On Monday, April 4, I was proud to join Congressman Jim McGovern, EPA Administra-tor David Cash, Senate President Spilka, DEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple, and members of the Ashland Select Board and Board of Health in officially announcing $20 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to continue the clean up of residual groundwater contamination from Nyanza. The improvements include a more sophisticated extraction system as well as in-place treatment designed to neu-tralize the chemicals.

While today’s event was a positive experience, we must continue to remember that Nyanza has left deep scars both on and in our community. Thank you to Marie Kane and the Ashland Citizens Action Committee for consistently reminding us that Nyanza is an important part of our history and how we address it is an important part of our fu-ture.

Michael Herbert, town manager