EPA looking at old city landfill sight off Rte. 107 South

In August, officials from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) again toured the site of the abandoned municipal landfill in the neighborhood of Frank Bean Road and Old Morin Road in an effort to determine the bounds of the dumping ground. After visiting the site last spring Nancy Smith of the EPA's Superfund site assessment program, based in Boston, said that the agency would likely be testing private wells and taking soil samples at nine properties in the area to determine whether there was a risk to either human health or the natural environment. The testing and sampling has yet to begin. Instead officials recently returned to visit eight of the nine properties in the area, including a parcel owned by the city, in an effort to establish the limits of the landfill, which appears to lie on both sides of Frank Bean Road. Smith said last week that the site would be mapped and she expected that soil samples would be collected and well water tested soon, perhaps before the year is out. She emphasized that the purpose of the first round of tests was to determine if more extensive exploration of the site was necessary. John Regan of DES, who asked the EPA to assess the site, described the testing as "a preliminary assessment, exploratory to find out what is really there and if there is anything that we should be concerned about." Smith explained that the dumping grounds were not lined or capped, leaving them exposed to rainfall, which can cause contaminants to leach into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Nor have the dumps been monitored since they were abandoned to determine if contaminants have migrated. "We are particularly interested to learn if there is any risk people might be exposed, either through their drinking water supplies or coming into contact with contaminated soil," Smith said, adding that depending on what tests reveal, some restrictions could be placed on the use of properties. She indicated that it was very unlikely that the site would qualify for the Superfund.