Gary Magnuson of CMG updated the Board of Health on March 11 about the Dresser Hill Road property where a past gasoline leak required cleanup and well monitoring. Magnuson said recent well tests are close to the applicable drinking-water standard and that natural attenuation is allowing concentrations to decline.

“We are either at the standard or just about at the drinking water standard for the last well that needs to meet it,” Magnuson said. He described a monitoring plan that samples wells once or twice a year; given the improving trend and the lower annual cost for monitoring, the consultants recommended continuing periodic testing rather than aggressive engineered treatments. Magnuson said the annual cost for monitoring on that site is a few thousand dollars versus “tens of thousands for treatments.”

The consultants said once the problematic well meets the standard for four consecutive quarters the monitoring and formal obligations on that well will end and the site will be considered closed for that well’s issues.

Why it matters: the update indicates the town’s remediation approach at Dresser Hill Road is moving toward regulatory closure without incurring the higher costs associated with active remediation at this time.

Provenance: Dresser Hill Road status was discussed early in the consultants’ updates to the board on the evening’s old-business agenda.