NEWS RELEASE
2005-06 MASSACHUSETTS MILITARY RESERVATION, Cape Cod, Mass. —
U.S. Navy veteran Bill Bearce was looking for a challenge. He found it in plumes of
contaminated groundwater emanating from the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR).
He now has the overall responsibility of keeping the eight systems operating that
clean 12 million gallons a day of groundwater contaminated long-ago with spilled fuel and
solvents. Bearce saw
lots of water while serving aboard communication relay ships in the Navy from 1963 –
1965 on cruises through the north Atlantic, the Caribbean, and off the coast of the
Dominican Republic. But to get to the present point in his career after leaving the
Navy in 1966, the former military electronics technician first had to gain a lot of
experience. He was a civilian computer maintenance field engineer for Honeywell
Systems for 15 years and then for 10 years with National Computer. He even ran his
own computer maintenance business until a waning industry and a new found interest in
science put him on a course that would lead him to Cape Cod. Bearce sees
his present job with CH2M Hill as “working with your hands and your mind.”
He uses the combined skills of an electrician, plumber, painter, groundskeeper,
carpenter, mechanic, electronics technician, computer operator/technician, building
custodian, inventory clerk and tour guide in his position as chief operator. Each
member of the operations and maintenance crew he supervises must have these skills, too.
They – and Bearce – are also certified wastewater treatment plant
operators. Bearce got his start in the environmental field at the Baird and McGuire Superfund site in Holbrook, Mass., in 1995. He operated a Thermal Destruction Unit for OHM Corporation. The equipment removed contaminants from soil by using extreme heat. The resulting vapors were passed through scrubbers and a secondary combustion chamber before being released to the atmosphere. “You had to have water to cool the stack gas and to quench the soil,” he says of the unit that ran at temperatures reaching 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. “It was a
very complex site,” says Bearce. “I asked myself ‘What did I get
myself in for?’ But my computer background helped me understand it. And I
learned about water treatment there.” He became so interested in the cleanup process that he took a class that earned him a state certification in water treatment. It was soon after that he heard about an opening coming up at Jacobs Engineering on the MMR. In January 1997, he began his now eight-year association with the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence on the MMR. The treatment plants under Bearce’s
supervision today operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The systems utilize 37
granulated activated carbon vessels, each holding 20,000 pounds of carbon. He has
overseen the treatment of more than 20 billion gallons of groundwater contaminated with
solvents and fuel. Treatment changed the contaminated water into water clean enough
to meet federal and state drinking water quality standards. Bearce feels that he’s
“doing something worthwhile in his job.” “When we put the treated
water back in the ground, it’s drinking water quality.” His other duties include daily
checks on the operation of cleanup systems, performing scheduled maintenance, and
maintaining the wells that pump the contaminated water to the treatment plants. Once the untreated water is
pumped into the plant, Bearce ensures the water is sampled for contaminant content in
three locations: where untreated water enters the plant; between the The changing of a total of
740,000 pounds of carbon in the 37 carbon vessels is part of Bearce’s
responsibilities. The frequency of the changes depends upon several factors,
including the amount of contamination in the water and the number of gallons of water
pumped per minute. He’s seen a total of 6 million pounds of activated carbon
used since 1997. As precise and accurate as Bearce
is in his work, inconsistencies and facts-not-proven have touched his private life.
His very name is involved in a clouded interpretation of local genealogy and
spellings. He may be a descendant of “Princess” Little Dove, granddaughter
of Iyannough, the sachem of the “Mattachee Village of Wampanoags of Cape Cod,”
according to a “Bearse” family web page. “My family can’t verify
it, but it sounds interesting,” says Bearce. He does have cousins in Falmouth,
though he lives in Medway. Bearses Way in the town is named after a distant
relative, says Bearce. What is proven, though, is that
more than a half billion federal dollars have been spent since 1982 on the Air Force
program to clean up groundwater and soil contamination caused by past practices on the
Massachusetts Military Reservation. The Air Force expects to spend another $350
million in the next 20 - 30 years to complete investigations, design and construct
treatment systems, and keep them operating. Bearce and his operations and maintenance staff have a continuing responsibility. They ensure that as the groundwater treatment plants and wells age and require more maintenance, they continue to be fully operational. “The plants have to run,” he says.
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