EPA recently added twelve new contamination sites to its Superfund list. TCE is a known contaminant of concern at at least five of the twelve sites. These five TCE sites include:

• Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling, VA; [see previous TCE Blog coverage]
• Lusher Street Ground Water Contamination in Elkhart, IN;
• Chem-Fab in Doylestown, PA;
• San German Ground Water Contamination in San German, PR;
• Midessa Ground Water Plume in Odessa, TX. [see previous TCE Blog coverage]

Read more here. For new readers arriving here in search of information about TCE contamination at these sites, welcome.

The Daily Press (Hamptons Road, VA) reports:

A cancer-causing industrial solvent has been found coursing in huge levels through the water table under Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.

One test showed the trichloroethylene, or TCE, at 18,000 parts per billion, or ppb. A follow-up test put it at 3,900 ppb.

By a quirk of geology, the water table drains into Indian Field Creek, which flows directly into the York River.

Years after those tests, the TCE level is now 800 ppb. But the landfill thought to be creating the pollution has yet to be entirely cleaned up, despite the off-the-charts sample data.

TCE is just one of many serious pollution problems at the secretive Navy base. More than 30 polluted sites have been identified, and about half have been cleaned up.

Read more here.

Or check out EPA's NPL site narrative, ATSDR's Public Health Assessment (can you guess the conclusion?), or Virginia DEQ's site fact sheet [PDF, HTML].

The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA) reports:

The Piedmont Housing Alliance had to take its plans for an affordable-housing development in the Fifeville neighborhood back to the drawing board after a routine environmental survey revealed the groundwater is contaminated with an industrial-strength cleaning solvent.

While the chemical, trichloroethylene, isn’t concentrated enough to require extensive clean up, the housing alliance nevertheless volunteered to take steps to protect those most vulnerable to it: the construction workers who will build the development.

The chemical is in the water table, about 3 to 6 feet beneath the surface. Workers would only come in contact with it if they were digging a foundation.

To avoid this, Charlottesville architect Bill Atwood suggested building on top of the earth. Under his plan, concrete will be poured into a weight-bearing form called a “waffle slab.” It will seal off the exposed earth at the site, which is a small block bordered by Grove, King, Ninth and 10th streets.

“We decided the way to solve that problem, which will truly make this a one-of-a-kind project … was to put down a waffle-slab grid,” he said. “It’s one of the rare times in my career that we’re actually making the site safer.”

Read the full story.

It seems there is now a question about the amount that the state is willing to spend to reimburse four residents who acted to protect their homes (i.e. bought filters rather than waiting for the state to get around to it...) in Broad Run Farms:

THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT of Environmental Quality announced last month that it would finance filtration systems for the residents with TCE in their wells. Jeff Steers, regional director of the Northern Regional Office, had said the department, however, could not use the Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund for reimbursement purposes.

Steers said Monday that his department has since researched the matter and decided the state can reimburse the county government if the county pays for the reimbursement. Virginia will only cover the costs that we would have incurred had we done the installation, he said. Steers estimated the tally at $3,000 to $4,000. Homeowners have to present receipts to be compensated.

Read the full story.

...to keep people safer from TCE, please encourage them to contact:



Jody Milanese (millaneese) in Congresswoman Sue Kelly's office at 202-225-5441

You may recall that the Loudoun County DEQ had offered to purchase filtration systems for those Broad Run Farms residents whose wells were contaminated and who hadn't already purchased a system themselves. We were surprised by the DEQ's seeming lack of imagination and strange policy promotion, claiming they were unable to reimburse those who had purchased a filter system already. At the time, we wrote:

[I]t seems to us, the DEQ could easily find a way to offer the very same assistance to each home owner, including the woman who has already taken steps to protect her home's health. Whether the assistance is compatible with her $4,000 filter should be for her to decide. Otherwise, isn't the DEQ merely paying people off for having remained exposed? Surely this can't be the policy DEQ is trying to promote... can it?

Today we learned this encouraging news via Leesburg Today (Loudoun County, VA):

After contamination was found in the wells of some Broad Run Farms homes, the state Department of Environmental Quality agreed to pony up the money for water filtration units that will purify water for those residents.

The DEQ also agreed to reimburse those who had already purchased filtration units.

[...]

Board of supervisors Vice Chairman Bruce E. Tulloch (R Potomac) worked with the community on the issue. Any residents with questions about the contamination or the reimbursement for water filtration units may contact Tulloch at 703-777-0204 or send an e-mail to btulloch@loudoun.gov.

Read the brief report here.

The Loudoun Connection (Loudoun County, VA) reports:

The Loudoun County Health Department has offered bottled water to 22 Broad Run Farms homeowners with trichloroethylene (TCE) in their wells. The state Department of Environmental Quality pledged two weeks ago to pay for whole house filtration systems, estimating it would take about a month to put them in place. In a letter sent to residents last week, Health Director David Goodfriend said instillation could take four months or longer. He offered the water until the filtration systems are ready, based on a recommendation by the Supervisors' Public Safety Committee.

Read the full story here.

Cause there's one for sale in Loudoun County:

For sale: 148 acres between Broad Run Farms and Countryside. "Many acres of parkland for horseback, walks, bike paths, gardens." List Price: $2.5 million.

One caveat: About 35 of those acres are the site of the Hidden Lane Landfill. Officials have identified it as the probable source of trichloroethylene (TCE), a carcinogen that has contaminated 22 wells in the Broad Run Farms community.

A developer put a contract on the property in February, the same month that the Loudoun Department of Health started testing wells to see if they contained TCE. The real estate listing also describes the landfill as "cleared by the EPA." The Environmental Protection Agency put the property on the Superfund list in 1988 after receiving a complaint about a chemical waste at the site. It was removed from the list in 2003, because information available at the time did not demonstrate a significant potential for hazardous waste, Office of Solid Waste records show. At the urging of county and state officials, Broad Run Farms residents are now gathering signatures to petition the EPA to take a second look. They want the federal agency to designate it as a Superfund, so the EPA will do the clean up and go after the people or business responsible for the contamination for payment.

[...]

Bruce Tulloch, vice chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said a developer had a contract on the property, with plans to build a housing development. He said he understood why the developer had backed off on the project after learning about the TCE contamination. "Anybody that would consider buying that landfill should get an examination from the neck up," he said.

Read the full story.

According to today's Washington Post (free reg req'd):

Eric DeJonghe believes it is better to be safe than sorry. That's why he recently took tap water from his Sterling home to a Herndon lab to have it tested for a chemical whose tongue-twisting name he has come to know well: trichloroethylene, or TCE.

DeJonghe, president of the Broad Run Farms Civic Association, has reason to be concerned: In 22 of 67 wells in the section of his subdivision recently tested by the Loudoun County Health Department, the water was found to contain TCE, which can increase the risk of health problems, including cancer, in people exposed to it for long periods. Sixteen of the wells showed TCE concentrations at or above the highest level allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

[...]

[Director of Loudoun County health department, David] Goodfriend said that finding so many wells with TCE -- a solvent typically used to remove grease from metal parts -- was "concerning," particularly because it meant that some residents might have been exposed to the chemical for many years. But he said the pattern was not noticed until this year.

[...]

If the landfill is linked to the contamination, its owners -- Philip Smith of Oakton, Va., and the estate of his deceased partner, Albert Moran -- will be responsible for cleanup, Steers said.

Read more.

The state has offered to buy filtration systems for 22 homeowners' wells in the Broad Run Farms subdivision near CountrySide that are contaminated with a toxic chemical used to degrease metal.

During Monday night's board of supervisors Public Safety Committee meeting at the government center, Department of Environmental Quality representatives Richard C. Doucette and John Bowden said it is doubtful they will be able to reimburse one woman who already paid the $4,000 for a filtration system to protect her home's water. Homeowners who have not already purchased systems will get some assistance, they indicated.

Not that it's any of our business (but how much of this blog is, really?), it seems to us, the DEQ could easily find a way to offer the very same assistance to each home owner, including the woman who has already taken steps to protect her home's health. Whether the assistance is compatile with her $4,000 filter should be for her to decide. Otherwise, isn't the DEQ merely paying people off for having remained exposed? Surely this can't be the policy DEQ is trying to promote... can it?

Read more in Leesburg Today (Loudoun County, VA)

Broad Run Farms residents will petition the Environmental Protection Agency to designate the Hidden Lane Landfill as a Superfund site.

Eric DeJonghe, president of the Broad Run Farms Civic Association, said they want the federal government to clean up the pollution.

Read more in the Loudoun Connection (VA)

The Culpeper Star Exponent reports:

Residents in nine Culpeper County subdivisions - 364 homes in all - could see their water rates doubled or more within the next 30 days.

[...]

Systems in Pelham Manor and Hazel River would retain the minimum billing system - currently $27 and $30 respectively - but would realize an increase to $60 per month for water under [water company President David] Travers’ proposal. Pelham Manor, which is the oldest Travers said, dates back to 1949. It needs to be entirely replaced, which will cost about $2.2 million.

[...]

[T]he Pelham Manor water system “is in major disrepair,” said Travers, with a well “contaminated with tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene.”

[...]

Travers said what it really comes down to is water conservation. Washing your car and watering your lawn are luxuries, he said. These days, teen girls take three showers a day and think nothing of it, he said.

As for the steep rate increases all at one time, Travers had this message for his customers, “Do you want to drink healthy water or don’t you?”

Man, what a dick.

According to this report in the Loudoun Connection (VA):

The operators of Hidden Lane Landfill, which is slated for testing to determine whether it is the source of the trichloroethylene (TCE) in 22 wells at Broad Run Farms, repeatedly violated restrictions on what was allowed to be dumped at the site, records show.

TERRANCE WHARTON said Tuesday that the unlawful waste led the county to file suit in 1983 to shut down the landfill. He was director of engineering then, and responsible for all of the county's landfills. He said he found latex and enamel paint cans, tires, and junk cars — including oil, antifreeze and other by-products — in the Hidden Lane Landfill. "A lot of things went in there that should not have," he said. "We didn't know what was going in there." Wharton is now director of Building and Development. The landfill, which opened in 1971, was supposed to accept construction debris only. It was called a stump dump.

Loudoun County Office of Solid Waste Management documents provide a framework of violations for a landfill that operated for 17 years without a county permit. The owners maintained that the county ordinance requiring a permit was not applicable to them, even after supervisors revised it. TCE is a chemical used to remove grease from metal parts. Drinking water with small amounts of TCE over long periods of time can cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune system function and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said.

The generation of leachate, a mixture of water, soil and waste that becomes a contaminated runoff, normally is more toxic in an unregulated sanitary landfill than a stump dump. A sanitary landfill accepts household and restaurant wastes.

The records describe the landfill, adjacent to Broad Run Farms, as "uncontrolled" and "unregulated."

Read the full story here.

In part IV of their series, WSMV reports:

The pollution problem was so urgent in Dickson that the federal government approved what is called an "Imminent Threat Grant" to install new water lines to folks with contaminated wells.

Now almost 2 years into this ordeal, many families in Dickson still don't have their promised municipal water.

It includes several very powerful statements:

"People around here were living on a contaminated plume of water, drinking it for 20 years and had no idea. How I look at it is we have to find a way to warn the public and make sure it doesn't happen again. We have to look at history, not to point fingers or be mad or contentious but to look and see how can we improve this and make sure it doesn't happen again in the future," said Cathy Flake.

[...]

"It doesn't matter to anyone, because they don't live here. They don't have to face this everyday. People think it's not a big deal, but if you read in the Centers for Disease Control, it is a big deal. It causes leukemia, it causes lupus, it causes cancer, it causes all kinds of nervous and immune disorders. And for myself to have lived here for five years and have to adjust to this and bathed with this and cooked with this for five years, it has to have damaged me in some way," said Betty Dunbar, Dickson Homeowner.

Betty and all of her neighbors are still waiting for their water line. The projects been delayed 3 times, despite emergency funding for what the state considered an imminent threat.

Read or watch the full report.

Following up on a similar, previous story, the Loudoun Connection (VA) reports:

The Virginia Department of Health knew two wells in Broad Run Farms were contaminated with a carcinogen in 1989, but officials waited 16 years to investigate whether the problem was widespread, records show.

Authorities even suspected the adjacent landfill was to blame for the trichlorethylene (TCE) in the two wells, and six other wells between 1989 and 2005, Loudoun County Department of Health documents said.

Residents are questioning why officials waited so long to alert the rest of the neighborhood that the hazard might be extensive.

Health officials are recommending that residents install whole-house water filtration systems. Unlike their previous public statements, they've now acknowledged the risk of exposure through multiple pathways:

Alan Brewer, the department's environmental health manager, said it would be inadequate to install a filter on the kitchen faucet. It is unhealthy to breathe TCE when bathing or showering, he said.

In contrast to statements he made back in March, Dr. David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Department of Health, now admits that increased disease/cancer risk from the contamination may be worth considering:

"We know a lot about high doses [of TCE] in employees, but it's difficult to determine what diseases might come up in the future [in the case of lower levels]," he said.

[...]

Last week, however, he said some people could be at a greater risk than others, based on their age or genetic makeup. "They should talk to their doctor if someone individually believes he is particularly at risk," he said....

Here's where things get weird. In the article, Dr. Goodfriend seems to go out of his way to highlight that the County had no idea that this problem had such a history:

[He] said Monday that the state, not the county, was responsible for testing in 1989. "I can't tell you exactly what they were thinking then," he said, adding that if he had encountered the situation 16 years ago, he would have directed his staff to do widespread testing. "From the standpoint of the state, if they knew then what they knew now, they would have done a greater investigation," he added.

[...]

In 1988, the county passed an ordinance requiring well testing before developers or individuals could obtain a building permit. Dr. Goodfriend's environmental health staff started "putting pieces together" in January of this year, realizing that the TCE could be more widespread. "Just as soon as the picture became clear, we acted on it," Goodfriend said. "This would never have surfaced at all if not for the county ordinance."

Further, the article reports:

The records show [that the property owner of the suspected contamination source] authorized county staff and consultants to enter the landfill in March 1998 to conduct observations, measure landfill gas and monitor ground water wells on the property.

So what we can't figure out is this:

If 1) county staff was monitoring ground water wells on the contaminated landfill property since 1988, 2) indeed it was a County ordinance (by Mr. Goodfriend's own admission) that led to discovery of the TCE problem in the first place, and 3) the County records reflect that numerous wells over the last 16 years have tested positive for higher-than-acceptable levels of TCE, why is the Director of the County Department of Health pleading ignorant/passing the buck?

On a separate note, we continue to wonder whether anyone has considered the risk of vapor intrusion... From the discussion in the press, we see no mention.

Read the full article here (which includes a timeline of contamination in Broad Run Farms).

As reported by The News & Advance (Lynchburg, VA):

The owners of Twin Oaks Park have filed a lawsuit against Campbell County seeking $10 million compensation for costs associated with groundwater contaminated by the county’s retired landfill.

Butch and Virginia Royal own the mobile and modular home park located next to the landfill off U.S. 29 near Foster Fuels. He said he filed the lawsuit as a last resort.

[...]

The lawsuit, filed in the county’s Circuit Court, claims that the county violated federal and state environmental laws when chemicals from the old landfill entered the Royals’ property.

It also alleges that the contamination has rendered the property value at the 165-acre mobile and modular home park worthless and that the county has not compensated the Royals for that.

[...]

Most prominent among the several chemicals detected in the wells on the county’s land and the Royals’ properties were trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), substances used in stain removal and dry cleaning. The chemical levels exceeded the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines of five parts per billion.

Read more

The Connection Newspapers report:

The three residents of Redrose Drive in Broad Run Farms live adjacent to the privately owned Hidden Lane Landfill, which closed in 1985. Well testing at a newly constructed home on Redrose Drive showed the water had been contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), which is used to remove grease from metal parts. The results led the Loudoun County Health Department to start testing other wells near the landfill and further west of it. Alan Brewer, the department’s environmental health manager, said 20 wells so far contain TCE. Wells on Redrose Drive and the eastern part of Youngs Cliff Road near the Potomac River have been affected, he said. The cause might be the 35-acre landfill, but different tests would have to be administered to confirm the source.

Residents have expressed concern about health effects from the contamination and are reportedly looking to bottled water as an interim precaution. Meanwhile, the local health department has offered quasi-reassurances:

Dr. David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Department of Health, said the contaminated levels are “low as compared to occupational levels.” Employees who developed TCE or used it as a degreaser eight to 12 hours daily in poorly ventilated buildings were subjected to much higher concentrations, he said. Some of the levels in Broad Run Farms were 10 to 20 times the maximum allowed, but exposure was more limited than that of the employees. He said he could not provide the occupational levels.

Goodfriend addressed Davies’ concern about health risks based on long-term use, saying the timetable is defined as “years to decades.” “There is no definite timeline,” he said. “The longer you are exposed to it, the risk goes up.”

...Goodfriend said residents can take a test to determine if they have cancer. “But what we’re seeing, we aren’t recommending anyone getting tested at this low level of exposure we’re seeing.” There have been no indication of significant risk to the immune system, he said.

Got that? Contamination has exceeded maximum contaminant levels by 10 to 20 times in some cases, but since others may be exposed at higher levels occupationally, residents need not be concerned? We think this is a ridiculous and irresponsible proposition.

Further, we are increasingly puzzled by this non-chalant treatment of MCL's and the wishy-washy way in which elevations above MCL's are seemingly dismissed (we've seen this poo-pooing in other health consultations and fail to understand it). Why bother having MCL's at all??? Are they merely suggestions?

[A resident] said she considered buying bottled water rather than spend money on a filtration system. Her husband, however, said the well water would be safe to drink after a filtration system is installed. He is a chemist and microbiologist. Meanwhile, she said she is not concerned enough to stop drinking the water. “Four more weeks isn’t going to hurt. We’ve been living with it for seven years,” she said.

Seven years? That's a lot of TCE-contaminated showers. We wonder if anyone has even bothered to share this risk with residents.

More from the GAO Report, as promised. Please bear in mind:

· 85% of the sites below were discovered 15 yrs ago or more
· over 60% of the potentially eligible sites and over 35% of all sites below report no clean-up activities

---
Table IV.1: Sites Classified as Awaiting an NPL Decision in Each State, by Eligibility for Listing and Status of Cleanup Progress
+
Table VI.1: State Officials’ Assessments of States’ Financial Capabilities to Clean Up Potentially Eligible Sites

State	Number of sites classified as awaiting an NPL decision	Number of sites unlikely to become eligible for the NPL	Number of potentially eligible sites with some cleanup activities	Number of potentially eligible sites with no reported cleanup activities	Number of sites for which no surveys were received	State officials’ assessment of state’s financial capability to clean up potentially eligible sites
Alabama	25	10	7	8	0	Very poor
Alaska	28	14	8	6	0	Excellent
Arizona	34	16	10	8	0	Excellent
Arkansas	4	3	0	1	0	Good
California	a 189	64	51	74	0	Fair
Colorado	30	12	10	6	2	Very poor
Connecticut	290	74	98	118	0	Poor
Delaware	1	1	0	0	0	Excellent
District of Columbia	a 1	0	0	1	0
Florida	269	74	85	110	0	Fair
Georgia	74	39	8	27	0	Poor
Guam	2	2	0	0	0
Hawaii	17	12	4	1	0	Fair
Idaho	16	5	5	6	0	*
Illinois	207	95	43	69	0	Fair
Indiana	54	21	15	18	0	Very poor
Iowa	33	29	4	0	0	Very poor
Kansas	37	28	4	5	0	Very poor
Kentucky	20	15	2	3	0	Good
Louisiana	10	6	4	0	0	Poor
Maine	56	28	17	11	0	Poor
Maryland	20	8	4	8	0	Other b
Massachusetts	a 201	11	19	171	0	Fair
Michigan	50	22	18	10	0	Excellent
Midway Island	1	1	0	0	0
Minnesota	17	6	6	5	0	Good
Mississippi	9	4	1	2	2	Very poor
Missouri	91	73	7	11	0	*
Montana	11	2	7	2	0	Very poor
Navajo Nation	14	0	0	14	0
Nebraska	a 36	16	4	15	1	Very poor
Nevada	12	8	3	1	0	Poor
New Hampshire	42	24	9	9	0	Poor
New Jersey	172	60	49	63	0	Good
New Mexico	15	7	6	2	0	Very poor
New York	a 192	135	15	41	1	*
North Carolina	57	18	21	18	0	Poor
North Dakota	4	2	1	1	0	Poor
Northern Mariana Islands	1	0	1	0	0
Ohio	79	25	23	31	0	Very poor
Oklahoma	7	4	1	2	0	Very poor
Oregon	29	7	6	16	0	Fair
Pennsylvania	73	35	18	20	0	Excellent
Puerto Rico	16	3	4	9	0
Rhode Island	121	14	23	84	0	Poor
South Carolina	45	32	8	5	0	Good
South Dakota	8	6	2	0	0	Other b
Tennessee	102	51	19	32	0	Poor
Texas	21	18	1	2	0	Poor
Utah	48	17	8	16	7	*
Vermont	30	16	5	9	0	Poor
Virginia	22	8	2	12	0	*
Washington	28	11	8	9	0	Fair
West Virginia	11	7	4	0	0	Other b
Wisconsin	53	34	8	11	0	Excellent
Wyoming	1	1	0	0	0
Total	3,036	1,234	686	1,103	13

a California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Nebraska did not respond to surveys. For these states, the data in table IV.1 are based on EPA’s survey responses alone and, for that reason, may be less reliable than for states having responses from both EPA and states. New York provided responses to only a few questions in our survey.

b “Other” indicates that the respondent was uncertain about the state’s financial capability.

* State officials in Idaho, New York, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming declined to participate in [the] telephone survey.

Read more in the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

Not so fast, say residents. Meanwhile, questions persist about the source of the TCE contamination. Leesburg Today has the story.

The Connection Newspapers report:

A check of county records led to the discovery that seven wells over the last 16 years have tested positive for higher-than-acceptable levels of TCE.... The Environmental Protection Agency has set an acceptable level of one part per billion of TCE in water; a Broad Run Farms well tested at 20 times that level in the worst case.

TCE consumption at that level has no short-term effects, said Dr. David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Health Department. "Over years or decades, it might cause a problem," Goodfriend said. "Some people who are exposed to TCE at certain dosages for a number of years have an increased risk of getting cancer," said Richard Doucette, waste program manager for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is assisting the health department in its investigation of the wells.

You can read the full story here.

The Loudoun Times-Mirror has picked up the story.

The Washington Post reports:

The Loudoun County Health Department is offering to test the water of about 50 homes in Broad Run Farms after trichloroethylene (TCE) was found in a few wells in the easternmost part of the subdivision.

"The levels that have been found, so far, do not pose any imminent public health risk," said David Goodfriend, director of the health department. "But we do want those residents in the easternmost part of Broad Run Farms to know that they can choose to have their water tested either through a private lab or through the county health department."

About 20 homes in the subdivision have been identified as potentially at risk. They are adjacent to the old Hidden Lane landfill, between Broad Run Farms and CountrySide. The Hidden Lane landfill was privately operated and has not accepted waste since 1985. Thirty other properties beyond the "at risk" area are also being offered testing.

The Loudoun County Health Department issued the announcement here.