TIVERTON -- Former businesses in North Tiverton, other than Fall River Gas, may have contributed to the contamination that has been found in the neighborhood's soil, says an environmental firm hired by New England Gas Co. and its parent company, Southern Union.
In its reports released Friday, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, of Providence, says at least nine properties may have been contaminated by previous land owners or nearby businesses.
The reports suggest that the state Department of Environmental Management issue those previous owners and businesses letters of responsibility, as the department did in March when it contacted Southern Union. Fall River Gas, which Southern Union bought three years ago, may have used the area as a dumping spot for hazardous waste from its coal gasification plant, the DEM had said.
The DEM ordered Southern Union to test 75 properties. The results of tests on most of those properties were released on Halloween, however results for nine of them were withheld until Friday because they had or are currently used for industrial and commercial matters.
The properties "appear to have different contamination characteristics and have been impacted by other potentially responsible parties," read each of the reports in their executive summaries.
The reports say that because of the "multiple potential sources of contamination," the gas company should not take any further action or suggest remediation for the properties.
The nine properties were discussed in detail in four reports. Here is a summary of the reports:
Carlton and Pauline Carvalho live in a two-story residential house at 11 A. Connell St. that was built in the late 1920s. They also have a variety store/sandwich shop on their property called DJ's Variety.
"During an interview with the homeowner, she indicated that while tilling her former garden, hat brims and other hat materials (leather/felt) were often uncovered in the soil," read the report. "It is common knowledge that historic hat manufacturing processes utilized mercury and arsenic and lead."
The Carvalhos also used to have a fire pit on their property, according to the report.
The firm used Sanborn maps to prove a former chemical works and a former hat factory once existed on the west of Bay Street. Sanborn maps are fire insurance maps, periodically issued, that date to the late 1800s and show building use, underground storage tanks, heating sources, building construction and other useful information, according to the report.
In a 1911 Sanborn map, the Bristol County Hat Co. operated out of buildings 500 feet from the Carvalhos' property. The report, however, did not have any other information on the hat company because Sanborn maps after 1911 were not available.
Yet, hat materials were also observed when Vanasse Hangen Brustlin tested the Carvalhos' property. The hat materials were tested along with six soil samples from the property. Some samples contained beryllium, arsenic, mercury, benzo(a)pyrene, chrysene and other contaminants that tested above state standards.
Two vacant lots on Foote Street were once used as automobile an holding site for a towing business during the 1950s and 1960s, a current owner reportedly told Vanasse Hangen Brustlin officials. The current owners are listed in the town's tax assessor's office as Theresa Farias, Daniel Terceiro and Margaret Anne Medeiros.
"The vehicles were towed to the site and stored there until a final disposition of the vehicle could be made," read the report. "The property owner indicated that repair services of these vehicles was not generally conducted at the site and that the vehicles did not spend an extended period of time on the site."
There are no cars on the property now. Vanasse Hangen Brustlin says the area is overgrown with vegetation -- such as poison ivy, wild grape and oriental bittersweet -- that is "indicative of previously disturbed sites."
The firm also said it observed tires, asphalt spoil piles, concrete piles, paint cans and rusted 55-gallon drums dumped on the site.
Pieces of burnt wood were found in one soil boring and a piece of coal was found in another. Thirteen soil samples were tested. Arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene and chrysene were above state standards in some of the samples.
Manuel Cruz has owned and run Jack's Auto Shop, at 100 Bay St., for the last 14 years. The auto body garage was built in 1950. Cruz says the previous owner, John G. Cordeiro, "buried tires on-site," according to the report. In addition, the area just south of it used to be a gas station.
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin checked federal, state and local records in its investigation and discovered there were two additional auto-related businesses in, or formerly in, North Tiverton and near Cruz's property. Aguiar's Auto, 34 State St., "is registered as a small quantities hazardous waste generator and according to their biennial reports, generated waste oil 'parts cleaner/dry cleaner' waste, mineral spirits, lubricating oil and fluids."
Whitney's Auto Repair, 110 Bay St., was "registered as generating 100 to 1,000 kilograms per month of hazardous waste that appears to have consisted of waste oil and waste petroleum naphtha," read the report. The business moved out of state in the mid to late 1990s, read the repair shop's 1999 biennial report.
Five samples were taken from Cruz's property, including one where the tires were allegedly buried. Lead present in one sample tested at 10 times the state standard. That same sample also had arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene and chrysene in amounts exceeding state standards. All five samples had arsenic levels above the state standard.
A 2.3-acre area on State Avenue was "owned by one family and used as a construction yard," read the report from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin.
"The historic aerial photographs of the site indicate a history of land disturbance," the report states. "A review of Fall River and Tiverton directories indicates that John Simpson Jr. operated a 'teaming and trucking business' at 2 Bay St. in 1921, a 'General Trucking (Steam Shovel Excavating, Rigger, Trailer Service)' business at 15 State Ave. in 1931, and the company letterhead in 1960 lists 'excavating, general contractor, building mover and trucker.' "
Currently, the land is divided into five lots. Isabel and Francis Correia own a home on one lot. The single family residence was built in 1890. The remaining four lots are owned by John and Junya Cambra. There is a multi-family house that was built in 1900, a septic system, a garage, a pigeon coop on three of the lots and the last lot is vacant.
The Fall River Wastewater Treatment facility is 100 feet away from the land on the other side of State Avenue, where an extensive underground sewer project is under way, the Vanasse Hangen Brustlin report notes. That project "is beyond the scope of this investigation to determine the potential environmental impact that this site may have on [the former Simpson site] or the neighborhood," the report read. "It is not known if soil samples were collected" at the water treatment construction site.
Forty-two samples were taken from the five lots. All the lots had contaminants that exceeded state standards. Vanasse Hangen Brustlin workers detected slight to strong chemical odors on the three-family house lot. Blue-stained rock fragments were also observed on the vacant lot next to the Correias' home.
One soil sample at the Correias' home showed lead levels of 765 parts per million, which is five times the state standard. Lead was also exceeded state standards in another soil sample from the property. The Correias' land also contained beryllium, arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, chrysene and 12 other contaminants in amounts above state standards in its soil samples.
At the three-family home site, soil samples showed benzo(a)pyrene was present in amounts as much as 20 times the state standard. The sample registered at 8.03 parts per million, while the state standard is 0.4 parts per million. Chrysene was present at a level more than 23 times the state limit in one soil sample. The lot also contained arsenic, lead, beryllium and other contaminants in levels above the state standard.
The remaining lots, including the vacant lot next to the Correias' home, also had soil samples that exceeded state standards for arsenic, beryllium, lead, chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene and other contaminants.
Alisha Pina can be reached by phone at 253-1200 or by e-mail at apina(at)projo.com.
