he 13-acre New Hampshire Plating site in Merrimack, New Hampshire recently reached the Construction Complete milestone as the result of a joint effort of EPA and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). Construction at the site consisted of completing soil excavation and treatment and installing an impermeable cap.
The New Hampshire Plating site operated as an electroplating facility from 1962 to 1985, discharging waste water containing metals, solvents, and cyanide into building drains that flowed into unlined lagoons. Leaching from the lagoons led to contamination of on-site wetlands, surface and subsurface soils, and area ground water. New Hampshire Plating went out of business in 1991. As one of the site owners died shortly after New Hampshire Plating was dissolved, and the other was never located, EPA has had to spend over $22 million on interim cleanup measures, comprehensive site investigations, and final design and
Laborers installing erosion control matting at the New Hampshire Plating site.
cleanup activities at the site, all in close coordination with NHDES.

Contaminated soils were treated using a chemical fixation process that binds metal contaminants to soil particles, preventing them from further contaminating area ground water. Damage to portions of the on-site wetlands was offset by purchase of two wetland areas totaling 88 acres in the vicinity of Merrimack and Litchfield, New Hampshire at a cost of over $1.6 million.

In addition to conducting cleanup activities at the site, EPA awarded the Town of Merrimack a $99,000 Superfund Reuse and Study of Reuse Grant to facilitate development of a reuse plan for the site, which will be turned into a recreational area with walking and biking trails and ball fields.

For additional information, contact David Deegan, EPA New England, (617) 918-1017 or deegan.dave@epa.gov.

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