Contaminated Wells Could Spark New Rules

By: Nathan Lamb

Officials from Somers, Connecticut are considering mandatory testing for private wells, after recent samples discovered uranium and arsenic in local drinking water, according to this story from the Journal Inquirer.

The issue came to light when officials tested more than 50 local wells. Town sanitarian Steven Jacobs didn’t give a specific number, but said high levels of contaminants were found in a small percentage of samples.

Arsenic and uranium are thought to have leeched into the water from bedrock, resulting in isolated pockets of contamination.

According the EPA, high levels of uranium can lead to increased cancer risk and/or liver damage. Arsenic—a naturally occurring, odorless and tasteless semi-metal—is linked to increased risk for a variety of cancers.

Two-thirds of the roughly 10,000 residents in Somers are on private wells. Jacobs said the town doesn’t regulate those drinking supplies, but that could change. The town’s Water Pollution and Control Authority recently collaborated with state health and environmental officials to draft an ordinance that would require testing of private wells.

Jacobs said the ordinance is still under development. In the meantime he advised residents with private wells to voluntarily do the testing.

Somers is located roughly 20 miles northeast of Hartford.

Two canals in Michigan are dangerously contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, according to this advisory. The seriousness of the contamination was underscored by the Michigan Department of Health when it wrote in the advisory that the PCB levels were 2,000 times higher than those typically seen in fish taken from Lake St. Clair. The advisories cover the bottom feeders -- carp and catfish. That’s because they feed closest to the contaminated sediments and have high concentrations of body fat to store the PCBs. The canals affected are the Lange and Revere off Lake St. Clair. Residents who live along the canals are concerned about how long it’s taking to find the source of the contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency has been sampling and cleaning up problem areas for years but hasn’t been able to determine just where the contamination originated. PCBs have been linked to cancer and are a persistent pollutant, meaning they accumulate in the environment and in the tissues of living things.

Water well contamination in Stamford, Conn., is raising the specter that there may be extensive contamination of wells throughout the state, according to this article. Private water well testing in the city has revealed 31 percent of those tested are contaminated with chlordane and dieldrin, two pesticides banned a long time ago.

A representative of the state’s department of health said her department thinks the problem is more widespread than just Stamford. Other communities, however, are not responding to calls for testing within their jurisdictions. Some believe that’s because of funding issues and the effect on property values if the pollution is found.

Of the 628 wells tested in Stamford, 195 had levels of the pesticides, and 108 exceeded the action levels established by the state. There are another 5,000 private wells in Stamford, and that is raising concerns about how many people are potentially being exposed to the chemicals over long periods of time.

Chlordane and dieldrin were usually used to control insect pests on crops and to control termites. People are exposed to the chemicals when they drink or bathe in water containing them. People can install whole house water filters to take care of the problem. Health officials point out that the levels of the pesticides can fluctuate, so unless regular sampling is taking place, it’s not possible to know just how much exposure people are getting.

CT Well Contamination Woes

October 10, 2010 - A resurgence of a long-standing neighborhood contamination problem has forced several Harwinton Avenue residents to abandon their wells for drinking water, and neighbors are calling for a water line as a long-term solution.

Wells at nine homes tested positive for contaminants including lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium after the Department of Environmental Protection sampled them earlier this year. Dismayed at the prospect of a future of state-supplied bottled water and water filters, residents attended a meeting with the mayor and representatives of the DEP and the Torrington Area Health District late last month.

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Cleaning Up A Dirty River And a Legacy

September 24, 2010 - In many ways, the Housatonic River has borne most of the brunt of General Electric’s legacy in this city.

The river is filled with cancer-causing chemicals. For nearly four decades, GE used chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at its transformer plant on the banks of the river.

What's more, GE gave contaminated soil to people in Pittsfield — to use in their lawns and gardens.

The surrounding neighborhoods are filled with people whose families have been touched by the contamination. People such as former GE worker Dave Gibbs.

"My mom died of breast cancer. She worked at GE," Gibbs says.

"My uncle died of pancreatic cancer and he used to run the swamp which feeds the Housatonic. My sister, in her early 40s, had both her breasts cut off, because the doctor told her it would cut her chances in half. She worked at GE. There are just stories like that all through the neighborhood."

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The Earth Will Move: Poisoned CT Neighborhood Braces For Epic Cleanup

August 22, 2010 - Think of it as the big scrape.

An entire neighborhood, poisoned for decades by industrial waste buried beneath homes, yards, schools and playgrounds, is poised for the largest residential cleanup in state history.

Starting Monday, the top four feet of earth in 18 square blocks will be scooped up and hauled away. Clean soil will replace it and trees, lawns, bushes and shrubs will be replanted. The whole process will take up to five years and 230 houses will be affected.

For the Newhall neighborhood, it’s a $60 million do-over.

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Homeowners Want Say in Scofieldtown, CT Cleanup

August 15, 2010 - North Stamford residents who have contaminated wells asked a Bridgeport judge to force the city and state to involve them in confidential negotiations on cleaning up hazardous contaminants at the former landfill site at Scofieldtown Park.

On Friday, North Stamford Concerned Citizens for the Environment, a residents group, filed an injunction request in state Superior Court in Bridgeport to allow it to take part in talks between the city and the Department of Environmental Protection to establish an investigation and a cleanup plan for toxic contamination at the park. The land served as a residential and industrial dump site from the 1930s to 1970s.

A federal report in 2008 that found soil contaminated with PCBs and other toxins at the park prompted closure of the facility in 2009.

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CT Residents with Carcinogen in Water Will Get Help from Borough

July 7, 2010 - The borough will start to help residents of an east side neighborhood whose properties have tested positive for a chemical shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

At least three residential properties on David Street, a small road with seven homes off Gail Drive, which intersects with Union City Road near the Naugatuck Industrial Park, have tested positive for dangerously high levels of a colorless fluid called tetrachlorethylene, or PCE. It is used to degrease metal parts, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified it as a Group 2 carcinogen, meaning it probably causes cancer in humans.

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses on Tuesday took the first step in putting those residents on the public water supply. The board voted 6-0 to waive a bid process for installing the well. The vote means the borough will pay the Connecticut Water Co. $35,000 to install a public water line on the street.

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Connecticut State Agency Hears Contamination Concerns

April 30, 2010 - A state oversight agency meeting in Haddam about environmental concerns heard dramatic testimony this week about the long-standing issue of water contamination in the Tylerville section of town.Nearly 70 residents and town officials attended the late-afternoon session Tuesday, held by the Council of Environmental Quality.

The council, which is independent of the Department of Environmental Protection, oversees the environmental health of the state.Five CEQ members heard from residents who are angry and desperate for a solution that will end the contamination and finally give them safe drinking water, and dismayed at what they said is continuing inaction on the part of the DEP.

The problem of groundwater contamination involving the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) has been an issue in the village for three decades.

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Connecticut Investigates Possible Oil Contamination in Bethel

March 12, 2010 - Possible home heating oil contamination on a Wooster Street industrial site has prompted state officials to take soil samples from the property.

The possible contamination came to the forefront during an investigation into the owner of EnviroTech, Roger Passaro Jr., who was arrested last year on larceny charges. Passaro, according to court documents, is accused of scamming several customers of the environmental company by conducting soil remediation work after removing oil tanks when the remediation wasn't necessary.

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Tainted Well Water in Stamford, CT

February 18, 2010 - North Stamford Concerned Citizens for the Environment formed last fall when homeowners near Stamford's Scofieldtown Park learned their well water was tainted with banned pesticides. The same toxins had been found in the soil of the park, which was built on a former industrial landfill. Many in the area believed commercial waste from the site had leached into the ground water, and they decided to act.

Fans of Hollywood films about environmental activism, like Erin Brockovich, would have appreciated the low-key setting of their kickoff event: the florescent-lit common room in the neighborhood's Villa Maria Education Center, complete with folding chairs, sign-up sheets and grade school artwork. Rounding things out was a pair of professional environmental advocates, Diane Lauricella and Megan Jenny.

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Pratt & Whitney Sued Over Brain Cancer Cluster

February 11, 2010 - The first lawsuit related to the pediatric brain cancer cluster formally confirmed in the Acreage last week was filed today in federal court. Four families are named as plaintiffs in a class action suit alleging that since the 1950's, Pratt & Whitney has been dumping chemical pollutants known to cause cancer, contaminating the area. The pleadings, prepared by the law firm of Reid and Zobel state that the estimated class size is 10,000 homeowners.

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Connecticut Landfill Cleanup Costs Town Millions

December 21, 2009 - - The town of Southington, CT will pay about $3.8 million to help clean up the old Southington Landfill site and monitor the groundwater in the area.

Two settlements were recently entered into Federal Court that will provide the funding to perform ongoing work at the old Southington Landfill, which is a Superfund Site, to protect the public from groundwater contamination, according to a document from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The settlement was agreed to by EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice, the State of Connecticut and numerous settling parties.

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Tests Show Well Water Contamination Near North Stamford, CT Reservoir

October 14, 2009 - The city's latest findings of pesticides in wells expands the area of known contamination to within 500 yards of the North Stamford reservoir. City officials said Tuesday tests have confirmed another five wells have pesticide contamination at levels above state limits. The results bring the number of neighborhood wells contaminated with the carcinogenic pesticides dieldrin and chlordane to 22. City officials continue to collect and process water samples in the area, and more results are pending.

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Scofieldtown dump in Connecticut yields 'unintended consequences'

September 25, 2009 - The story of the old Scofieldtown dump is the story of environmentalism in America. It begins with generations of ignorance and neglect. It ends with health concerns and taxpayers funding a cleanup.

Stamford officials now are scrambling to install $2 million in waterlines to 60 homes with wells threatened by contamination from the landfill. The number of homes could rise as test results come in.

12 wells have tested positive for the carcinogens chlordane and dieldrin.


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Private Wells In Connecticut Contaminated

September 24, 2009 - Twelve private wells in Stamford, Connecticut tested positive for contamination and will be outfitted by the state DEP with charcoal water filters, and the city promised the same setup for any resident up to three houses away who requests it.

The trouble began last fall when an EPA study identified unsafe level of contaminants, including banned pesticides from the '70's, in the soil under Scofield Park in northern Stamford.

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Pesticide test results galvanize neighbors in Stamford, Connecticut

September 4, 2009 - The latest revelation that some private wells near Scofieldtown Park are contaminated with toxic pesticides levels has galvanized the neighborhood to action.

This summer, the city and state launched tests of private wells in the area in response to a federal study showing unsafe levels of contaminants in soil within the park, a site used as a landfill from the 1930s until the early 1970s.

Most, if not all, homes in the immediate vicinity are not connected to water lines and use private water wells. The city found two pesticides on Hannahs Road and Very Merry Road that are above levels that the state deems may be harmful to human health.

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Groundwater contamination found in Milford, CT

June 4, 2009 - Three test wells dug Wednesday at the Robert Treat Apartments will determine the extent of groundwater contamination from a long-closed dry cleaner.

Test wells on the dry cleaner's property and at the Treat Apartments have found elevated levels of a common dry-cleaning solvent, said Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The perchloroethylene -- also known as tetrachloroethylene, PCE, and PERC -- was found at both locations recently, Schain said, and the new wells dug Wednesday are to locate the extent of the plume. Test results will likely be available in a month, he said.

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Uranium found in Guilford, Connecticut home’s well

January 17, 2009 - A homeowner on White Birch Drive found slightly elevated levels of uranium in his well water in the past month, prompting town officials to encourage nearby residents to test their wells.

The initial test showed a uranium level of 42 micrograms per liter, 12 parts per billion higher than the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum level of 30 micrograms per liter, Guilford Health Director Dennis Johnson said.

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Uranium found in 16 public wells in Connecticut

December 15, 2008 - Tests on 16 well systems in Connecticut in the past year have shown uranium contamination in the water, according to state Department of Public Health records.

All residential public water systems serving 25 or more people must be tested quarterly for uranium. At the end of the third quarter in September, nine systems in four towns were out of compliance, according to the records, which were reviewed by The Hartford Courant. Seven other systems that had violated the uranium standard earlier in the year were in compliance after the latest round of tests, the newspaper reported yesterday.

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Asbestos Contamination in Stratford, Connecticut Raises Concern

September 15, 2008 - In 2007, the EPA proposed excavating no less than 24 contaminated sites around Stratford, including recapping the softball field again.

Locals who live near the field, however, are highly concerned that recapping the field might heighten the risks of asbestos cancer. Residents are worried that attempting to clean up these sites will only disturb asbestos dust and scatter it around town.

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