Industri-Plex 128 Superfund Site

Woburn, Massachusetts

Roux Associates has worked extensively at the high-profile Industri-Plex 128 Superfund site in Woburn, Massachusetts. The Industri-Plex project was one of the first Superfund site investigations in the nation. The site was listed as No. 5 on the original National Priorities List (NPL), and was previously used for chemical, pesticide, and glue manufacturing. Impacted media include soils, groundwater, surface water, and sediment, and constituents of concern at the site include arsenic, chromium, benzene, and toluene. Groundwater at the site also exhibits effects from the stockpiling of waste animal hides from glue manufacturing operations at the site (e.g., anoxia, high dissolved organic carbon).

Roux Associates conducted the initial RI in 1982-83, and assisted in preparation of the FS in 1985. The RI included an extensive electromagnetic survey, collection of over 2,000 soil samples from test pits and borings, and installation of 20 monitoring wells. Later, from 1990 to 1992, a supplemental RI was performed that focused on the mobilization of metals into groundwater and the effects of groundwater contamination on surface-water and sediment quality. This supplemental RI included extensive groundwater, surface-water, and sediment sampling, as well as human health and ecological risk assessments. Roux Associates was also selected by the lead PRP to be a member of the design team for the interim groundwater remedy (groundwater extraction and treatment) selected in the ROD issued for the site in 1986. Pre-design investigations conducted included an aquifer delineation drilling program, aquifer testing, and an assessment of the recharge capacity of the aquifer.

In 1995, following several years of design studies and negotiations, Roux Associates conducted a study that demonstrated the technical impracticability of the groundwater extraction and treatment remedy selected in the 1986 ROD, and played a key role in development of an oxygen-injection system that was proposed by the PRPs as an alternative groundwater remedy. Later, in 1996 and 1997, Roux Associates coordinated and took active part in the implementation of a supplemental site investigation designed to further evaluate and document the ability of the site's groundwater/surface-water/wetland system to naturally attenuate the site constituents of concern. This study has resulted in the agencies' agreement to consider a natural attenuation remedy for site groundwater.