Old TCE Plume Set to be Cleaned Up

By: Duane Craig

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, trichloroethylene, or TCE, is expected to be dangerous to humans in concentrations exceeding 5 parts per billion in drinking water. In Hereford Township, Pennsylvania, however there are places where it reaches 900,000 parts per billion, according to this report at WFMZ-TV News online.

TCE found 5 parts per billlion in Pennsylvania

A liquid source of the TCE is continuously recreated as water flows over bedrock that is saturated with the chemical. That liquid adds to the nearly three mile plume of contaminated groundwater all originating from the former Bally Case and Cooler Company. Barrels of TCE were brought to the location and after being stored for awhile were eventually dumped there in the late 1960s.
Homes that were affected along Dale Road got new wells and filtration systems as an interim solution until the money could be found to do a cleanup or containment. In 2009 $11 million in funds showed up and that money is going to build a water treatment plant that will be fed by extraction wells extending along a 6,000-foot pipeline. Once the water is treated at the plant it will be released into the environment.