Date: Thu 02-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Appleblossom-Lane-pollution

Full Text:

All Properties In Appleblossom Lane Neighborhood Will Get Public Water

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Ninety-three properties in the residential Appleblossom Lane area will be

connected to the United Water public water supply system as a health

precaution.

Those properties either have domestic water wells contaminated with industrial

solvents or have wells at the risk of becoming contaminated.

Construction work to extend United Water's service to the properties is slated

to begin in April, Donna McCarthy, director of environmental health for the

Newtown Health District, said Tuesday. Completion of the water service

extension project is scheduled for October 30.

The contamination problem stems from a past spill or spills of the industrial

solvent tetrachloroethylene, also known as PCE, in the Appleblossom Lane area.

Appleblossom Lane is a densely built neighborhood of compact homes west of

South Main Street, just south of Park Lane.

United Water service will be extended to homes on Appleblossom Lane, Dogwood

Terrace, and a section of Cedar Hill Road through the installation of new

water mains and individual service lines, Ms McCarthy said.

Water from existing water mains will be extended via new individual service

lines to properties on South Main Street, Prospect Drive, and Pecks Lane.

A water pumping station will be built as part of the project.

When the new water mains are being installed, the town also will make

stormwater drainage improvements.

Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, of Manchester, the town's consulting engineers, are

designing the water service expansion project.

Jonathan Goldman, a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

environmental analyst, said the approximately $1.3 million water service

expansion project will be covered by state funds and some United Water

development funds.

Kevin Moran, manager of United Water, said the utility company is contributing

approximately $69,000 of the $1.3 million project cost. In effect, the water

company will be contributing $743 per property served by the expanded water

supply system.

The state Department of Public Utility Control, the agency which regulates

water supply companies, requires such companies to contribute funds toward the

construction of expanded water supply systems. United Water will own the new

water mains after they are installed.

The expansion project will increase United Water's customer base from

approximately 1,000 accounts to about 1,100 accounts.

Mr Moran said the water company has plenty of water capacity for such an

expansion.

Because it would be virtually impossible to precisely know the point or points

of origin of the PCE contamination, it was decided that funds which otherwise

would be used to investigate the source of the contamination should be spent

to provide affected property owners with a safe water supply, he said. After

the 93 properties have United Water service, their individual water wells will

be abandoned.

Residents Relieved

At a recent meeting at which Appleblossom Lane area residents received updated

information on the water line extension project, the residents appeared to be

relieved to know they will be getting a safe public drinking water supply, Ms

McCarthy said. About 40 residents attended the session, she said.

The PCE which spilled somewhere in the Appleblossom Lane area flowed downward

and laterally after it penetrated the ground's surface, moving in a plume and

following the course of least resistance while traveling underground, creating

the well water contamination problems. It is thought that as little as a quart

of the substance may have created the contamination problems.

Mr Goldman said that many of the properties which previously had been

scheduled to only receive water quality monitoring service have frontage on

existing water mains along South Main Street. Those properties will now

receive a public water supply through the construction of individual water

service lines.

Under the current remediation plan, only two homes with domestic water wells

at risk of contamination will receive water quality monitoring instead of

public water supplies. Those two homes are on Megans Circle, Mr Goldman said.

Extending public water service to those properties would pose practical

problems, he said.

The groundwater contamination problem in the Appleblossom Lane area was first

noticed about four years ago. Some activated-carbon water filtration systems,

which are now in use at properties with the most badly contaminated water

wells, will be removed after the public water supply is available to

Appleblossom Lane area residents.

It is suspected there have been multiple sources of PCE contamination in light

of the relatively high levels of PCE contamination in the Appleblossom Lane

neighborhood and near South Main Street, according to SEA, a consulting firm

which studied the problem.

Because no specific source of PCE contamination has been established, the

state assumed jurisdiction in the case, plus the ultimate financial

responsibility for rectifying the pollution problems.

PCE also is known as perc, perclene, and perchlor. The chemical is used as an

industrial degreasing compound and as a solvent in the dry cleaning of

fabrics.

The health effects of drinking water with low levels of PCE are not known.

Results of animal studies, conducted with amounts of PCE much higher than most

people are exposed to, show that PCE can cause liver and kidney damage and

cause liver and kidney cancers. PCE may reasonably be anticipated to be a

carcinogen or cancer-causing agent, according to the US Department of Health

and Human Services.