The information about the Tidewater Site that is provided here was collected by Dr. Holly Dygert, a professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College.  Professor Dygert began researching the Tidewater Site in the Fall of 2010.  At the time, her daughter had just begun to attend kindergarten at one of the schools located next to the property.  During the first couple of weeks of school, Dygert noted strong toxic smells coming from the property.  Surprisingly, it took a lot of work to figure out what substances were creating these odors.  In fact, the property owner had already concluded the work that was causing the odors by the time Dygert was able to identify some of the substances and their potential impacts on human health.  Dygert pressed Rhode Island officials to review the site's air monitoring data to determine what kind of chemicals had produced the odors.  These data confirmed that high levels of harmful toxins were released into the air during the work, including benzene, which is linked to childhood leukemia.

In speaking with local residents and school officials afterward, Dygert learned that she was not the only member of the Tidewater community who called officials to complain about the smells.  This incident captures a failure of the system for managing contaminated properties.  Since then, Dygert has studied the management of the site, and advocated for greater community involvement in its oversight and for the use of more protective measures to protect human health.  This website provides information from this four year long research project.  To read more about the project, visit                                                 .