The city's response -- offering to install charcoal filters -- isn't enough.

Don and Helen Perry, and perhaps others along Twin Lakes Drive in Madison Township, deserve several things related to their polluted water.

They deserve straight answers about what fouled their well water with trichloroethylene, a man-made substance often used to remove grease from metal in industrial applications.

They deserve to know how the trichloroethylene may have already affected their health.

They deserve to know what local governmental entities are going to do about the problem.

Most of all, they deserve all of these things quickly.

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Trichloroethylene is a dangerous substance. Breathing high levels of it can cause headaches, dizziness, lung irritation, poor coordination and difficulty concentrating. Over long periods, breathing it can cause nerve, kidney and liver damage.

Drinking large amounts of water contaminated by trichloroethylene for long periods may cause those same health problems, plus harm the immune system and damage fetal development in pregnant women.

Don Perry, 46, said he and his wife were both healthy until he had a heart attack three years ago, and she has come down with a series of odd ailments, such as dry skin and severe headaches over the past several years.

Helen Perry said they wonder if their recent health troubles stem from drinking their well water laced with TCE from the city landfill. They've lived in the house for seven years, own a second house on Twin Lakes Drive, which they rent, and are concerned about the chemical problem affecting the value of their properties.

Officials seem to believe the source of the Perry's well water pollution is a nearby closed landfill owned by the City of Mansfield. The city's response has been to offer the Perrys -- and every other homeowner on the street -- a charcoal filter for their well water.

We don't claim to be scientists or chemists. But the installation of a charcoal filter doesn't seem nearly enough. Rather than try to clean the water as it comes out of the wells, we strongly suggest much more attention be paid (and fast) to stopping the chemical from reaching the well in the first place.

We urge the Environmental Protection Agency, the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department and the City of Mansfield to act quickly in the case of the polluted water along Twin Lakes Drive.

The folks who live along that stretch of road deserve at least that much.

Originally published June 25, 2006

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