Discovery of PCBs expected to delay $363M water filtration project in WMass, lift cost

Workers clearing the way last summer for a new West Parish Water Treatment Plant found soil contaminated by PCBs, a discovery that is expected to delay an expensive project already under a tight timeline from the state.

With the hiring of lawyers and consultants, it is already increasing the plant’s $363.8 million pricetag.

PCBs are a group of man-made organic chemicals manufactured from 1929 until they were banned in 1979. They were widely used in electrical transformers and building materials like caulk. The Environmental Protection Agency lists PCBs as a probable carcinogen.

The Springfield Water & Sewer Commission, owner of the new plant, says water customers are not affected. Tests show that treated drinking water today meets state and federal drinking water quality standards for PCBs, the commission said in response to questions from The Republican.

But even without seeping into the drinking water supply, the PCBs are a problem for the ratepayer-funded commission’s big-ticket venture.

The commission is under an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection to get the new filtration plant, located near the Cobble Mountain Reservoir at 1515 Granville Road in Westfield, operating by September 2028. The DEP is the agency that regulates hazardous materials and is also the entity mandating that the new filters go online in 2028.

New filters in the facility will eliminate chemicals created as a byproduct of the current disinfection process. The West Parish project is financed with a $250 million low-interest loan from the highly competitive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program, with matching funds from the Massachusetts Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and with a $4.6 million 2024 congressional earmark.

The system provides water to a quarter million customers in Springfield and surrounding communities. The water comes from Cobble Mountain Reservoir, which straddles the town lines of Blandford, Granville and Russell in the wooded hill towns.

Staff warned commissioners at a regular monthly meeting Thursday of continued delays in demolition work due to the discovery of PCBs.

A person familiar with the project said the finding could delay building by months. Commission spokeswoman Jaimye Bartak declined to speculate on the project’s timeline until a cleanup plan is in place.

According to meeting minutes, Joshua Schimmel, executive director of the commission, has been warning commissioners for months that the PCB problem will impact the cost and schedule of the West Parish Water Treatment Plant.

In December, commissioners hired engineers Hazen & Sawyer to come up with a remediation plan at an initial cost of $507,700. The full cost of a cleanup is not yet known.

A memo from the commission’s engineers to the DEP says that caulking believed to be the source of the PCB contamination was found in the interior of the existing filtration plant — a massive underground chamber in which water flows through sand as a filter. Portions of the plant date back to the early 1900s.

The PCBs were used in caulk employed in 1966 to build the now-outmoded underground filtration system that is being demolished as part of the new facility.

On Thursday morning, Schimmel again updated commissioners at their regular February meeting. He said the commission and its engineers are working with both the DEP and the EPA on a soil sampling plan.

“Then we’ll be off to the races,” Schimmel said.

Contaminated dirt issue

The commission has a 2,500-cubic-yard pile of contaminated dirt at the Granville Road site, according to documents filed with MassDEP and made publicly available.

The document said five samples taken from various parts of the pile have been tested. Some samples came in under the lowest concentration that can be reliably reported by a laboratory.

But the high was 1.4 milligrams per kilogram. A concentration of 0.23 mg/kg would warrant investigation or cleanup of soil in a residential setting. It’s 0.94 in an industrial setting, according to a guide published by Washington University of St. Louis.

As that shows, the levels are over the limit that triggers action.

A memo filed with the DEP by the commission’s engineering firm, Tighe & Bond, reports that affected soil was removed from the Granville Road site prior to the discovery of the PCBs and taken to four businesses: Green Mountain Lumber in Westfield, Ondrick Materials and Recycling in Granby, Rosati Materials in Agawam and 360 Recycling in Westfield.

At three of those sites, earth from the construction project in Westfield is kept segregated and covered with plastic sheeting.

But at one business, 360 Recycling, dirt from the site was mixed with other materials and some of it was sold. Tighe & Bond said engineers sought information about who bought the product and where it had been used.

Tighe & Bond explained in the memo how the PCBs were found and how they came to be at the remote site.

In July, workers were removing three feet of soil as part of demolishing underground filters numbered 15 though 18 when they uncovered construction joint caulk in concrete roof slabs.

Subsequently, workers found the joint caulking in the sidewalls of the underground cavern and in other places on both the interior and exterior of the buried structures.

The caulk raised suspicions about PCB contamination. Tighe & Bond submitted samples for testing and PBCs were found in concentrations enough to warrant concern.

Samples taken of nearby soil showed enough PCBs had migrated to require that the commission report the incident to the DEP.

The document discloses that sand from inside the filter structure was also tested. The result of that testing is not yet available.

In her response to The Republican, Bartak, the commission spokesperson, said that the specific part of the filtering system linked to PCBs has been offline since construction began in March 2025.

“And there is no current risk of exposure to the public or employees,” she said.

Older filters built in 1924 and also slated for removal did not have the PCB-laden caulk.

For decades, Pittsfield and neighboring communities on the Housatonic River have wrestled with PCB contamination left behind from the once massive General Electric plant there.