This is a proposed updated Action Plan in the Buzzards Bay CCMP 2024 Update.

Reducing Toxic Pollution

Problem

Toxic pollutants enter Buzzards Bay from many sources and via numerous pathways. The largest single toxic pollution management problem remains the cleanup of the U.S. EPA Superfund site in New Bedford Harbor, However, in 2022, EPA announced that the decades-long work to remove PCB contaminated sediments from New Bedford Harbor is now on track to be completed by December 2025. In 2024, in the Buzzards Bay watershed there five EPA Superfund sites with ongoing remediation, 109 active hazardous waste on the state’s Chapter 21E list, and 86 former oil or hazardous material release or disposal sites where an activity and use limitation has been filed on the property. Most watershed past and present hazardous waste sites are in New Bedford.

Beside these known hazardous waste sites, there are many past and ongoing inputs and pathways of toxic contamination to Buzzards Bay and its watershed. Some embayments are identified in the states 303(d) Integrated List as impaired by toxic pollutants and will require the development of TMDLs to manage chronic inputs. Mercury impaired ponds are the result of atmospheric inputs and other factors. Some of the environmental impacts of these contaminants are not fully understood and will require further study. The cleanup of the existing hazardous waste sites and controlling the numerous nonpoint inputs to the environment remains one of the most complicated challenges that must be addressed in the Buzzards Bay CCMP.

This action plan focuses on both remediating existing sites and reducing and eliminating point and nonpoint toxic inputs into the bay to improve bay conditions and minimize future cleanup and mitigation costs. Both point and nonpoint sources are addressed.

Several other action plans provide recommendations that are directly related to this issue, including those for reducing oil pollution, managing dredging and dredged material disposal, managing wastewater industrial discharges, and managing stormwater runoff.

Goals and Objectives

Changes: The objectives were edited to improve readability and directness.

Goal 16.1. Protect public health and the bay ecosystem from the effects of toxic contamination.
Objective 16.1. Reduce toxic contaminant discharges to Buzzards Bay and reduce toxic loads to toxic contaminant impaired water bodies listed under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.
Objective 16.2. Eliminate hazardous discharges of toxic contaminants from point and non-point sources into the bay.
Objective 16.3. Reduce the discharge of toxic contaminants and contaminants of emerging concern into public and private wastewater systems.
Objective 16.4. Meet all state, federal, and local action levels for water and seafood.
Objective 16.5. Improve local, state, and federal regulation controlling seafood and sediment quality to protect human health and the environment.