Ashland will get more federal funding to continue cleanup at Nyanza Superfund site

ASHLAND — Local and state officials gathered Monday with about 30 community members at Mill Pond Park to celebrate the recent announcement of federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to continue groundwater cleanup at the Nyanza Superfund Site.

The event was hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency, which said last month that $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be invested at 22 Superfund sites, including Nyanza.

While the exact amount being devoted to Nyanza is unclear — the work has not gone out to bid — local work is estimated to cost $20.5 million, according to EPA spokesperson Dave Deegan.

State Senate President Karen Spilka, an Ashland resident, expressed gratitude over the recent funding award.

"We moved to Ashland in 1985," she said. "This (situation) has played a larger role in what Ashland is and why it's a terrific community to live in."

Earlier: Nyanza cleanup effort in Ashland has received another round of federal funding

Town Manager Michael Herbert termed the funding an "important milestone" for the town. Herbert said the collaboration has turned the "wasteland to a thriving wetlands area." Despite the "scars of Nyanza still running deep," Herbert said officials are creating a safer and healthier future for Ashland.

The Nyanza site has been undergoing cleanup efforts since it was designated a Superfund site in 1982. The site is named for the Nyanza Color and Chemical Co., the last of several companies to produce textile dyes and other products there from 1917 to 1978.

In 2020, the EPA unveiled a plan to tackle a contaminated groundwater plume at Nyacol Nano Technologies on Megunko Road and Worcester Air Conditioning on Pleasant Street, both of which continue to operate within the Superfund site.

Several Ashland residents were at Monday's event, including the Ashland Citizens Action Committee (ACAC), founded by 1990 Ashland High graduate Cara Tirell, after a potential condominium project was set to be constructed near the contamination cap. A solar array was constructed in 2019 instead.

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"Many of my classmates have been diagnosed with rare cancers," Tirell said. "The impact was forcing the EPA to have a feasibility study to confirm what we knew."

Michele Brooks, also an ACAC member, grew up down the road from Mill Pond Park.

"I became concerned when younger people developed the same kind of cancer," she said, adding that the funding is overdue, and the group has been pushing for more work to be done.

Ashland resident Marie Kane said she's thrilled about the new funding. Her son Kevin died at age 25 from cancer in 1998.

"Within a week of his diagnosis we surmised that it was from the Nyanza site," Kane said. In her son's honor, Kane is working on an upgraded Nyanza Healing Garden, for those who have been affected by the site's contamination.

"It shows that a small group of residents can make a difference," Tirell said. "What's important is that the residents know the ins and outs of this town... to dismiss us is a mistake."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Ashland officials celebrate new federal funds for Nyanza cleanup