Environmental Cleanup in Burlington Ongoing

Burlington's Environmental Engineer Christine Mathis reports that out of 287 historical contaminated sites in town, 110 are still open and undergoing monitoring or cleanup.

Mathis shared this information during the December 10, 2024, Burlington Board of Health meeting, where she gave an overview of the town's contaminated sites under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) program at the request of Chair Dr. Ed Weiner. These sites vary from ones that were contaminated during the 50s and 60s to ones that experience short-term contamination from one-time spills, such as a recent spill of hydraulic fluid at Corporate Drive that was contained on pavement and cleaned up easily.

The remaining 177 sites have been closed through various methods, including closures with activity use limitations, or designations of downgradient property status (meaning the contamination came from a different source and is not the owner's fault). Others have permanent solutions without conditions, which means they've either reached background levels for contaminants or proven that the levels are low enough not to pose an environmental risk, even if reaching background levels isn't possible.

The Department of Public Health continues monitoring and assisting with mitigation when possible with these existing sites.

Also at the Board of Health December 10 Meeting:

• The Board welcomed new supervisory nurse, Sandra Troiani, praising her work since beginning in May—especially in supporting families in getting children their childhood vaccinations.
• The state of Massachusetts has announced a comprehensive overhaul of its public health system, aiming to establish minimum standards, increase shared services, create uniform data collection, and improve equity across the Commonwealth.