BOXFORD — A group of Boxford residents has hired "A Civil Action" attorney Jan Schlichtmann to fight the town and state over polluted wells along Interstate 95.
"I know it's going to go to a lawsuit," said Joseph Pugia Sr., chairman of the Boxford Watershed Association. "They've never listened to anything but force. ... MassHighway and the town of Boxford have never listened to us. You don't bring in a guy like Schlichtmann unless you're looking for a cure."
Pugia said the Boxford Watershed Association believes more than 100 homes on both sides of the highway were polluted by salt spread on the roadway in winter and from a leaky MassHighway salt shed on Topsfield Road. He cited one test showing 11 times the sodium limit for a home on Roberts Road, which is nearly a full exit away from the salt shed.
Boxford's selectmen and health board sued MassHighway last year over salt shed pollution. On Christmas Eve, a judge ruled that the salt shed should be closed by next month. MassHighway is trying to rip out the entire property and start over.
Schlichtmann is the attorney who was portrayed by John Travolta in the movie "A Civil Action," which detailed his fight over water pollution in Woburn. More recently, he helped lead a cleanup of a polluted gravel pit in his hometown of Beverly. Also working with the Boxford Watershed Association is attorney Michael McArdle of Salem.
"What is really heartening and inspiring," Schlichtmann said, "is the community is getting together to determine the extent of the problem and work with others."
Karin Rando, a Titus Lane resident and a director of the watershed association, said the town hasn't done enough to help residents. She blames the death of a horse, Jazzy, on the salty water.
"I feel like we've been backed into a corner," Rando said. "No one's helped us. We have to do what we have to do to preserve our property. I have nothing left to lose. We've lost the use of our property. I've lost an animal to this problem."
Rando said she thinks the solution is a public water system that includes treatment. Too much salt is already in the ground now, and the plume of salt is moving and making things worse, she said.
"My chloride levels went from 190 to 360 in one month," Rando said. The limit is 250.
Pugia said his property, across from the salt shed, has basically been stolen from him because his house could not be sold for a reasonable price.
"If I wanted to sell," he said, "I couldn't."
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