Study Warns Chemicals and Leaking Sewers Threaten Drinking Water Wells-August 24, 1988

Danger Exists in Canton, Norwood, Dedham, and Westwood

A comprehensive two-year environmental study released yesterday has revealed that an array of industrial chemicals and leaking sewer infrastructure continue to threaten drinking water wells tapping into the Upper Neponset Valley aquifer. The $350,000 investigation, launched in 1985 by the state Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE) following the shutdown of four local municipal wells since the 1970s, underscores the urgent need for coordinated regional protection across Canton, Norwood, Dedham, and Westwood.

The aquifer currently supplies drinking water to between 40,000 and 50,000 residents across the four communities. Patricia Deese, DEQE water supply director, emphasized the vital nature of the resource: “This is a part of the state under tremendous growth pressure. The aquifer has immense storage capacity and it is an invaluable resource.” While study leader Roy Crystal noted that the aquifer as a whole is not catastrophically threatened, he warned that “there are a lot of contaminants that will require long-term watching by the towns and the state.”

Specific Contaminants and Identified Sources

The study identified slow trickles of hazardous pollutants—including mercury, chloroform, methylene chloride, benzene, and the cancer-causing chemical 1,1,1-trichloroethane—impacting various parts of the groundwater system. Key findings and suspected contamination sources detailed in the report include:

• Norwood: Businesses operating along the Route 1 commercial corridor, frequently referred to as the “Automile,” were cited as contributing to pollution discovered back in 1979 in the town’s Ellis well field. Crystal remarked, “The name ‘Automile’ suggests what the problems are there.”
• Westwood & Dedham: Leaking sewer pipes near Dedham Street in Canton were identified as the likely source of pollution affecting a Dedham-Westwood Water District well in Westwood.
• Canton: Wells in Canton and Westwood were linked to pollutants from leaky sewer lines and Shield Packaging Co. of Canton, a former manufacturer of aerosol spray cans. The study remained inconclusive regarding whether Cumberland Farms contributed to the local contamination.
• Restricted Access & Disputed Pipes: Investigators noted that industrial sites including the Neponset Valley Industrial Park, Emerson & Cuming, and Plymouth Rubber Co. refused access to their properties during the study. Meanwhile, Paul DiNatale, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)—which manages the accused sewer lines—disputed the findings, stating that MWRA studies had not uncovered evidence of sewer leaks in Canton, though he affirmed cooperation if leaks are verified.

Strategic Recommendations and Regional Action

The DEQE report urges local municipalities to harmonize their protective regulations. While Westwood maintains an emergency spill response plan, it lacks annual hazardous chemical business registration requirements like those enforced in Canton; conversely, Canton currently lacks an emergency spill plan.

To safeguard regional water supplies, the DEQE study recommends several major engineering and municipal interventions:

• Constructing an underground containment wall to prevent further pollution of the White Lodge well fields in Westwood, which serve Dedham and Westwood.
• Installing an air-stripping tower to safely reopen Norwood’s Ellis well field, alongside a chemical filter to reopen Canton well #7 (noting that while pollution levels are minimal, reactivating the wells without treatment could draw in more chemicals).
• Immediately repairing the new Neponset Valley sewer line in Canton and the Westwood extension sewer.
• Conducting further investigations into whether the Stoughton extension sewer is impacting Canton wells before pursuing potential legal penalties against suspected polluters. (Reporting by Katy Corneel and Jeremy Crockford, The Patriot Ledger).

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