Base Clean-Up Team Discusses Water Contamination.
The Joint Base Cape Cod Cleanup Team met Wednesday evening, April 12, at Camp Edwards to discuss the US Air Force’s investigations of potentially dangerous contaminants in groundwater and in public and private wells in Bourne, Falmouth and Mashpee.
Mark Hilyard of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, which has been overseeing the cleanup of the base and its affiliated groundwater pollution plumes since the 1990s, gave updates about residential well sampling at sites near the base’s flight line and in the area of fuel spills from two tanker truck rollovers.
In the Ashumet Valley area in Falmouth, because of contaminants detected within and near Ashumet and Johns ponds, Mr. Hilyard said 70 residents are receiving bottled water and the Air Force has installed 11 whole-house charcoal filtration systems.
The next round of testing will come at the end of this month.
“We are sharing information with others across the country who are dealing with similar contamination events,” Robert Lim from the MassDEP said.
The project will connect each of the mobile home park’s 70 homes to the public water supply and redo its entire water system.
Contaminated groundwater flow is believed to have infiltrated one of seven Mashpee Water District public supply wells.
A third and potentially final sampling round is scheduled for later this month, he said.
The National Guard Bureau launched the program in 1996 to investigate possible areas of groundwater and soil contamination on the base.