Hocomonco Pond is a recreational pond located in Westborough, Massachusetts near Route 9. Also called Hobomoc Pond, it was named for Hobomok, a Wamesit Indian evil spirit. The pond and adjacent land are a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site.

Superfund site

A wood treatment and preservation plant operated on a site near the pond during the 1930s and 1940s. The business saturated wood products (e.g. telephone poles, railroad ties, pilings and fence posts) with creosote to preserve them. During the treatment process, excess creosote and wastes where discharged to an unlined pit, the "former lagoon". The creosote, which contains

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

polyaromatic hydrocarbon A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. P ...

(PAH) compounds, seeped into sediments, soil and groundwater. A storm drain built in the 1970s along the east side of the former lagoon transported liquid contaminants to the pond. The site was added to the

National Priorities List The National Priorities List (NPL) is the priority list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protec ...

on September 8, 1983. A 1985 Record of Decision specified remedies for cleaning up the site. A landfill for the contaminants was constructed at the former lagoon. The storm drain was relocated. Contaminated soil, waste and sediments were excavated and dredged in operations completed in 1996. The former lagoon area was then capped. The groundwater remains contaminated.

References

EPA Documents & Data

All (4) Five-Year Review Report

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Hocomonco Pond, Westborough MA Site Documents & Data
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https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&id=0100751

External links

Cleanup Update from the Environmental Protection Agency
(1999) {{Massachusetts lakes and ponds Lakes of Worcester County, Massachusetts Superfund sites in Massachusetts Westborough, Massachusetts Ponds of Massachusetts