The Walton & Lonsbury (W&L) Site (the Site), located at 78 North Avenue, Attleboro, Bristol County, Massachusetts, is owned by Walhard Realty Trust and consists of a 13,500 square-foot chromium plating facility, formerly operated by Walton & Lonsbury, Inc. on a 2.72-acre lot. It is identified as Map 89, Lots 2D, 4 and 5.
The Site is zoned for industrial use, and while in operation it was used as a specialty parts industrial plating facility, with the unique ability to chrome-plate very large and/or long objects (e.g., pistons for large hydraulic equipment, rollers for paper mills).
Electroplating operations have been conducted at the Site since 1940; W&L operated chromium plating operations at the Site until it ceased operations in 2007. Copper plating was also conducted at the facility until the building was remodeled in the late 1950s. Facility operations included parts degreasing using solvents, hard chrome plating, stripping with acids, aqueous rinsing, grinding, and polishing.
Chemical usage at the Site has included trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA), chromic oxide, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, cyanide, paint thinner, aluminum oxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium bisulfate, sodium hydrosulfate, and lead sulfate. Wastes generated at the Site include hydrochloric acid, chromium hydroxide sludge, chromic acid wastewater, chromic acid contaminated solids, TCE, TCA, aluminum oxide dust, and cyanide plating bath solution.
From 1940 until 1970, wastewater and waste streams generated at the Site direct discharged via an underground pipe from the plating room into the wetlands located on the southern portion of the property. In 1970, W&L abandoned and plugged its underground pipe and installed a wastewater treatment facility on Site to treat its electroplating wastes (primarily chromium hydroxide sludge) which were then discharged to a surface impoundment and lagoon for dewatering. The effluent from the dewatering impoundment and lagoon was then discharged into the wetland area via a storm water trench located on the west side of the property.
The impoundment and lagoon were excavated using only a visual criteria, and were closed and capped in 1985-1986. Environmental sampling in 2001, with supporting samples taken by EPA in 2010 during the Preliminary Assessment/Site Investigation (PA/SI), show that some contamination was left in place and continues to contribute to the sub-surface soil and groundwater impacts.
In the late 1980s, the wastewater treatment system was converted to a closed-loop for process water, while chromium hydroxide sludge was accumulated and shipped off-site for disposal (approximately 4,000 gallons of sludge was shipped off-Site every 90 days). Employee interviews have clarified, however, that the closed-loop system was constantly compromised. Each weekend, the facility would shut down, and on Monday morning, there was usually a large quantity of water in the system (in excess of the capacity of the holding bays in the wastewater treatment room), and this water would slowly discharge through a hole in the wall and into a rip-rap stone area on the west side of the facility. This water would either flow through the rock towards the wetlands, and/or be absorbed into the groundwater. This process water was sometimes contaminated, however, when acid would cause one of the heating coils to crack, allowing for chromic acid infiltration into the “clean” closed-loop system.
Lead is also a contaminant of concern. Lead was used for a variety of operational processes in the chrome-plating operations. A small lead smelter and exhaust hood are found in the mechanic’s shop in the south-west corner of the facility, and it was used to make a variety of plumbing pieces involved in the plating process. The lead bends, curves and pieces would eventually melt away in the 140⁰ F chromic acid tanks, and contribute to the waste stream from the plating process.
The employee lunch room once was the site of the W&L copper plating operations. There appears to be evidence of a former trench emanating from this side of the building, out to the west with discharge to where the historic storm-water/surface water used to exist (before it was buried when the lagoon and impoundment were installed).
An abandoned dry-well located on the south side of the facility was also identified as a possible source of volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in the sub-surface. It has been reported to have been used for the disposal of waste TCE, and is considered to be a potential source area for TCE, TCA and other VOCs.
On the west side of the building, two 275-gallon above-ground storage tanks (ASTs) of TCE & TCA used to be situated near the facility’s stack. The ASTs supplied the internal degreasing operations. TCE was used on Site from an unknown period of time until prior to 1983, at which time TCA was determined a more environmentally permissible alternative. From 1983–1994, TCA was then used for parts degreasing. Based upon hazardous waste reports for 1988, 1989, and 1991, the average annual usage of TCA was 147 gallons. According to the consultant reports, as well as interviews of past employees, several overflow spills are known to have occurred during the early 1980s.
The electrical room roof area on the south side of the facility is located immediately below the exhaust ducts from the chromium plating tanks. Over the years of operation (prior to installation of air emissions controls in 1997), chromium residue accumulated on the roof. During storm events, runoff from the roof picked up dissolved chromium and discharged to the ground surface adjacent to the facility building.
Owing to the configuration of the plating area floor trenches, inspection of the integrity of the walls and trenches has not been feasible. Given the condition of the visible floor areas near the plating tanks, it is believed that the concrete trenches are extremely porous and impacted by the strongly acidic and corrosive (pH of <1) properties of the chromic acid used in the plating process. Employees have explained, photographs have documented, and there is much evidence that the condition of the trenches has contributed to contamination below the foundation of the building. Environmental samples taken along side the tanks demonstrate that there are extremely high concentrations of total chromium, as well as very toxic hexavalent chromium.
In 2007, when W&L closed its operations, there were four active plating tanks (out of six that were in operation when the dry scrubber air handling systems were installed in 1997). These tanks have capacities of 740 gallons, 680 gallons, 1,440 gallons and 1,210 gallons.
During the August 2010 PA/SI chromic acid and significant quantities of chromic acid sludge were found to still be in the tanks, despite an emergency removal of materials performed by MassDEP from January 25–February 18, 2008.
