Transfer of tainted site awaits study

Several large properties in the East End of Watertown, including a nearly 12-acre swath of land at Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street that was once used to burn depleted uranium from a Watertown Arsenal nuclear reactor, are undergoing close scrutiny to determine how badly contaminated they are and who is responsible for cleaning them up.

The status of the former uranium disposal site is in limbo, as state and federal agencies haggle over who should make the land safe for public use.

A July 25 deadline to begin transfer of the property from the Army Corps of Engineers to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation was pushed back after conservation department officials said they wanted further data to determine the extent of contaminants in the soil.

On Thursday, the state Department of Environmental Protection, which set the July target date, will present the findings of its own study to the Legislature, said the conservation department's commissioner, Rick Sullivan. The study will be a major factor in whether the department accepts the land transfer from the Army Corps, he said. If the land is not deemed safe for all kinds of recreational uses, Sullivan said, "we're not going to be able to take it." He also said that he was not prepared to discuss what the department intends to do with the property once it takes it over.

"It's up to them to push to get it done," said Susan Falkoff, a longtime environmental activist involved in the Superfund site's cleanup.

Army Corps officials have said they have done all the remediation required by law and are ready to hand over the property.

Results from another study released last month showed that two nearby properties, Sawins Pond and Williams Pond, still contain measurable levels of petroleum byproducts, PCBs, metals, and other toxins, much of it left over from industrial dumping in the 1970s and 1980s. The area was used as a landfill for the BF Goodrich Co. until the late 1960s.

Steven Fleming, a senior project manager for Vineyard Engineering and Environmental Services, which did the study, said that although cleanups of a 1983 dump of 500 gallons of PCBs and a 1979 oil spill at Sawins Pond were completed, traces of those contaminants still show up in pond sediment. Fleming said no new contaminants appear to have been introduced at either pond in the last few decades.

According to Fleming, his company needs to further study the two privately owned properties before drawing final conclusions. He said he expected to resume work last week.

The results of the additional work probably will be presented to the public in early December, he said.

Fleming said the Department of Environmental Protection has required Maximus Hatziiliades, who has owned both ponds since 1984, to pay for the study to determine the extent of the contamination and clean it up.

Fleming said he doesn't have an estimate for the cleanup costs.

A former Boston Edison facility on Elm Street - now owned by NStar - is upstream from the ponds and could be the source of some PCBs detected on the 6-acre property, according to Fleming. Fleming said the toxins were possibly carried by drainage and storm-water runoff into the ponds.

Ultimately, he said, the Department of Environmental Protection will determine the extent, if any, of NStar's responsibility.

"We're really pleased something is happening there and they're going to do some work," said Falkoff, who cochairs a citizens board monitoring the site.

Christina Pazzanese can be reached at cpazzanese@ globe.com.