Residents of contaminated aquifer meet with officials
MANY QUESTIONS: Members of Forest community struggle with water issues
By Brian Mittge , The Chronicle, 10/19,2001
Dennis Kohl won't be able to taste the clean water that will soon flow through a city water pipe installed this month,, just feet from his rural Chehalis property.
For three years Kohl and his neighbors have known the ground water beneath their community of Forest is contaminated by potentially cancer-causing chemicals.
A complex combination of growth management rules and health standards means Kohl is prohibited from connecting his home to the new pipe, even though his well is fed by the tainted aquifer.
"They tell me I've got contaminated water, but it's not bad and that I can't hook up to city water right in front of me," Kohl said.
Kohl and about 25 other residents of the community of Forest, south of Chehalis, gathered at a meeting Thursday night in the Forest Grange Hall.
Cleanup PlansBy The Chronicle Next month, workers will do further tests on the Lewis County shop property at Forest to try to pin down the exact location of potential on-site contaminants so they can be removed to prevent further leaching into the ground water. A "remedial investigation report" is due next summer, which should identify the ex-' act point and cause of the contamination. Cleanup work could begin next summer. Officials hope a final cleanup action could be-:' implemented by the summer, of 2003. Testing of residential wells near the pollution has been stepped up from once a year to quarterly. 'We don't want to be caught off county water specialist Sue Kennedy told residents Thursday evening at a meeting ii the Forest Grange Hall. "I share your concerns. I don't want the levels rising beyond what I would allow at a public water supply. Some Wells at the edge of the contaminated area have shown a measurable contamination of 2 or 3 parts per billion of trichloroethene, but until the contamination hits 5 parts per billion, the water does not officially pose a health risk by federal drinking water standards. Resident Fred Teitzel's well measured 33,2 parts per billion of trichloroethene in August. He has been provided with an alternate source of water. Some wells have been showing an increase in the last year of testing. A well belonging to the Burkhart family has fluctuated from an undetectable level a year ago to 3.2 ppb a month ago. Tim Flynn, a senior associate with Associated Earth Sciences, thinks the change might be because the contaminants are moving, or simply because of the dryness this year. |
A group of county and state employees, complete with several lawyers, answered questions about the testing and future cleanup of what has become a hazardous site under the pastures of their back yards.
"We all want to avoid the legal quagmire this could become," said Lewis County Commissioner Eric Johnson, who opened up the meeting.
Small groups met with engineers and health officials. They looked at detailed maps showing ground water flow and an estimate of how far the heavier-than-water chemicals would travel in the next 25 years.
When conversation turned to connecting homes to the new water supply, however, a county attorney steered the conversation away, saying those discussions could best be held in private.
Residents were also nervous; several refused to give their names to a Chronicle employee, instead referring questions to their lawyers.
IN 1998, ROUTINE water testing revealed the presence of industrial solvents in the ground water at the Lewis County Central Shop, at the intersection of Jackson Highway and Forest Napavine Road.
Later testing found traces of tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene in several wells nearby. These chemicals can cause cancer over long periods of time.
Although the county has not officially taken responsibility for the contamination to the consternation of residents engineers believe solvents used in the 1960s or '70s at the county shop are the root of the problem.
Workers at the shop had complained for years that water from the well smelled foul, so they had not been drinking the water when the contamination was finally discovered.
After it was determined the water could cause cancer, the county provided bottled water, then a water filtration system to Fred Teitzel's property.
His was the only well exceeding health standards, although some @other neighbors' wells showed traces of the chemicals.
A small pipe was run .375 of a mile from the end of the Chehalis city water system to serve the county shop. That line is in the process of being replaced with an 8-inch line capable of serving other members in the community.
For now, only Teitzel can connect to the line.
The state's Growth Management Act requires cities to limit access to their municipal utilities water, sewer, buses and so on to those within their city boundary or urban growth area.
Exceptions may be granted only when there is a health risk.
Because Forest is outside Chehalis' urban growth area, Kohl and other landowners may not connect to the new city line until their wells reach the health threshold.
They are caught in a quandary: Anyone who drills a well to the lower, uncontaminated aquifer could be liable if he or she allows the chemicals to contaminate the lower aquifer by drilling the well.
Thus, paradoxically, if their wells are only slightly contaminated, they may not safely drill for water, nor may they connect to the newly-laid water pipes.
One resident called it "hogwash." Johnson said it was the first time he had heard that other citizens wanted to connect to the line, an idea he said would be "prudent." He promised to look into ways of allowing that connection to occur.
IT'S NOT CLEAR what the county or city of Chehalis can do in light of the Growth Management Act's legal limitations on such hookups, however.
Lewis County is the only potentially liable party" the state has named in the contamination cleanup effort, but that doesn't mean the county necessarily caused the environmental damage, said Panjini Balaraju with the Department of Ecology.
A few residents were surprised and frustrated when county officials refused to officially take blame in what promises to be a long and costly cleanup effort.
"Why talk like a lawyer?" one person called out after Johnson said Lewis County "very well might" be responsible for the contamination.
At that point a hired attorney, Bill Chapman, of the Seattle law firm Preston Gates and Ellis, stepped forward and said the county is trying to facilitate clean water and cleanup without taking on unnecessary liability.
"It's the commissioners' responsibility to help with those things that are governmental, and to protect the public purse when it's not," Chapman said.
"My property values are dropping now," responded Gary Tapio.
"Are you selling your property now?" Chapman asked in reply.
At the meeting, many residents examined a set of maps showing the slow flow of contaminated water through the shallow underground aquifer near their homes.
ACCORDING TO ANALYSIS by the state and by Associated Earth Sciences Inc., ground water in the area flows at a rate of about 60 feet a year, generally in a northward direction.
Engineers compare it to an underground river where drops of colored dye are added to the water. Eventually, as the water continues to flow, the color disappears at the edges.
"How long is it going to take to clean up?" members of the crowd asked.
Balaraju shrugged.
"It's going to take a long time," he said after a pause.
When members of the crowd tossed out numbers, he agreed that 20 years might be a reasonable figure.
Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237
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