The USEPA has placed 13 sites in Rhode Island on the National Priorities List (NPL). The majority of NPL sites (8) are in Providence County, followed by Washington County (3). Kent County and Newport County have one site each. Five of the thirteen NPL sites have completed construction. The NPL is the list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation.
KENT COUNTY: Picillo Farm, Coventry, RI
View Picillo Farm's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal
Site Alias: Candy Box Farm
The Picillo Farm site is a small portion of a former 100-acre pig farm located in Coventry, RI. More than 10,000 drums of hazardous waste and an undetermined bulk volume of liquid chemicals were disposed of into several unlined trenches on an 8-acre area of the farm. The site was discovered in 1977, when a fire and explosion occurred. After requiring the property owners to halt the illegal disposal operations, the State of Rhode Island conducted an emergency removal of drums containing sodium aluminum hydride. From 1980 through 1982, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) and the EPA excavated the trenches and removed the majority of the wastes. The contaminated soil was stored on-site in three piles until it was moved off-site in 1988. Currently, there are more than 150 single-family homes located within a mile of the site and a new development continues to encroach on undeveloped land surrounding the site. All residences rely on private wells for their water; these wells are sampled approximately once a year by the Rhode Island Department of Health. The site lies near the upper Roaring Brook watershed, which is a tributary to the Moosup River. Groundwater and surface water run-off flows away from the disposal site towards an unnamed swamp, Great Cedar Swamp and Whitford Pond (which is used to irrigate a nearby cranberry bog).
NEWPORT COUNTY: Newport Naval Education/Training Center
Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth & Jamestown, RI
View Newport Naval Education/Training Center's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, State, Potentially Responsible Parties
Site Aliases: U.S. Navy McAllister, DOD/NETC/McAllister Point Landfill, Naval Station Newport
The 1,063-acre Newport Naval Education/Training Center (NETC) site has been used by the Navy as a refueling depot since 1900. An 11-acre portion of the site along the shore of Narragansett Bay, known as McAllister Point Landfill, accepted wastes consisting primarily of domestic refuse, acids, solvents, paint, waste oil and oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from 1955 to the mid-1970s. Five tank farms are located in the Melville area; one is located in Midway. Sludge from nearby tank farms was dumped on the ground or burned in chambers. Other contaminated areas on site, such as the Melville North Landfill, are classified as Formerly Used Defense sites and are being addressed separately. Surface water and groundwater flow toward the bay, which is used for boating and fishing. One tank farm is located 300 feet from a coastal wetland. Other areas of concern include Old Fire Fighting Training Area/Site 09, Tank Farm Four/Site 12, Tank Farm Five/Site 13, Gould Island and Derecktor Shipyard. An estimated 4,800 people obtain drinking water and 220 acres of land are irrigated from private wells located within 3 miles of the site. Approximately 10,000 people live within 3 miles of the site.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Central Landfill
Johnston, RI
View Central Landfill's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, Potentially Responsible Parties
Site Aliases: Rhode Island Central Landfill, Silvestri Bros. Landfill, Johnston Site
This active landfill is currently owned and operated by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation - RIRRC (formerly the Rhode Island Solid Waste Management Corporation) and receives approximately 85 percent of Rhode Island's solid waste. The site is currently comprised of four areas. One of these areas, a 121-acre area (sometimes called the Phase 1 area), was used prior to 1980 for the disposal of municipal and hazardous waste. The other three areas (Phases 2, 3 and 4) have been used to dispose of municipal solid waste. Landfilling in the Phase 2 and 3 areas stopped in July 2003. There are also plans for additional expansions beyond the Phase 4 area.
Located within the 121-acre, Phase 1 area is an approximately 1/2 acre area where a minimum of 1.5 million gallons of documented hazardous wastes were disposed of between 1976 and 1979. Within this 1/2 acre hazardous waste area, bulk liquid waste was dumped into trenches that had previously been excavated into bedrock. The wastes disposed of in this area included latex waste, acid waste, corrosive waste, water soluble oils and waste solvents, including methylene chloride, toluene, 1,1,1-trichlorethane and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). EPA believes that, prior to 1976, a large quantity of non-manifested liquid hazardous waste was also disposed of in this 1/2 acre area. In 1982, the owner complied with a State order to close the areas that had received hazardous material. These areas have been excavated, backfilled, capped to minimize further contamination of the groundwater/surface water and revegetated as part of the closure plan. Approximately 4,000 people live within 3 miles of the site. The bedrock aquifer underlying the site has been contaminated.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Centredale Manor Restoration Project
North Providence, RI
View Centredale Manor Restoration Project's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, Potentially Responsible Parties
The main area of the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superfund site, consisting of approximately 9.04 acres, is known as 2072 and 2074 Smith Street in North Providence, Rhode Island. The entire site extends down the Woonasquatucket River from the main portion of the site, south to the Lyman Mill Dam, and includes the recently restored Allendale Dam. The site consists of all contaminated areas within this area as well as any other location to which contamination from that area has come to be located, or from which that contamination came. Prior to 1936, the properties were occupied by Centredale Worsted Mills, a woolens mill. Atlantic Chemical Company began operating on the properties in approximately 1943. Atlantic Chemical Company changed its name in 1953 to Metro-Atlantic, Inc. and continued to operate until the early 1970s. New England Container Company, Inc. operated an incinerator-based drum reconditioning facility on a portion of the site from 1952 until 1971. A major fire in 1972 destroyed most of the structures at the site. The Brook Village apartments were opened in 1977 and the Centredale Manor apartments were opened in 1983 on the properties of these former facilities, with the two new buildings, parking lots and driveways occupying large portion of the properties. From 2000 to 2006, following several environmental investigations, EPA constructed several soil caps in the undeveloped areas of the properties.
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PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Davis (GSR) Landfill
Glocester and Smithfield, RI
View Davis (GSR) Landfill's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal
The 58-acre Davis (GSR) Landfill site includes a 21-acre inactive landfill located in the Towns of Glocester and Smithfield, RI. Between 1974 and 1976, the landfill, which was privately owned and licensed by the State to accept municipal wastes, accepted wastes from Glocester, Smithfield, Warwick, and Providence. In 1978, the State declined to renew the landfill's license because the facility had violated numerous rules and regulations for operating solid waste management facilities. Numerous legal actions to close the landfill ensued, and the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State in 1982, at which time the landfill became inactive. However, the landfill was never properly capped or stabilized. The State found both surface water and groundwater contamination on-site. Approximately 200 residents who use private water wells live within a 1-mile radius; there are approximately 4,700 people within a 3-mile radius using private wells.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Davis Liquid Waste
Smithfield, RI
View Davis Liquid Waste's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, State, Potentially Responsible Parties
The Davis Liquid Waste site is located on approximately 10 acres in a rural section of Smithfield, Rhode Island. Throughout the 1970's, the site accepted liquid and chemical wastes such as paint and metal sludges, oily wastes, solvents, acids, caustics, pesticides, phenols, halogens, metals, fly ash and laboratory pharmaceuticals. Liquid wastes were transported in drums and bulk tank trucks and were dumped directly into unlined lagoons and seepage pits. The operator periodically excavated the semi-solid lagoon materials, dumped these materials at several locations on the site and covered them with soil. Other operations included the collection of salvaged vehicles and machine parts, metal recycling and tire shredding. Dumping activities resulted in soil, surface water, sediment and groundwater contamination, both on- and off-site. In 1978, the discovery of off-site well contamination prompted the State Superior Court to prohibit further dumping of hazardous substances on the Davis property. The area surrounding the site is residential and the closest homes are located within 1,500 feet of the site. In 1986, there were approximately 240 people living within 1 mile and 4,700 people living within 3 miles of the site. The nearest well is located 300 feet away. The property is bordered on the north and south by wetlands and swamp areas.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Landfill And Resource Recovery, Inc. (L&RR)
North Smithfield, RI
View Landfill And Resource Recovery's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, Potentially Responsible Parties
The Landfill and Resource Recovery, Inc. (L&RR) site is a 28-acre landfill on a 36-acre parcel of land. The site originally was a sand and gravel pit and was used for small-scale refuse disposal from 1927 to 1974. In 1974, the site was sold and developed into a large-scale disposal facility accepting commercial, municipal and industrial wastes. Until 1979, an estimated 1 million gallons of hazardous wastes were accepted and disposed of with other wastes in the central portion of the landfill. The hazardous wastes included many types of bulk and drummed organic and inorganic materials in liquid, sludge and solid forms. In 1979, the operator placed a polyvinyl chloride cover over the area containing hazardous waste to prevent rainwater from entering. Landfilling of commercial and residential wastes continued until 1985, when the owners closed the landfill and placed another synthetic cover over most of the landfill. Soil was placed over the synthetic cover and it was partially planted with vegetation. Although the area is still rural, there are approximately 10,000 residents in a 25-square-mile area; the area appears to be undergoing a substantial growth in residential development. Within a 1/2 mile radius of the site, there are fewer than 50 residences and no multi-residential housing developments. More than 3,000 people live within 3 miles of the site. An industrial park is located approximately 3,000 feet to the north and Air National Guard installations are located approximately 1,000 feet to the east and 3,000 feet to the south of the site. Most, if not all, residences in the site's vicinity obtain their drinking water from individual wells. Trout Brook, adjacent to the site and the Slatersville Reservoir, into which it discharges, are used for fishing and other recreation, but are not public water supply sources.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Peterson/Puritan, Inc.
Cumberland & Lincoln, RI
View Peterson/Puritan's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, Potentially Responsible Parties
Site Aliases: Blackstone Valley, Blackstone River, J. M. Mills Landfill (Operable Unit 2)
The Peterson/Puritan, Inc. Superfund Site consists of two Operable Units encompassing over two miles of mixed industrial/residential property situated in the north-central portion of Rhode Island in the towns of Cumberland and Lincoln. The Site occupies over 500 acres and runs in a generally north to south direction and approximately 2,000 feet to the east and west of the main river channel of the Blackstone River, between the Ashton Dam to the north and the Pratt Dam to the south and includes a portion of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. The Site "study area" comprises an industrial park (including the former Peterson/Puritan facility), an inactive landfill known as J. M. Mills Landfill, an inactive solid waste transfer station, sand and gravel operations, the Blackstone River State Park (aka Mackland Farm/Kelly House) development, impacted municipal water supply wells and numerous interspersed areas of undeveloped land, flood plain and wetlands along the Blackstone River. Land uses surrounding the Site are a mixture of industrial, commercial, residential and recreational parcels. Immediately to the north and west of the Site is a predominately residential area. To the east is commercial/residential, and to the south predominately commercial. There are over 1000 residences within a one-mile radius and 12,000 people living within a 4-mile radius of the Site. The nearest residence is less than 1/4 mile away. Operable Unit 1 (OU1) consists of the industrial park in the vicinity of Martin St. and includes the former Peterson/Puritan, Inc. facility (currently CCL Custom Manufacturing Inc.) solvent spill, Pacific Anchor Co. (PAC) leachfields, and contaminated soils and groundwater associated with this portion of the Site. The Peterson/Puritan, Inc. facility was built in 1959 and began packaging aerosol consumer products. A rail car incident and product tank spill occurred on the facility's property in 1974 releasing an estimated 6000 gallons of solvent. In 1976, following a major fire, the plant was rebuilt. The Martin Street well and Lenox Street well in the Town of Cumberland and the Quinnville well field in the Town of Lincoln were closed in 1979 due to ground water contamination and remain out of service. The Peterson/Puritan spill was identified as a primary source of contaminants impacting the sand and gravel aquifer feeding the river and the Martin Street well and Quinnville well field. The Town of Lincoln has since been connected to an alternate water supply while the Town of Cumberland absorbed the cost of the loss of its wells by increasing production from their remaining town water supplies. Operable Unit 2 (OU2) is immediately south (downstream) of OU1 and consists of the inactive, privately owned J.M. Mills Landfill, the former Transfer Station, debris fields, the River, associated wetlands, an unnamed island and areas south to the Pratt Dam. The source of the Lenox St. well contamination remains under investigation.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Stamina Mills, Inc.
North Smithfield, RI
View Stamina Mills' page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, Potentially Responsible Parties
Site Alias: Forestdale-Stamina, Mills, Inc.
Stamina Mills, which is on a 5-acre parcel of land, began operating as a textile mill in the early 1900's. It was closed for an undetermined period of time during the Depression, and changed ownership in the 1940's. In 1969, a solvent scouring system which used trichloroethylene (TCE) for removing oil and dirt from newly woven fabric was installed. Sometime during that same year, an unknown quantity of TCE was spilled at the site. In 1975, the mill was closed. In 1977, a fire destroyed the manufacturing complex; the site has been vacant and unused since then. In 1981, in response to the discovery of private well contamination, the Rhode Island Water Resources Board and the Town of North Smithfield installed a public water line to area residences; however, not all residences were connected to the service. Subsequently, the EPA provided resources to extend the water system and complete connections to those residences. By 1987, all residences impacted by the spill were connected to the public water supply. The Village of Forestdale, with a population of approximately 1,000, is located within one-half mile of the site. A school and private residences with nearly 300 people are located within one-quarter mile of the site. Industrial and commercial facilities with about 1,200 people are within one-half mile of the site. The site is bordered by wetlands and the Branch River to the south.
PROVIDENCE COUNTY: Western Sand & Gravel
Burrillville, RI
View Western Sand & Gravel's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, State, Potentially Responsible Parties
The Western Sand & Gravel site consists of about 25 acres of land and is located in a rural area on the boundary of Burrillville and North Smithfield, Rhode Island. The site was a sand and gravel quarry operation from 1953 until 1975. From 1975 to 1979, approximately 12 acres of the 20-acre site were used for the disposal of liquid wastes, including chemicals and septic waste. Over time, the wastes penetrated into the permeable soil and contaminated the groundwater. Contents of tank trucks were also emptied directly into 12 open lagoons and pits, none of which were lined with protective materials. The pits were concentrated on a hill that slopes towards Tarkiln Brook, which is used for recreational purposes and drains into the Slaterville Reservoir. The State closed the disposal operation because nearby residents complained of odors. Approximately 600 people within a 1-mile radius of the site depend on groundwater. Eight homes were historically found to have contaminated wells.
WASHINGTON COUNTY: Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center
North Kingstown, RI
View Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal
Site Aliases: Camp Fogarty, Calf Pasture Point, NCBC Davisville, Allen Harbor Estuary, DOD/NCBC/Allen Harbor Landfill
The former Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC), located 18 miles south of Providence in North Kingstown, covers approximately 900 acres. Serving as a military installation since 1942, its primary mission was to provide mobilization support to Naval construction forces. Much of the NCBC-Davisville site is contiguous with Narragansett Bay and consists of four areas, including the Main Center, the West Davisville storage area, Allen Harbor area and the Pier Support area. Camp Fogarty, a training facility 4 miles west of the Main Center in the Town of East Greenwich was transferred to the Army in 1993, is also part of the listing. Adjoining NCBC's south boundary is the decommissioned Naval Air Station Quonset Point, which was sold to the Rhode Island Port Authority between 1978 and 1980. The Navy disposed of wastes in all areas. The Navy has identified at least 24 areas with potential hazardous contamination, but the Department no longer owns several of them. These areas are being investigated by the Army Corps of Engineers. Chief among the areas are Camp Avenue Landfill and former NIKE Launcher Site. The Navy's studies will focus on twelve areas: the Allen Harbor Landfill (the largest of the areas), which received solvents, paint thinners, degreasers, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from transformers, sewage sludge and contaminated fuel oil from 1946 to 1972; the Calf Pasture Point, which received "decontamination agents" and various other contaminants; the Construction Equipment Department (CED) Battery Acid Disposal Area; the CED Solvent Disposal Area; the Transformer Oil Disposal Area (near Building 37); the Solvent Disposal Area; the Defense Property Disposal Office (DPDO) Film Processing Disposal Area (FPD); the Camp Fogarty Disposal Area; the Fire Fighting Training Area; and the Disposal Areas northwest of Buildings W-3, W-4, T-1; the Asphalt Disposal Area; and the Cresote DipTank and Fire Fighting Area. Approximately twenty 5-gallon cans of calcium hypochlorite were disposed of in a drainage ditch at Calf Pasture Point between 1960 and 1971. In 1973, thirty to forty 35-gallon cardboard containers of a chloride compound were stored at the site and deteriorated over time. From 1968 to 1974, approximately 2,500 3-gallon cans also were disposed of at Calf Pasture Point. The surrounding area is single-family residential. Groundwater is assumed to flow toward Narragansett Bay, which is located 600 feet from the site. Approximately 27,000 people get their drinking water from public wells located within 3 miles of the site.
WASHINGTON COUNTY: Rose Hill Regional Landfill
South Kingstown, RI
View Rose Hill Regional Landfill's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, State, Potentially Responsible Parties
The Rose Hill Regional Landfill Site is a former municipal landfill located in the Town of South Kingstown. The town leased the land as a domestic and industrial waste disposal facility, which operated from 1967 to 1983. In 1983, the facility became inactive and the operator graded and seeded the disposal areas. A transfer station for municipal waste, currently owned and operated by the town, is located on a portion of the site. Three separate areas on and/or near the site received waste including a solid waste landfill, a bulky waste disposal area and a sewage sludge landfill. Current owner-operated activities within the site's boundary include a hunting preserve, skeet and qualifying range, kennel/field training area for bird dogs and a pet cemetery. An estimated 17,300 people obtain water from wells located within 3 miles of the site. The area is both rural and residential, with forested areas, fields, small farms and sand/gravel mining activities nearby. The site is bordered by the Saugatucket River to the east, while Mitchell Brook flows through the site.
WASHINGTON COUNTY: West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal
South Kingstown, RI
View West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal's page on the EPA's Web site.
Site Responsibility: Federal, State, Potentially Responsible Parties
Site Aliases: South Kingstown Landfill No. 2, URI Gravel Bank, Sherman Farm
This site consists of two adjacent properties, the West Kingston Town Dump and the University of Rhode Island (URI) Disposal Area. Known in the past as "South Kingstown Landfill #2," the 6 acre West Kingston Town Dump received solid waste from the Town of South Kingstown beginning in the 1930s. In the early 1950s, the Town of Narragansett and URI also began disposing of their solid waste in the landfill. This disposal of solid waste went unregulated until 1967, when the Rhode Island Department of Health (RI DOH) noted, during a site inspection, that wastes disposed of at the site were from industrial, residential, commercial and institutional sources. Numerous operational violations were subsequently cited by the RI DOH. A 1975 study conducted by the URI Department of Civil Engineering and the Rhode Island Water Resources Board resulted in the discovery of a leachate plume beneath the landfill which was contaminating groundwater as far as 1,200 feet west of the dump. From 1945 to 1987, solid waste was also accepted at the 12-acre URI Disposal Area, referred to in the past as the "URI Gravel Bank" or the "Sherman Farm." After closure of the town dump in 1978, the URI Disposal Area began accepting most of URI's waste, including small quantities of empty paint cans, oil containers and pesticide containers. Lab equipment, machinery, closed drums and old tanks buried on site were discovered by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) during a 1987 inspection. The RIDEM instructed URI to remove contaminated debris from the site, an action which was completed by URI in 1987. Vehicle access to the site is restricted by a locked chain-link gate across the gravel access road at its intersection with Plains Road. An estimated 15,800 people obtain their drinking water supply from three major public wells located within 4 miles of the site. An additional 12,000 persons are supplied by private wells, the nearest being approximately 1,000 feet northwest of the site. The site is located within the Chipuxet River valley basin. Hundred Acre Pond, part of the river, is approximately 1,500 feet from the site. The river basin is a major groundwater resource.
