A forgotten river

Plan has residents thinking about polluted New Bedford Harbor

By William Corey, Standard-Times staff writer

NEW BEDFORD -- When Carol Wengenworth's daughters were just toddlers, they would play on the shores of the Acushnet River, a stone's throw from their Covell Street home.

"I never allowed them to go in that water," Ms. Wengenworth said, adding that the river has been so dirty for so long that she, like many of her neighbors, "never gave it much thought."

Residents in the tightly packed tenements that lead to the shoreline have long lived with a river that was so cut off from the neighborhood it was easily forgotten.

The degree of the PCB pollution in the river is among the highest in the nation. This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a 10-year, $120-million clean-up of the nearly 500,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment in city harbor.

"I think it's a good idea," Ms. Wengenworth said.

"But will they do it and finish it?" her daughter Jessica asked, skeptical that the river clean-up, like so many projects in New Bedford, will be delayed or won't be completed. "They need to worry about cleaning up the streets with the drug dealers too."

Larry Brill, chief of remediation and restoration for EPA's Region I office in Boston, said that $70 million has already been set aside for the project from a legal settlement with the polluters. The project will compete for the remaining funds with other Superfund projects, though Mr. Brill said chances are good that the money will be secured given the size of the New Bedford project.

"The goal is to be able to fish out of (the river) and eat the fish," he said.

Patricia Gadomski, also of Covell Street, walks her dog in near the river.

"It would be nice if it was pretty to look at," she said. "Maybe more wildlife will come back."

Ray DeMoranville of Coffin Avenue has taken his canoe out on the river once or twice. He said it's a good idea to finally clean up the waterway that area residents have tolerated for so long.

"It would be nice to be able to go fishing in my back yard," he said.

Mr. DeMoranville's mother-in-law, Cheryl Mode, said it would be nice to be able to eat the fish from the river and allow people to play near the shore.

"I know people go fishing there, but the throw the fish back," she said.

Yesterday afternoon, Ms. Mode was watching as her grandchildren played in the park just a few yards from the fenced off, contaminated area with toxic signs warning people to keep out.

Richard Raposa, of Covell Street, said he takes his two daughters elsewhere to go swimming after reading about the PCB threat for years.

"I wouldn't let my kids swim in any of the waters in New Bedford," he said.

Ward 2 City Council Paul Koczera grew up in the area and, though he was told about the river being polluted, he recalls going swimming there as a child.

"It was polluted when I was growing up. But that was my park of choice, Riverside Park. I would walk along the riverbed with friends. Even now, I see kids out by the river playing. Even though there's signs up, some people don't really view it as a hazardous spot," he said.

The ultimate goal, he said, probably won't be attained immediately after the decade-long project is completed. But the hope is that as pollutants decrease and the tides help flush out the danger, the waterway will be clean enough to fish.

"We need to ensure that we don't make the same mistake twice. We need to keep other toxic materials from going into river," he said.

The 10-year plan calls for the construction of four combined disposal facilities along the shoreline to contain the contaminated sediment that will be dredged from the riverbed. If no technologies are found to effectively clean the sediment, the CDF's will be permanently capped and preserved as green space. They will essentially extend the shoreline where they are built.

The four CDF's will be built along the shoreline in the areas of:

Hadley Street south to Bates Street.
Belleville Road south to Collette Street.
Sawyer Street south to Coggeshall Street.
Herman Mellville Shipyard.

The containment areas will be built from north to south and will be lined around the sides, but not at the bottom, meaning that some leeching will occur, according to Mr. Koczera.

"It won't be hazardous. It won't be enough to make the amounts per million grow by any large extent," he said.

Frances Sabino, head of the Bullard Street Neighborhood, said the neighborhood wants the river cleaned up, but there are concerns about burying the contaminants.

"It's still going to be in the neighborhood," saying that heavy rains could cause the contaminated soil to leech out.

"We want that out of here," she said.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are known carcinogens and were produced in the manufacturing process of companies which discharged waste in the river prior to the 1970s.

Staff photos by Mike Valeri
Top: Residents have lived with the contaminated Acushnet River for a long time. Says Cheryl Mode, above, "I know people go fishing there, but they throw the fish back." Middle: Cheryl Mode watches her grandchildren, Justin and Rikki DeMoranville, play at a park along the Acushnet River. Bottom: Richard Raposa says "I wouldn't let my kids swim in any of the waters in New Bedford."