Nyanza Walking Tour Finds There’s More Work to be Done

The Ashland Citizen’s Action Committee (ACAC), in collaboration with Dan Borelli, conducted a walking tour of the Nyanza Superfund Site on Sept. 9.
Borelli, Director of Exhibitions at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a member of ACAC, grew up in Ashland, played at the site as a child, and has lost friends to rare forms of cancer related to the site. As an artist and activist, he studies and documents multiple aspects of the site. (www.ashlandnyanzaproject.com)
On the tour, Borelli said that areas are still contaminated and that the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current remediation is not sufficient to remove the remaining chemicals.
Senator Karen Spilka, State Representative Jack Patrick Lewis, and Town Manager Michael Herbert spoke about how Nyanza’s history has shaped the town, that it is important to honor this history and acknowledge that we need to work together to complete the final clean up. Importantly, they pledged their support--on town, state, and federal levels--to clean up the remaining contamination.
ACAC has kept Nyanza in the forefront of officials’ minds with the Nyanza Advisory Committee, formed in August 2016 by the Board of Selectmen. The town committee is working to develop a groundwater and vapor intrusion zone bylaw. In addition, the EPA is beginning a feasibility study. However, according to the ACAC and many residents, this work is not enough.
This tour was a strategic step in ACAC’s next campaign, “There’s more work to be done.”
“We believe that our group can work with the local legislature to move this along, apply pressure at the highest levels to make all the difference, but we need public support to make this happen,” Cara Tirrell, an ACAC organizer, said. “We want the public to call elected officials to request that the EPA completes the clean up. For more information, see the How You Can Help page on our website, www.ashlandcitizensactioncommittee.org.”
The walking tour ended at the Ashland Memorial Healing Garden, built in June 2016 as a place for remembrance, peace and learning. The memorial garden is behind the middle school baseball field and can be accessed by a path that runs from the MBTA access road along the outfield fence.
“The elegant structure needs repairs [due to vandalism and wind damage] and New England Laborers Training employees are working on beautifying it, but it is still a special place for anyone to visit. The power of the residents of Ashland in remembering Nyanza, coming together in times of need, is like no other and that’s what makes me proud to be a clocker,” Tirrell said.
“We’re asking that any donations for the repairs be made out to The Arts Company and sent to 43 Linnaean St, Suite 25, Cambridge, MA 02138. This is a 501(c)3 and a letter acknowledging the donation can be requested.”