State names Billerica firm in perchlorate case

BILLERICA -- The state Department of Environmental Protection has identified a Billerica manufacturer of medical devices as a source of perchlorate, a contaminant in the drinking water of neighboring Tewksbury.

Results of tests by the Billerica Water Department show that discharges from a manufacturing process at a CR Bard Inc. plant is causing fluctuating levels of perchlorate at the Billerica's waste-water treatment facility, according to Selectman James O'Donnell. The waste-water facility is upstream from Tewksbury on the northern flowing Concord River.

Levels were as high as 640 parts per billion where waste flows into the facility, and were as low as .06 parts per billion during a week of sampling by the DEP earlier this month.

The state requires levels to be no higher than 1 part per billion in drinking water supplies. Tewksbury's drinking water levels averaged 2.25 parts per billion in September after almost a dozen tests. Billerica's drinking water, drawn from the Concord, is unaffected.A Bard spokeswoman said the company has voluntarily suspended production in its bleaching operations and will neutralize perchlorate before future discharging.

Bard's Billerica plant manufactures medical-grade felt products used to repair hernias, said the spokeswoman, Holly Glass. In the process of bleaching the material, perchloric acid was discharging into the town's sewer system. Part of the compound created is perchlorate salt, said Edmund Coletta, a DEP spokesman.

Joyce Pellino Crane can be reached crane@globe.com.