative remedial actions, though no definitive timelines for cleanup have yet been established.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger