United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-99-021
March 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
PA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Walpole, MA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower States, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 200 Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of
brownfields solutions. The Pilots are intended to provide EPA, States, Tribes, municipalities, and communities with
useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site
assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected the Town of Walpole for a
Brownfields Pilot. Walpole (population 22,235) is a
suburb 19 miles south of Boston with a history of
industrial development along the Neponset River. A
recent survey found Walpole to have the second-
largest number of undeveloped industrial and
commercial sites in the Metropolitan Boston Region,
but many of these sites have been abandoned or
underutilized because of real or perceived
contamination. These brownfields sites pose arisk to
the community's economic, environmental, and public
health. Some known or suspected brownfields are
located over the town's sole source aquifer that
supplies Walpole's drinking water.
The Pilot will examine a group of sites located in
prime commercial areas nearthe town's center. These
include an abandoned auto garage, a 60-year-old
industrial site with known contamination, the former
site of the town grit facility, and an abandoned
manufacturing site. The Pilot plans to select three of
these sites for assessment.
OBJECTIVES
The town's objective is to clean up its brownfields
sites to ensure the protection of public health and the
environment by cleaning up its brownfields sites and
returning them to productive use. The initial obj ective
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
March 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets three
sites in the downtown area of
Walpole.
Walpole, Massachusetts
Contacts:
Walpole Board of Health
(508) 660-7320
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA- Region 1
(617)918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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is to mitigate the potential threat to the town's water
supply through the assessment and cleanup activities
conducted at the targeted sites. To accomplish these
goals, the Pilot will rely heavily on community input
throughout the site identification, assessment, and
cleanup planning processes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Selecting three target sites through community
involvement efforts;
• Performing assessments at the selected sites;
• Developing cleanup and redevelopment plans for
the targeted sites; and
• Organizing a community-based stakeholder group
to keep the community involved in the project.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Walpole, Massachusetts
March 1999 EPA 500-F-99-021
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