By Brian Mittge, bmittge@chronline.com, The Chronicle, 2/13/2003
Wells that tapped into a contaminated aquifer south of Chehalis have been replaced with a direct line into the city water system, thanks to a $2.6 million federal Superfund program.
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Eighteen homes and businesses along Labree, Rice and Hamilton roads have been hooked onto the city water system, and are no longer receiving bottled water from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA has identified one "potentially liable party" for the underground contamination, and is looking for another who apparently dumped or spilled cancer-causing chemicals between Interstate 5 and Hamilton Road North.
The chemical, tetrachloroethylene, commonly known at PCE, was used for degreasing and dry cleaning. Long-term exposure can cause cancer in humans.
The shallow ground water table running from a strip of businesses near I-5, underneath a dairy and rural pastures, is contaminated with two "plumes" of PCE.
The first has been tentatively linked to the Breen family after more than 60 barrels of toxic chemicals were found buried under a building at property formerly owned by the family. The barrels — some of them intact, others in pieces — have been removed and disposed of as hazardous waste.
The S.C. Breen company signed an order as a "potentially liable party." It has paid for testing and studies of how to clean up the area.
Another site less than a mile south might be an even bigger contributor to the ground water contamination, said Bob Kievit, remedial program manager with the EPA.
Even after underground radar and metal detection sweeps, however, the source of that contamination between I-5 and the United Rentals building is unknown.
The chemicals at the two sites are the same, and although that seems suspicious, Kievit said there's no known link between the two contaminated areas.
"The concentration is much higher there," Kievit said. "We don't know how it got there, we don't know who's responsible, we don't know when it was put there."
He said anyone with information about a spill or midnight dumping there may telephone him at 753-9014.
Workers last summer and fall bored a water line underneath I-5 near the Labree Road overpass.
They wound it a total of two miles down Hamilton Road North, and around Labree Road as far as 2296 Rice Road.
Only residents or businesses whose wells show contamination or are in an area where engineers project contamination will show up within five years may tap onto the city water line.
The areas are outside the city's urban growth area, so state law prohibits anyone from hooking up to city utilities unless there's a danger to health.
There is capacity for 22 more hookups for future expansion.
People outside the area that received the hookups can be "pretty secure that they are not drinking water with PCE in it right now," Kievit said.
There are dozens of monitoring wells to keep up with the slow movement of the chemicals through the sandy aquifer, he said.
The water line alone cost $2.6 million. It had to be built to withstand exposure to the corrosive PCE chemical tainting the shallow ground water, said Chad Nancarrow, project engineer for Ecology and Environment Inc., the Seattle-based contractor for the EPA.
The Viton siliconized rubber gaskets used cost $300 per section, rather than $10 for normal rubber gaskets, he said.
So far, the federal government has paid about $3 million for the project, nearly all of that for the water line. The S.C. Breen company is paying for testing and investigation of the ground water.
Brian Mittge covers politics, the environment and Lewis County government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by telephoning 807-8237.
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