BCAT News

The Burlington Board of Health has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to study two sites of potential environmental contamination at 179 Cambridge Street and 18 Terry Avenue. 

The town has known about contamination at the two sites for some time – 179 Cambridge St. for at least a decade, and 18 Terry Ave since about 2020. Although significant work has been done to understand and address the contamination, questions remain. 

“There’s a lot of unknown in terms of how the sites impact each other, if they impact each other,” said Christine Mathis, environmental engineer with the Department of Public Health, at a Board of Health presentation on March 28. 

Experts have identified a chemical called perchloroethylene (PCE), which is commonly used in dry cleaning, in the groundwater, soil and indoor air at 179 Cambridge St. The site was home to a dry cleaning business in the 1950s. Also found at the site were trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride, all of which can be produced as PCE breaks down. 

Nearby at 18 Terry Ave, TCE and related breakdown products have been identified in the groundwater, soil and indoor air. The source of contamination at 18 Terry Ave is currently unknown. 

Mathis said the most concerning of the chemicals is TCE. According to the Massachusetts Bureau of Environmental Health, TCE is relatively common in indoor spaces. Up to 0.4 micrograms per cubic meter is considered normal; exposure rises to the level of “imminent hazard” – meaning action must be taken to minimize the impact on human health – when it exceeds 20 micrograms per cubic meter. Prolonged exposure to elevated levels of TCE can increase the risk of certain cancers. 

179 Cambridge Street is currently a Papa Gino’s/D’Angelo restaurant; 18 Terry Ave. is currently home to a number of commercial tenants, including a yoga studio, a software company and a realtor. 

TCE was identified in the indoor air at Papa Gino’s at a level that is not considered hazardous to human health. 

In 2020, investigators found TCE in the indoor air at 18 Terry Ave that rose to a level of imminent hazard, but the property owners have since installed a filtration system to correct that risk. 

Through the grant, the DPH plans to hire environmental consultants to create a summary report of environmental conditions at the sites and educate the public and municipal leaders through presentations. The DPH anticipates it will award a contract for a consultant in the summer of 2023, hold a public forum in December, 2023, and make a final presentation to the Board of Health around March, 2024.