When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that 14 organizations across the country would be receiving technical assistance grants in support of Environmental Management System (EMS) development, DEP was among those chosen from a field of 50 applicants in a rigorous screening process.

DEP will use its grant to apply EMS principles to all activities and functions within our Sen. William X. Wall Experiment Station (WES) in Lawrence, thereby reducing the facility's environmental impacts and operational costs. The effort will also demonstrate DEP's leadership among environmental and public health labs in the Northeast.

EPA's grant is not a direct award of funding. Rather, a range of support services -- in-depth training, coaching, and on-site technical assistance -- will be provided by the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF). GETF is a Virginia-based nonprofit consulting organization with which EPA has contracted to provide these services. Working with GETF over the next two years, DEP will develop its EMS for WES using elements of the ISO 14001 International Standard as a baseline. Having developed an EMS first-hand, DEP will lead by example and use its first-hand knowledge to support others in developing EMS's.

Originally known as the Lawrence Experiment Station, the lab was founded by the Massachusetts Board of Health in 1887 and conducted trailblazing research into the development of practical methods for wastewater treatment and drinking water purification. The current Lawrence facility -- a 22,000 square-foot brick structure built along the banks of the Merrimack River in 1952 -- employs [more than 35] scientists, engineers, and support personnel responsible for providing technical and laboratory services in support of all DEP programs.

The Experiment Station became part of DEP in 1975.

Profile of the Station
City of Lawrence, Massachusetts

Wall Experiment Station is located along the Merrimack River within the City of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The City of Lawrence, with a population of over 70,000, is an older, urban, industrialized city whose history parallels that of the country as a whole. Originally a rural farming town, the city was transformed into a major industrial center when Boston entrepreneurs developed huge textile mills on the Merrimack River to use the power of its waterfalls. The mill owners built canals, a dam, reservoir and boarding houses, creating one of the first industrial complexes in the country. Originally residents came from other parts of New England to work in the mills. Subsequently the city became an entry point for immigrants eager to enter the mill workforce. With newcomers from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Vietnam and Cambodia, Lawrence continues to be a proud and diverse city. Today Lawrence remains an urban center with 35% of its economy still manufacturing-based. Despite global trends that have seen manufacturing industries move south and overseas, the city is still a hub of textile and apparel companies like Malden Mills.

Fenceline Information

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA DEP) chose the Wall Experiment Station as its fenceline. MA DEP's historic Senator William X. Wall Experiment Station (WES), formerly the Lawrence Experiment Station, was founded in 1887 by the MA State Board of Health to conduct research leading to the development of practical methods for treating sewage, industrial waste and public drinking water supplies. The investigations conducted at WES laid the foundation for modern methods of wastewater treatment and drinking water purification. WES is internationally recognized as one of the first laboratories in the world dedicated to environmental research. In 1975, WES was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The current facility was built in 1952 along the Merrimack River. It lies within the heart of Lawrence and houses more than 35 scientists, engineers and support personnel in a 22,000 square-foot brick structure.

Today, WES's mission is to provide technical and laboratory support for all MA DEP programs (e.g., resource protection, waste prevention and waste site cleanup). Activities conducted at WES include analyses of water, wastewater, air, soil, hazardous waste, fish and other samples involved in environmental contamination cases. Two organizational units located at WES include the Division of Environmental Analysis (DEA) within the Bureau of Policy and Planning and the Air Assessment Branch within the Bureau of Waste Prevention. WES receives professional guidance from DEP's Laboratory Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Dr. Oscar C. Pancorbo, Director of WES, and includes representatives from EPA, state, university and commercial laboratories. WES is recognized among the scientific community as a national leader in developing environmental analyses and identifying priority pollutants. WES staff have had many papers published in peer reviewed scientific and technical publications.