Hocomonco Pond

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Hocomonco Pond
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Hocomonco Pond
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Hocomonco Pond
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Hocomonco Pond
Location Westborough, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°16′21″N71°38′58″W / 42.27250°N 71.64944°W / 42.27250; -71.64944 Coordinates: 42°16′21″N71°38′58″W / 42.27250°N 71.64944°W / 42.27250; -71.64944
Type Pond
Basin  countriesUnited States
Surface area27 acres (11 ha)
Surface elevation276 ft (84 m)
References [1]
Superfund site
Information
CERCLIS IDMAD980732341
ContaminantsCreosote
Progress
ProposedDecember 30, 1982
ListedSeptember 8, 1983
Construction
completed
September 22, 1999
List of Superfund sites

Hocomonco Pond is a recreational pond located in Westborough, Massachusetts near Route 9. Also called Hobomoc Pond, it was named for Hobomok, a Wamesit Indian evil spirit. [1] The pond and adjacent land are a Superfund site.

Contents

Superfund site

A wood treatment and preservation plant operated on a 23-acre (9.3 ha) site near the pond during the 1930s and 1940s. The business saturated wood products (e.g. telephone poles, railroad ties, pilings and fence posts) with creosote to preserve them. During the treatment process, excess creosote and wastes where discharged to an unlined pit, the "former lagoon". The creosote, which contains carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, seeped into sediments, soil and groundwater. A storm drain built in the 1970s along the east side of the former lagoon transported liquid contaminants to the pond. The site was added to the National Priorities List on September 8, 1983. [2] [3]

A 1985 Record of Decision specified remedies for cleaning up the site. A landfill for the contaminants was constructed at the former lagoon. The storm drain was relocated. Contaminated soil, waste and sediments were excavated and dredged in operations completed in 1996. The former lagoon area was then capped. The groundwater remains contaminated. [2] [4]

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Naylors Run

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Havertown Superfund Superfund site in Pennsylvania

Havertown Superfund is a 13-acre polluted groundwater site in Havertown, Pennsylvania contaminated by the dumping of industrial waste by National Wood Preservers from 1947 to 1991. The state first became aware of the pollution in 1962 and initiated legal action against the owners in 1973 to force them to cleanup the site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and designated as a Superfund cleanup site in early 1990s. Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013.

American Creosote Works (Pensacola Plant)

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Escambia Wood

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Alabama Plating Company Superfund site

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California Gulch

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The Federal Creosote Superfund site is a 50-acre (20 ha) property located in Manville, New Jersey. It was used as a wood treatment facility. Starting in 1919, the site was contaminated with creosote. Creosotes are a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and by pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. It took the EPA about 18 years to cleanup the site.

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Forest Waste Products

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Thermo-Chem, Inc.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Hocomonco Pond". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  2. 1 2 "Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England - Hocomonco Pond". U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  3. "Sins Of The Past - Industry is no longer the environment's enemy. Can the fragile truce last?". Worcester Business Journal Online. June 14, 2010. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  4. "Second Five-Year Review Report for Hocomonco Pond Superfund Site" (PDF). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. September 2009. Retrieved 2014-01-09.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from websites or documents ofthe Environmental Protection Agency .

EPA Documents & Data

All (4) Five-Year Review Reports

Hocomonco Pond, Westborough MA Site Documents & Data

 https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&id=0100751