[CPEO-MEF] Progress seen in Sandwich water cleanup

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Feb. 1 - FORESTDALE - A poisonous plume of groundwater creeping toward a 
Sandwich neighborhood, one of the early targets of the Otis Air National 
Guard Base cleanup, is starting to disappear. 

     Since a pump-and-treat system was installed in the fall of 1997, 
about 1.63 billion gallons of groundwater have been treated at the plume 
called Fuel Spill 12. 

     The spill is the chemical legacy of a leaky pipeline that spilled 
70,000 gallons of aviation fuel into the ground decades ago.

     About 200 pounds of contaminants - including the probable 
cancer-causing substance ethylene dibromide, or EDB - have been removed 
from the water. That accounts for about 95 percent of the contaminants.

     It'll take another decade to remove the remaining contaminants, and 
restore the groundwater to its original quality.

The complete story can be seen at:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/cct/m143830.asp