FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Sept. 30, 1999
99-196
Contacts: Sandy Howard, Public Information Manager, (360) 407-6239
OLYMPIA - A piece of the mystery is now solved in one of the state’s largest groundwater contamination problems that has forced neighbors to drink bottled water since 1994.
In a cleanup overseen by the state Department of Ecology (Ecology), more than 60 barrels of industrial waste and water tainted with perchloroethylene and other toxic chemicals have been unearthed just south of Chehalis.
The drums were found buried under a commercial building off LaBree Road near Interstate 5. The drums and their toxic-laden contents, along with another nearby unknown source, are causing groundwater contamination along the rural Lewis County road.
"We’ve found the smoking gun to a large part of the contamination at the Hamilton-LaBree site," said David Jansen, a toxic-cleanup manager for Ecology.
The drums have been excavated and placed inside protective containers, where they await disposal.
"They will need to be shipped to one of the facilities in the U.S. that takes care of this kind of waste," Jansen said.
Since 1993, local and state authorities have known of groundwater contamination in the area near Hamilton and LaBree roads. At that time, routine tests of drinking water by the state Health Department turned up high levels of perchloroethylene (PCE) in well water. Tests in six shallow wells revealed PCE levels ranging from three to 2,165 parts per billion. The maximum level for safe drinking water is five parts per billion.
PCE, a suspected human carcinogen, is a chemical commonly used as a solvent in metal degreasing and cleaning operations, dry cleaning and other industrial uses.
Families and businesses using the wells were immediately notified and given bottled drinking water. One family was provided a water treatment system.
Testing revealed that only shallow wells were contaminated, so some neighbors use water from deep wells for general household uses, but drink bottled water as a safeguard.
The drums were found on property owned by S.C. Breen Construction Co. The owner has accepted status as a potentially liable party, and has agreed to conduct a remedial investigation and feasibility study of the ground water and soil on the site. This focused investigation, now under way by an environmental firm hired by the owner, resulted in the discovery and removal of the drums.
The site of the drum discovery is one of two intermingled contaminated areas Ecology has found near Hamilton and LaBree roads. A second major area of contaminated ground water lies near Berwick Creek, west of Hamilton Road and Interstate 5. It is still being investigated.
The Department of Ecology has photographs of the drums as they were being unearthed. They are available for publication. The photos can be downloaded from the following Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/1999news/99-196photos.html
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