polluter privilege

7/31/2019 Polluter Privilege

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Jane HoulihanRichard Wile

Polluter PrivilegeCompanies Pollute Ohio Tap Water,

Citizens Pay for Cleanup


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61 4 W . Superior Ave., #12 00C l ev el an d , O H 4 4 1 1 3 - 1 3 0 6t el 2 1 6 - 8 6 1 - 5 2 0 0 fa x 2 1 6 - 6 9 4 - 6 9 0 4

171 8 C onnec t icut Ave. , N W Sui te 600W ashingt on , D C 200 09

t el 2 0 2 - 6 6 7 - 6 9 8 2 f ax 2 0 2 - 2 3 2 - 2 5 9 2in [email protected] w w w.ew g.org

W O R K I N G G R O U PT M

E N V I R O N M E N T A L


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Acknowledgments

w w w .ew g .o r g

This and many other EWG publications are available on the World Wide Web at www.ewg.org

We would like to thank Sandy Buchanan, Jane Forrest, and Noreen Warnock of Ohio Citizen Action for their

insight and assistance in imp roving the rep ort. This release of this repo rt wo uld not have b een po ssible without

the efforts of Mike Casey and Melissa Haynes of EWG. Additional thanks go to the conscientious staff at Ohio En-

vironm ental Protection Agency, for their help in clarifying the d ata in this report an d p roviding p erspective o nstate enforceme nt. Spe cial thanks to Molly Evans, who de signed a nd p rodu ced the repo rt. We are grateful to Ken

Cook for his editing and insight.

Polluter Privilege was mad e p oss ib le by a grant from The George Gund Foundat ion and suppo r t from The

Joyce Found ation . The op inion s expressed in this rep ort are those o f the autho rs and d o no t necessarily reflect

the views o f the fun ders lis ted. Environm ental Working Grou p is respo nsible for an y errors of fact or interpretation

in this report.

Copyright Sep temb er 1999 by the Environme ntal Working Grou p/ The Tides Center. All r ights reserved.

Manu factured in the Un ited States of Ame rica. Printed on recycled pap er.

Environm ental W orking G roup

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Washington,

D.C. The Environm en tal Workin g Group is a pro ject of the Tides Center, a Californ ia Public Ben efit Corpo ration

based in San Francisco that provides administrative and program support services to nonprofit programs and

projects.

Kenneth A. Cook, Presiden t

Richard Wiles, Vice President for Research

Mike Casey, Vice President for Public Affairs

O hio Cit izen Action

Oh io Citizen Action camp aigns on issues from pu blic he alth an d the environme nt to u til ity and insurance rates .A no n-p rofit, no n-p artisan grou p w ith 150,000 me mb ers, it was fou nd ed in 1975. Oh io Citizen Actions addre ss is

614 W. Sup erior Ave., #1200, Cleveland , OH 44113. 216-861-5200 (ph on e) 218-694-6904 (fax).

Sand y Buchan an, Executive D irector

To order a copy

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EXECUTIVE SU M M A R Y . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 1

C HAPTER 1 . IN D U S T R I A L PO L L U T A N T S IN PU B L I C W ATER SU PPLIES . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . 7

C HAPTER 2 . IN C O N SI STEN T EN FOR C E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 15

C HAPTER 3 . TH E C O STTO PU B L I C H EALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19

A PPENDIX A . A T LEAST 2 8 3 C O M M U N I T I E S H A V E FO U N DIN D U S T R I A L PO L L U T A N T S IN TH EIR TA P W ATER SI N C E 19 94 . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 25

A PPENDIX B. A T LEAST 5 0 IN D U S T R I A L PO L L U T A N T S H A V E B EENFO U N D IN O H IO S C O M M U N I T Y TA P W ATER SI N C E 19 94 . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 30

REFEREN CES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Contents

Polluter Privilege


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1EN V I R O N M E N T A L W O R K I N G G R O U P/O H IO C ITIZEN A C T I O N

Executive Sum m ary

Polluter Privilege

Across O hio, sma ll and largebusinesses have p olluted p ublicdrinking water supplies withimpu nity. An Environm en talWorking Group analysis of

Ohio EPA data and an internal,unpublished report from theOhio Environmental ProtectionAgency (Ohio EPA) shows thatindu stries h ave con taminated atleast 54 public water supplies,but have been held responsiblefor contributing toward cleanupin only three cases.

The 54 water systems are

priority cases un de r the stateshazardou s waste reme diationprogram. More than 280 Oh iocomm unities have d etected in-du strial con taminan ts in the irtap water since 1994, accordingto monitoring data from thestate (App en dix A). For mo stof these drinking water systems,there is no inform ation avail-able to the p ublic on wh at, if

anything, OEPA has done toidentify p olluters, or clean upthe water.

The cost of cleaning uptapwa ter polluted w ith indus-trial chemicals can be substan-tial. The City of Da yton ha sspe nt m illion s of do llars to treat

its tap water supply, strippingindustrial contaminants from asman y as five ind ustries in 13treatment units called air strip-ping tow ers. Midd letown in But-

ler County has spent over $1 mil-lion to clean up tap wa ter con-taminated by a facility that man u-factures p rinting eq uipm en t. TheCity of Wooster in Wayne Coun tyhas sp en t $1.3 million to test andtreat its w ater sup p ly, with thepolluters contributing nothing.

Compared with their negli-gence in cleaning up community

water supplies, many Ohio com-pan ies are m uch mo re w illing toclean up tap water when theiremployees and managementhave to drink it. Businesses havetaken action on their private wa -ter supplies in 85 percent of thecases for w hich we have informa-tion. In contrast, companies aremo nitoring o r wo rking to cleanup their contamination of public

water supplies, just six percent ofthe time.

Failure to Enforce the Law

Communities are subsidizingclean up s for such mu lti-billion -dollar corporations as Georgia-Pacific, Buick-GMC, Pen nzo il,

In dustries havecontaminated at least54 p ubl ic w atersupp lies, an d havebeen h eld responsible

for contribut ingtow ard c leanup inonly three cases.

This situation has beenforced uponcomm uni ty w a t ersuppliers by O hioEPAs failure toenforce the law.


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2 PO L LU TER PRIVILEGE

British Petroleum , Grimes Aero-space, Siemens Energy and Au-toma tion , Kimbe rly Clarke, Ge n-eral Electric, Unical Corporation,and Ashland Chemical.

This situation has been forcedupon community water suppli-ers by Ohio EPAs failure to en-force the law . Altho ugh O hioswater pollution and hazardouswaste laws give Ohio EPA clearand amp le au thority to pros-ecute anyone w ho con taminatesdrinking w ater, agency leade r-ship has consistently failed to

exe rcise it. Instead, agen cyleaders appointed by formerGoverno r Voinovich an d cu rrentGoverno r Taft have adop ted aformal policy of inviting pollut-ers to nego tiate cleanu p termsw ith the agen cy. If p ollutersde cline , w hich is increa singlythe case, the agen cy almo stnever pursues litigation ortougher measures to get respon-

sible businesses to clean uppublic drinking water supplies.

This policy has effectivelyshifted the p ow er to controlcleanu ps from the agen cy to thepolluters, while at the same timecripp ling the ability of O hio EPAstaff to h elp co mm un ities strug-gling to provide safe water fortheir residents.

In a docume nt prepared forformer O hio legislator JoyPadgett on con taminated p ublicwa ter sup plies, the agency com -plains no less than five time sthat it lacks the authority to ei-ther investigate or enforce clean-up s of public wa ter sup plies

(O EPA, 1998). The fact is, thelaw gives them amp le authority.Ohio EPA leadership has justchosen not to use i t .

U ti l i t ies Strive to D el iver CleanT a p W a te r

In every case that EWG inves-tigated, water suppliers are tak-ing the necessary steps to en suretheir tap water meets legal stan-dards for the protection of hu-ma n health. Som etimes this in-volves monitoring the pollutantsto en sure that their conce ntra-

tions in water supply wells areno t increasing. In othe r cases,water suppliers operate ground-wa ter pum p-and-treat systems, ata cost they are forced to pa ss onto their custom ers. Throu ghtheir efforts, residen ts are e n-sured that the w ater they d rinkme ets state and fede ral contami-nan t standa rds.

Unfortunately, it is nearly im-possible to remove all of thecontamination from a pollutedwa ter supp ly. EWG foun d 26comm unities that con tinue todrink water with low levels ofindu strial pollutan ts, despite thedesire and best efforts of watersuppliers to provide perfectlyclean water (Table 1).

It is not illegal to serve watercon taining ind ustrial contam i-nan ts. A certain amo un t of con -tamination is allow ed und er thelaw , and these 26 comm unitiesall meet the legal limits.

Legal, how ever, does n ot nec-essa rily m ea n safe. Lega l levels

Som e chi ldhooddiseases are linke d tospecific contaminantsfound in O hio publ icw ater supp lies. For

instance,trichloroethylene, orTC E, an indu strialsolvent b elieved tocause leukemia, hasbeen found in at least21 o f the 46contaminatedcomm uni ty w a t ersupplies.


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Table 1 . D espite the best efforts of w ater supp liers, cit izens contin ue todrin k low levels of industrial contam inants in tap w ater. In m ost cases,pol luters do no thing to help clean i t up.

N ote : Po ten t i a l po l l u te r s as desc r ibed i n O EPA 199 8 and 199 7 , a re designa ted w i th an aste r i sk ( * ).So u r c e : O EP A 1 9 9 8 , p e r so n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w i t h O h i o EP A a n d t o w n w a t er su p e r i n t en d e n t s, a n d O h i o p u b l i c w a t er su p p l y c o m p l i a n c e t e st i n g d a ta b a se su p p l i e d t o EW G b y O h i o E PA .

LocationContaminants found in tap

w ater Potential or know n polluter

N o r th w e st O h io

Fay et te, Fu l to n C o . , p o p . 1 ,1 5 0 v in y l c h l o r i d e Fay ette Tu b u lar Pro d u c ts

Brad n er, W oo d C o ., p o p . 1 ,0 9 3 PC E u n k n o w n ; i n ad eq u ate O h io EPAi n v e st i a ti o n

Northeast Ohio

North Canton, S tark Co. , pop.1 7 0 0 0

c is-1 ,2 -D CE an d D CA u n k n o w n

Southwest O hio

Ri pl ey , B ro w n C o. , p op . 2 ,2 00 TC E an d 1 ,2 -d ic hl or o ro an e

form er U .S . Shoe fac tory , fo rm erw a st e o nd s

U rb a n a (U rb a n a M a d R i v e rw e l l f i e l d ), C h a mp a i g n C o . , p o p .1 1 ,3 5 3

PC E, TC E G rim es A ero sp ac e Ru ssel l Streetfac i l i ty and S iemen s Energy andA u to ma t i o n

En o n, C la rk Co ., p o p. 2 ,6 0 3 PC E, T CE, c is- a nd tr an s- 1, 2-D CE

M u n c y C o rp o rat i o n

M i l f o r d , C l er m o n t C o ., p o p . 5 , 8 3 0 P CE, TC E, c is -1 , 2 - D C E,1 ,1 ,1 -T C A , 1 ,1 -D C E , 1 ,1 -D CA

u n k n o w n

Spr ing Va l l ey , Greene County ,

o . 5 6 9

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n

Bel le fon ta ine , Logan Co., pop.1 2 ,1 4 2

TCE, 1 ,1 ,1-TCA, c i s -1 ,2-D C E , 1 , 1 - D C A

a b an d o n e d d r u m d u m p

Tro y , M iam i C o . , p o p . 2 0 ,5 0 0 PC E fo rm er au to d ea lersh ip (W am p lerB u i c k -G M C In c . )* a n d K i mb e r l yC lark e a er m i l l *

D a y t o n ( M i a m i a n d O t t o w aw e l l f i e l d s) , Mo n tg o me ry C o . , p o p .4 2 0 ,0 0 0

TCE and o ther i ndustr i a lso l vents

D A P * , G a y s to n C o rp o ra t i o n * , G e mCi ty Chemica ls* , Va l l eycres t Landf i l l(N o r th S a n L a n d f i ll I n c ) * , V a n D y n e -Cro t ty Inc .* , and U .S. A i r ForceW r i h t - Pa t te r so n A F B

M i a m i s b u rg, Mo n tg o m e ry C o .,o . 1 7 9 00

PC E, c i s-1 ,2 -D C E u n k n o w n

H u b e r H e i g h ts, Mo n tg o me ry C o . ,o . 3 9 ,4 00

c is-1 ,2 -D CE n o t ad d ressed in O hio EPA rep o r t

Southeast Oh io

B r i d g ep o r t , B e l mo n t C o . , p o p .3 ,5 7 0

PC E, TC E, ci s- 1, 2- D CE d ry c le an er , n o t n am e d in O h i o EPAre o rt

Be lmont County (San i ta ry SewerD i s t r i c t # 3 ) , p o p . 2 5 ,8 9 0

c is-1 ,2 -D C E U nic al C o rp o rat i o n , A sh lan dC h e mi c a l , a n d 3 i n d i v i d u a l s (c u r re n to w n e r s

W est La fayet te , Coshocton Co .,o . 3 ,2 00

v in y l c h l o r i d e Pen n -M ic h igan M an u fac tu r i n g

Lau re l v i l l e, H oc k in g C o ., p o p . 8 5 8 n i trates O hio EPA h as i d en t i fi ed at l east o n ep o te n t i a l so u rc e , n o t n a me d i n O h i oEPA r e o rt

Yo rk v i l l e, Jefferso n C o ., p o p . 1 ,2 4 8 PC E, TC E u n k n o w n

C o a l G ro v e , L a w re n c e C o . , p o p .4 ,7 1 9

TC E, ci s-1 ,2 -D CE Tr i -Sta te Tan k (fo rm er l y Fo rdBro thers

M i dd lep ort , M eigs C o. , po p. 2,5 70 TC E, ci s-1 ,2 -D CE u nk no w n, no t i n vesti gated

M c C o n n e l s v il l e , Mo rg a n C o . , p o p .1 ,8 0 4

PC E, TC E, c is- 1, 2- D CE Pe nn z oi l an d Br it ish P et ro le um ,p ro p e r t y n o w o w n e d b y C e n tu r yBank

W av erl y , Pi k e C o . , p o p . 5 ,0 0 0 c is-1 ,2 -D CE h isto ri c d u m pi n g o n c i ty p ro p erty

N e w P h i l ad e l p h i a , T u s c ara w a sCo ., o . 1 6 ,0 00

TC E Jo y Tec h n o lo gies

N e w p o r t , W a s h i n g to n C o . , p o p .89 4

TCE, c i s-1 ,2-D CE, v iny lc h l o r i d e

U n i o n C a rb i d e a n d S h e l l

M a r i et t a , W a s h i n g to n C o . , p o p .2 0 ,3 0 0

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n

B e v e rl y , W a sh i n g to n C o . , p o p .1 5 50

PC E Lau gh erty C lean ers, M ak r i sC leaners*

I t is not i l legal to servew ater conta iningindustrialcontaminants. Legal,how ever, does notnecessarily mean safe.


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fail to account for the potentialadditive health effects of multiplechemicals and the vulnerability ofchildren . Moreover, legal levelsare in many cases a compromise

between public health and treat-me nt costs. For com mu nitieswith legal levels of pollution intheir tap w ater, hea lth e ffects arestill a concern.

Children are am ong the m ostvulnerable to the h ealth con se-qu en ces of this failed system . O fthe 54 contaminated pu blic wa tersupp lies, 46 are town wa ter sup -

plies (Tables 2 and 3), withschools and daycare facilities be-ing served the same quality ofwa ter as the rest of the town .Five schoo ls and two daycarecenters using private wells havealso had their tap w ater po llutedwith industrial contaminants(Table 5). Som e childh oo d dis-eases are linked to specific con-taminants foun d in O hio pu blic

w ater sup p lies. For instance ,trichloroe thylen e, o r TCE, an in-dustrial solvent believed to causeleukemia, has been found in atleast 21 of the 46 contaminatedcomm unity water supp lies(Tables 2 and 3).

The con taminan ts foun d inOhios public water supplies arealmost a lways indu strial solvents

know n or suspected to causecancer, birth defects, nervoussystem d isorders and a ho st ofother health problems. TCE wa sfoun d in 21 pub lic water sup -plies, followed by tetrachloroeth-ylene (PCE) in 19, and two formsof dichloroethylene (cis-1,2-DCE

an d trans-1,2-DCE) in 17. Vinylchloride, the mo st potent car-cinogen of all the ch em icals inthese w ater supp lies, was foun din the tap w ater sup ply in at

least six tow ns.

New federal right-to-knowrules w ou ld give citizen s inthese com mu nities critical infor-mation for protecting the healthof their fam ilies in th e form ofan a nnu al tap water qu ality re-po rt mailed to their hom es eachyea r. U.S. EPA ha s offere d stategovernors the chance to waive

the mailing requirement fortown s of unde r 10,000 peop le.So far Governor Taft has notsigned the w aiver. It is criticalthat he remain firm on this issue,since over half of the Ohiotown s with p olluted tap w atersupplies have fewer than 10,000pe op le. These rep orts will bevital in a state w he re p ollutingindustries go largely unpunished

and po lluted d rinking watersources remain contaminated.

Recommendat ions

The first priority must be forthe p olluters to p rovide unco n-taminated drinking water to theaffected com mu nities. It is no tenou gh for peop le to be pro-vided with tap w ater contami-

nated with supp osedly safelevels of industrial con taminan ts.In all cases wh ere the po lluterhas be en iden tified, they m ustpay to provide clean tap waterto all towns whose water sup-plies they have contaminated.Payment should begin immedi-

The O hio Legislatureshou ld cr eate a statesuperfund-style trustfund to pay forcleanup of drinking

w ater supp lies.


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O h io s w a te r po l l u t i on c on t ro l l aw states: N o pe rson sha l l cause po l l u t i on o r p lace o r

cause to b e p laced any sew age, ind ustr ia lw aste , o r o ther w astes in a loc a t ion w herethey sha l l c ause po l l u t ion o f any w aters o fthe sta te , an d then goes on to g ive theD i rec to r o f O h io EPA b road au tho r i t y t oinv est iga te con tami nated w aters and top rosecu te po l l u te r s (Chap te r 6111 o f O h io sRevised Co de). The state s haz ardo us w astelaw g i ves O h io EPA the au tho r i ty t oinvest i ga te any l o ca t i on w he re haza rdou sw aste is Threaten in g to cause or con t r ibu te

to w a te r po l l u t i on , f u r the r d i r ec t i ng theAt to rney G enera l , upon w r i t ten request o fO h io EPAs D i rec to r , t o i ns ti t u te a c i v i lac t ion to reco ver c leanup costs f rom the

po l l u t i ng i ndus tr y (Chap te r 373 4 o f O h io sRev ised Co de) .

The po l i t i ca l l y -appo in ted l eade rsh ip a t O h ioEPA h ave cho sen to ign ore th is au tho r i ty .Thei r stance h as resul ted in their staf f beingunab le t o pu rsue c leanups o f co n tam in a tedpu b l i c w ater sup p l i es. I t i s no t surpr is ingtha t given th is lack o f sup po r t , O h io EPAdis t ric t o f f i ces are o f ten ev en u nab l e torequ ire that bu sin esses sim pl y in vestigate acon tam ina t ion p rob lem . The agency hasgon e as far as suggestin g to the smal l tow n

o f M a l ta , pop u la t i on 804 , tha t t he tow ni tse l f en ter in to n egot ia t ions w i th thepo l lu te r, Tom kin s Indu st r ies, in l ieu o f theagency us ing i ts ow n s ta tu tory au thor i ty .

O H I O EPA H A S BR O A D A U T H O R I T Y TO FO R C E C LEAN U PSO F PO LLU TED TAP W ATER SU PPLIES

ately and be retroactive to cover

all costs incu rred in de aling w iththe problem.

In man y cases, how ever, therespon sible pa rty canno t beidentified, or when identified,canno t afford the cleanu p costs.To protect the public in thesesituations, the Ohio Legislatureshould create a state sup erfund -style trust fund supported by a

surtax on big bu sine ss, similar tothe fede ral mo del, which can beused to pay for cleanu p of drink-

ing w ater sup plies and for pro-

viding communities with cleanwater in the interim.

The p ublic has a right to kno wthe names of the polluters incases of contaminated tap w atersup plies. Whe re the polluter isknown, water suppliers shouldidentify the polluter by name intheir annual water quality reportsrequired un der the Safe Drinking

Water Act, the first of which isdue to custom ers of public watersuppliers by October 1999.


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Wayne Coun ty has spen t $1.3million to test and treat a watersupp ly thou ght to be contami-nated b y a comp any called RegalWare and a number of other in-du stries in the area. The city

raised water rates for their 25,000custom ers to p ay for a groun d-water interception system andnew air stripp ing tow ers to dealw ith a n indu strial solvent calledcis-1,2-dichloroethylene in theirw ater sup p ly. Regal Ware andother possible polluters paidnothing.

A rare case of a more respo n-

sible polluter is in the town ofFayette in Fulton County, wherethe w ater sup plier foun d low lev-els of vinyl chloride in the tow nw ell in 1990. There , the industryrespon sible for the contamina-tion , Fayette Tub ular Produ cts,has paid for testing and reportingto ensure that the town s watersup ply satisfies the state drinkingwater law.

Small towns dominate the listof water sup plies con taminatedby industry. Read ing (p op ulation12,800) spent $640,000 to con-ne ct to Cincinn ati water aftertheir water sup ply was con tami-nated b y the GE Evendale p lantand the Pristine Inc. Superfund

I ndu strial Pollutants

in Publ ic W ater Supplies

Chapter 1

The 25 ,000 t ap w a te rcustom ers in W oosterpa id $1 .3 m i l lion todeal w i th 1 ,2 -dichloroethylene intheir tap w ater. Regal

W are and otherpossible polluters paidnothing.

In 46 tow ns across Ohio thetown tap w ater sup ply is con-taminated with industrial chemi-cals found in the groundwater(O EPA 1998). In 25 of the secases, Ohio EPA or the city itself

has found the business poten-tially or certainly responsible forthe con tamination (Tables 2 an d3) .

In only three cases has theresponsible industry contributedfinancially tow ard m on itoring orclean up of the town s water sup-ply (Table 2). In 43 othe rtowns, the residents or in rare

cases Oh io EPA has bo rne thecosts of investigations, monitor-ing, and cleanu p (Table 3).

And this is no t even the fullscop e of the prob lem. At least50 different industrial pollutantshave been found in Ohios pub-lic drinking water over the pastfive years, in 283 com mu nities(App en dices A and B). EWGs

analysis focuses on the fewerthan 20 percent of these co m-mu nities O hio EPA is addressingund er i ts hazardous w asteremediation program.

The cost of ind ustrial con-tamination to these towns variesgrea tly. The City of Wooste r in


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site. The water sup erintende nt inMiddletown, Butler County(po pu lation 55,000), estima tes hissmall comm unity has spe nt over$1 million to p rovide safe drink-ing water after their ground watersource was contaminated by aprinting facility called AEPFLEXO . Peo ple wan t to knowwh y their water rates are goingup, he says, as he describes acomm unity-finan ced cleanu p thatis in essence a subsidy for a Ken-tucky-based company no longerop erating in Middletown .

But big cities are not immuneto these prob lems. The City of

Dayton co ntinually op erates atleast 13 air stripping towers toreduce levels of TCE, vinyl chlo-ride, and other industrial solventsfrom their water b efore it isserved to 420,000 of Daytonsresidents. The city and O hio EPAhave iden tified a n um ber o f in-du stries as p oten tially respo nsible

for con taminating grou ndw aterin Montgomery County, includ-ing DAP, Gayston Corporation,Gem City Chemicals, ValleycrestLandfill (North San Landfill Inc.),and Van Dyne -Crotty Inc. Ac-cording to Ohio EPA (OEPA1998) many of these industriesare cleaning up their own prop-erties un der b inding consen torders with the agency, butnone of the industries is contrib-uting toward Daytons efforts toprovide safe drinking water forthe city. The city ha s not talliedall it has spent in these ongoingefforts, but one group of sevenair stripp ing tow ers cost the city

$4 million in capital costs alone.

About the pol lutants

In almost all cases, the con-taminants in these tow n w atersupplies include common indus-trial solvents and their degrada-tion pro du cts (Table 4). These

Table 2. O hio industry is helping to clean up just 3 of 46 com m unity w ater supplies i t hascontaminated.

So u r c e : O EP A 1 9 9 8 , O EP A 1 9 9 7 , a n d p e r so n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w i t h t o w n w a t er su p e r i n t en d e n t s.

Location C ontam inants found Polluters D etails

Fay ette, Fu l to n C o ., p o p. 1 ,1 5 0 v i n y l c h l o r i d e Fay ette Tu bu lar Pro d uc ts O h io EPA is u n ab l e to n ego tiate a b i n d in g

consent order due to lack o f s ta tu toryauthor i ty (O EPA, 199 8). Fayet te Tubu larhas pa id f o r a l l m on i to r ing and repo r t ingcosts associa ted wi th the contaminatedw a ter supp ly .

New Ph i lade lph ia , Tusca rawasCo . , pop . 16 ,000

TC E Jo y Tec h n o lo gi es Jo y In d u str i es si gn ed C o n sen t O rd er i n1990 . The indus t ry pays al l cos t sassocia ted w i th w ater t reatment for thetow n . The tow n pays fo r enhancedm o ni to ri n ro ram .

N e w p o r t , W a sh i n g to n C o . , p o p .8 9 4

TCE, c is-1 ,2-D CE, v in y lc h l o r i d e

U n i o n C ar bi d e a nd Sh el l U n i o n C ar bi d e a nd Sh el l si gn ed aConsen t Orde r p r io r t o 1996 toinves tiga te and rem ed ia te con tam ina t ion .The com p an ies pay to m on i to r the tow n

w a ter supp ly .


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Table 3. In almost all cases w here O hio businesses have contam inated publ ic drinking w aterthey have done nothing to clean i t up.

N ote : Po ten t i a l po l l u te r s as desc r ibed i n O EPA 199 8 and 1 997 , a re designa ted w i th an aste r i sk ( * ). ( c on t i nued o n page 6 )

Location Contam inants found Potentia l or know n polluterP o u t e r p ay i n g f o r

action taken Action taken

Nor thw est Ohio

M ansf ie ld (L inco ln we l l f ie ld ) ,R i ch l a nd C o . , o . 5 1 , 0 00

tetrac h lo ro eth y l en e (PCE) d efu n c t d ry c l ean i n g b u sin ess n o Resp o n si b l e i n d u stry i s n o lo n ger i nbusiness.

B ra dn e r, W o o d C o ., p o p. 1 ,0 9 3 t ri c hl o ro et hy l en e (T CE) an dPCE

u n k n o w n ; i n a d e q u a te O h i o E PAinvest iga t ion

n o V il lage o perates a gro u nd water p u mp -and- t rea t sys tem; communi ty s t i l l d r inksw a t e r f ro m c o n t a m i n a t ed w e l l d u r i n g

er iods o f eak deman d.

Nor theast Ohio

M i l l e r sb u r g , H o l m e s C o . , p o p .3 , 0 5 1

TCE and d ich lo roe thy leneD CE

u n k n o w n n o Co m m u n i ty to o k 2 w el l s o u t o f serv i c e; i sl a n n i n f o r n ew w e l l i n st a l l at i o n .

M a si l lo n , St ar k C o ., p o p . 6 7, 00 0 v i ny l c h lo r id e, c i s- 1, 2- D C Eand 1 ,1 , -d ich lo roe thaneD CA

u n k n o w n n o Co m m u n i ty ro tates w el l u se to m i n i m i z econtaminant leve ls in we l ls .

No r th Canton , S tark Co. , pop.1 7 , 0 0 0

c is-1 ,2 -D CE an d D CA u n k n o w n n o Co m m u n i ty i n stal l ed ai r str i p p er toremove so lvents f rom dr ink ing water and

u m s t w o w e l ls f o r i n t er c e t i o n.

W ooster ( sou th we l l f ie ld ) , W ayneC o . , p o p . 2 4 , 7 3 0

c is-1 ,2 -D CE Regal W are* , c o m mu n i ty l an d fi l l * ,Sandy Supp ly * , W ooster Iron andM eta l * , Mor r is Pet ro leum * , K ickserv ice s ta t ion*

n o Regal W are sign ed Fi n d in gs an d O rd ersw i t h O h i o E PA t o c o n d u c t f u l linvest iga t ion , bu t C i ty o f Wo oster has no tbeen re imbursed fo r $1 ,300,000 spent toprov ide sa fe water .

Southwest O hio

B r o w n C o u n t y R u r a l W a t erAssoc ia t ion (BCRW A) , pop.2 0 , 1 7 4

carbon te t rach lo r ide ,c h l o r o f o r m , t o l u e n e

u n k n o w n n o W ater su p p l i er p l an s to o p erate ex trac ti o nsystem, and cu r ren t ly d raws w ater f romc l e an e r w e l ls o n l .

Ri pl ey , B ro w n Co ., po p. 2,2 00 TC E an d 1,2 -d i c h l o r o p r o p a n e

former U .S. Shoe fac to ry , fo rmerwaste ponds

n o Resp on si bl e i nd ustr ies are n o l on ger i nbus iness. O h io EPA h as ins tal led ane x t ra c t i o n s s te m .

Sev en M i le, Bu tler Co ., p o p . 8 4 1 TCE grav el p i t u sed fo r o p en d u m p i n g n o V i l l age p u rc h ases w ater fro m an o th eru b l i c w a t er s s te m .

M i d d l e t o w n , B u t l e r C o ., p o p .5 4 , 6 6 0

PCE, TCE, 1,1,1 -t r ich lo roe thane (1 ,1 ,1 -TCA) ,c is -1 ,2 -DCE

A EP FLEXO p ri n t in g fac i l i ty n o A EP FLEXO si gn ed a c o n sen t o rd er i n1993 and has begun remed ia t ion o f the i rp roper ty , bu t has taken no act ion to c leanu p t h e c o m m u n i t y w e l l f i e l d . T o w n h a sspent over $1 mi l l ion fo r c leanup.

U r b a n a ( U r b a n a M a d R i v e rwe l l f ie ld ) , Champaign Co. , pop.1 1 , 3 5 3

PCE, TCE G ri m es A ero sp ac e Ru ssel l Stree tfac i l i t y and S iemens Energy andA u t o m a t i o n

n o Bo th po llu te rs are perfo rm in g cl ean u pson the i r own proper t ies . U rbana ispay ing fo r mo n i to r ing costs to t rackmovement o f the contaminants .

En o n, Cl ar k C o. , p o p. 2, 60 3 PC E, TC E, ci s- an d tr an s- 1, 2-D C E , v i n y l c h l o r i d e

M u n c y Co rp o rat io n n o M u n c y Co rp si gn ed ad m i n i strat i v econsent o rder in 1994 and is remed ia t ingthe i r p roper ty bu t no t the contaminatedwel l f ie ld . Enon pays to mon i to r po l lu t ionin the i r we l l f ie ld .

New Car l is le , C la rk Co. , pop.6 , 0 4 9

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k i n g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t ion - - d r ink ing w ater standardshave no t been v io la ted .

M i l f o r d , Cl e rm o n t C o . , p o p. 5 , 8 3 0 P CE, T C E, c i s- 1 ,2 - D C E,1 ,1 ,1 -TCA, 1 ,1 -D CE, 1 ,1 -D CA

u n k n o w n n o C i ty h as c o n stru c ted w ater trea tm en tfac i l i t ies to remov e contamin ants .

U n i o n C i ty , D ark e Co ., p o p . 1 ,9 8 4 PCE u n k n o w n , n o t i n v esti gated n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k i n g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t ion - - d r ink ing w ater standardshave no t been v io la ted .

Fai rb o rn , G reen e Co ., p o p . 3 2 ,0 0 0 PCE, 1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n, n o t i n v esti gated n o O hi o ' s safe d r in k i n g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t ion - - d r ink ing w ater standardshave no t been v io la ted .

Spr ing Va l ley , Greene County ,p o p . 5 6 9

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA , 1 ,1 -D CE u n k n o w n n o Lev el s are c u rren tly b elo w l egal l i m i ts,bu t v i l lage in d ica tes tha t i t p lans to shutd o w n t h e w e l l f i e l d a n d c o n n e c t t o t h ec o u nt w a te r s st em .

Ye l low Spr ings, Greene Co, pop.3 , 9 7 3

1 ,1 -D CA M o rr i s Bean , In c . an d V ern ayLabora tor ies*

u n kn o w n M o r ri s B ea n, In c . si gn ed C on se nt D e cr eein 1994 and is ins ta l l ing g roundwaterext rac t ion we l ls fo r remed ia t ion .

R e ad i n g , H a m i l t o n C o . , p o p .1 2 8 0 0 1 , 1 -D C E, TC E, 1 ,1 , 1 -T C A G e n e ra l El e c tr i c Ev e n d al e pl a n t a n dPr ist ine , Inc super fund s i te n o G en eral El ec tr ic rem ed ia ti o n isproceed ing under RCRA program.Pr ist ine , Inc . remed ia t ion i s p roceed ingu n d e r Su p e r f u n d p r o g ra m . C o m m u n i t yspent $640,000 to connect to C inc innat iwater .

H i l l s b o r o , H i g h l a n d C o . , p o p .6 , 4 0 0

PCE u n k n o w n , n o t i n v estigated n o Co m m u n i ty d i sc o n ti n u ed u se o f w el l an dnow draws water f rom sur face waterreservoir .

Be l le fon ta ine , Logan Co. , pop.1 2 , 1 4 2

TCE, 1 ,1 ,1 -TCA, c is -1 ,2 -D C E , 1 , 1 - D C A , 1 , 1 - D C E

ab an d o n ed d ru m d u m p n o Co m m u n i ty b u i l t treatm en t p l an t w h i c hlow ers leve ls o f con taminants .

T ro y , M iam i Co ., po p. 20 ,5 0 0 PCE, cis-1 ,2 -D CE fo rm er au to deal ersh ip (W am pl erB u i c k - G M C I n c . )* a n d K i m b e r l yC larke paper mi l l *

n o Co mm un ity pay s fo r ex ten si v e m on i to r i n gprogram to t rack po l lu tan ts . In one yeara l o n e t h e t o w n s p en t $ 3 4 , 0 0 0 f o rl ab o ra to r a na l si s o n l .


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1 0 PO L LU TER PRIVILEGE

Table 3 cont inued.

So u r c e : O EP A 1 9 9 8 , O EP A 1 9 9 7 , a n d p e r so n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w i t h t o w n w a t er su p e r i n t en d e n t s.N o te : Po ten t i a l po l l u te r s as desc r ibed i n O EPA 199 8 and 199 7 , a re designa ted w i th an aste r i sk ( * ).

Location Contam inants found Potential or know n polluterPolluter paying for

act ion taken Action taken

D a y t o n ( M i a m i a n d O t t o w aw e l l f i e l d s) , Mo n tg o m e ry C o . , p o p .4 2 0 ,0 0 0

TCE, v iny l ch lo r i de , andother i ndu str i a l so l vents

D A P * , G a y s to n C o rp o ra t i o n * , G e mCi ty Chemica ls* , Va l l eycres t Landf i l l(Nor th San Landf i l l Inc)* , Van Dy ne-Cro t ty Inc .* , and U .S . A i r ForceW righ t-Pat terson AFB

n o "M an y" resp o nsib l e p ar ti es h av e sign edorders w i th O h io EPA to i nvest i ga te andre me d i a te c o n ta m i n a t io n o n th e i rp roper t i es , bu t Dayton has spent mi l l i on o fdo l l a rs to da te fo r water t rea tment.

M i a m i s b u rg, Mo n tg o m e ry C o ., p o p .1 7 ,9 0 0

PCE, TCE, 1,1,1-TCA, cis-1 ,2 -D C E , 1 ,1 -D C A

u n k n o w n n o O h i o ' s safe d ri n k i n g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

H u b e r H e i g h ts, M o n tg o me ry C o . ,o . 3 9 ,4 0 0

in d u str i al so l v en ts n o t ad d ressed in O h io EPA rep o r t u n k n o w n Co m mu n i ty uses ai r st r i p p ers to rem ov esolvents.

Fran k l i n , W arren C o ., p o p . 1 0 ,5 0 0 TCE A tl as Fel t M il l (fo rm erl y G eo rgia-P ac i f ic C o r o r a ti o n

no co sts have beenincurred

T o w n d i s c o n t in u e d u s e o f c o n ta m i n a te dw e l l .

Southeast Ohi o

Athens (W . S ta te S treet w e l l f i e ld ) ,A t h en s C o . , o . 2 2 , 3 3 5

industr i a l so l vents , i nc lud ingPCE and to lu ene

A th en s C i ty G arage n o A th en s h as b o rn e th e c o st fo r i n c reasedsam l in fr eq uen c .

Br idgeport , Be lmont Co. , pop.3 ,5 7 0

PC E, TC E, D CE d ry c lean er , n o t n am ed in O h i o EPAreport

n o Sm al l fam il y -o wn ed dry clean in g b usi n essi s respons ib le par ty an d has notcontr i bu ted to c leanup. V i l l age ro ta tesw e l l u s e to m i n i m i z e c o n ta m i n a n t l e v e l sin we l l s .

Bel l ai re, Be lm o n t C o ., p o p . 6 ,0 2 5 PCE u n k n o w n as o f d ate o f O h io EPAreport , curren t i nv est i ga t i on i sa n t i c i a te d to f i n d t h e s o u rc e

n o O hi o ' s safe d r i n k in g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

Be lmont County (San i ta ry Sewer

D i s t r i c t # 3 ), p o p . 2 5 ,8 9 0

c is-1 ,2 -D CE U n i c al Co rp o rati o n , Ash lan d

Chemica l , and 3 i nd i v idua ls (curren to w n e rs )

n o Co m m u n i ty pay s fo r en h an c ed mo n i to r i n g

p ro g ra m.

W est La fayet te , Coshocton Co .,p o p . 3 ,2 0 0

v in y l c h lo r i d e, TCE Pen n -M ic h i gan M an u fac tu ri n g n o To w n p a id $ 1 .6 m i l l i o n fo r ai r str i p p ers tot rea t water . Respons ib le i ndu stry i s nolonger i n bus iness.

Ga l l i a County Rura l WaterAssoc ia t i on , pop. 21 ,060

1 ,1 ,1 -TC A u n k n o w n , n o t i n v est i gated n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k in g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

G al l i p o l i s, G al l i a Co ., p o p . 9 ,0 0 0 PCE, D C E u n k n o w n , n o t i n v esti gated n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k in g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

Lau re l v i l l e, H oc k in g Co ., p o p . 8 5 8 n i trates O hio EPA has i d en t i fi ed a t l east o n ep o te n t i al s o u rc e , n o t n a me d i n O h i oEP A re o r t

n o To w n i s o p erati n g an ex trac ti o n w e l l top u l l c o n ta m i n a t i o n a w a y f r o m th e w a tersu l w el l .

Yo rk v i l l e, Jef ferso n Co ., p o p . 1 ,2 4 8 PCE u n k n o w n n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k in g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

C o a l G ro v e , L a w re n c e C o . , p o p .

4 ,7 1 9

TC E, c i s-1 ,2 -D CE Tr i -State Tan k (fo rm er l y Fo rd

Bro thers)

n o Jen ny an d Ro bert Fo rd , th e resp o nsib le

par t i es , have not responded to fo rmalac t i ons by O h io EPA. Coa l Grove hasspent on the order o f $50,000 to pro tec tthe i r water supp ly .

M i d d lep o r t, M ei gs C o . , p o p . 2 ,5 7 0 TCE u n k n o w n , n o t i n v esti gated n o Co m m u n i ty h as ab an d o n ed tw o o f th ei rf ou r w a te r su l w e ll s.

M al ta, M organ C o ., p o p . 8 0 4 V O C s To m k in s In d u str i es (Ph i l i p s-M al ta) u n k n o w n To m k in s In d u stri es sign ed a Co n sen tO rd e r i n 1 9 9 1 , b u t h a s n o t c o n t r i b u te df i nanc ia l l y tow ard prov id in g sa fe water fo rthe v i l l age. M al ta opera tes ex trac t i onsystem and has re located we l l f i e ld .

M c C o n n e l sv i l l e , Mo rg a n C o . , p o p .1 ,8 0 4

PC E, TC E Pen n z o i l an d Br i t i sh Petro leu m ,p ro p e r t y n o w o w n e d b y C e n tu r yBank

n o To w n h as sp en t $ 7 0 ,0 0 0 ex c lu d i n g l ab o rto run a cont i nuous i n te rceptor sys tem.O hio EPA has i nv i ted po l l u te rs ton e o t i at e c l ea n u t er m s .

Z a n e sv i l l e , Mu s k i n g u m C o . , p o p .3 5 ,6 0 0

TC E, D CE U n i ted Tec h . A u to (fo rm er EssexP lant , so le respons ib le p ar ty fo rU TA/Zanesv i l l e W el l f i e ld Superfund

si te)

n o So u rc e area i s b ein g rem ed iated u nd erfedera l Superfund program by Un i tedT e c h n o l o g i es A u to mo t i v e . T o w n p a y s a n

est imated $50,000 per year to opera tegroundwater remedia t i on sys tem.

W av erl y , Pi k e Co ., p o p . 5 ,0 0 0 V O C s h isto r i c d u m p i n g o n c i ty p ro p er ty n o O h io ' s safe d r i n k in g w ater l aw d o es n o trequ i re ac t i on - - d r i nk ing water s tandardshave not been v io la ted .

M a r i e tt a , W a s h i n g to n C o . , p o p .2 0 ,3 0 0

PC E, 1 ,1 ,1 -TC A u n k n o w n n o C i ty o p erates a gro u n d w ater ex trac t i o ns y ste m to c o n ta i n c o n ta m i n a t i o n a n d a naera tor to t rea t water .

B e v e rl y , W a sh i n g to n C o . , p o p .1 ,5 5 0

PC E Lau gh erty C lean ers, M ak r i s C lean ers* n o O h io EPA h as d eterm in ed Lau gh ery an dM akr i s C leaners do no t have the resourcesto address the contaminat i on


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1 1EN V I R O N M E N T A L W O R K I N G G R O U P/O H IO C ITIZEN A C T I O N

po pu lar chemicals have a broadrange of uses from m etaldegreasing to dry cleaning an dplastics ma nu facturing. Theyfind their way into ground water

supplies typically through acomp anys ne gligence in h an-dling wastes, or through leakingpipes and tanks. The result canbe a large area of contaminatedgroundwater that could take de-cades and even lifetimes toclean u p.

The most common solventsand their degradation prod ucts

found in town water suppliesinclude tetrachloroethylene(PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE),trichloroe thane (TCA),dichloroethylene (DCE),dichloroethane (DCA), and vinylchloride (Table 4). Four ofthese s ix comp ound s are kno wnto cause cancer. Scientists havealso l inke d them to a ho st of

othe r he alth e ffects, includingdisruption of no rmal childho oddevelopment, and toxicity to thereprodu ctive and nervous sys-tems. Two other compo unds

found in town water supplies,nitrate and chloroform, havebee n linke d to birth d efects.

Because of big money spenton cleanup and treatment, or thegood fortune o f having w atersupply wells that are at the lead-ing e dge of pollution plume s,contaminants in drinking water inmost towns are at legal levels by

the t ime the w ater reache s thetap. But legal levels are not al-w ays safe. Fede ral drinking w a-ter standards fail to account forthe potential additive health ef-fects of multiple chemicals, thevulnerab ility of children , and cer-tainly the co nsum ers de sire forcon taminan t-free w ater. Legallevels are also not based solely

Federal drinking w aterstandards fail toaccount for thepotent ial addit ivehealth effects of

mult iple chemicalsand the vulnerabi l i tyof chi ldren.

Table 4. At least eleven dif ferent industrial toxic chemicals are found in publ ic drinkingw ater wel ls in O hio.

Sourc e fo r c on tam inan ts i n pub l i c w a te r supp l i es: O EPA 1998 and pe rsona l c om m un i c a t i ons w i th t ow n w a te r super in tenden ts.Sourc e fo r hea l t h e ff ec t s i n fo rm at ion : ED F 199 9 .

Known or suspected effect on human health, part ial l ist

Affects human

N umber of development Toxic to Toxic to

w ater supplies Causes (includes reproductive nervous

Contaminant contaminated cancer birth defects) system system

tr i c h l o ro eth y l en e (TC E) 2 1 X X X X

tetrac h l o ro eth y l en e (PC E) 1 9 X X X Xd i ch lo r o e t h y l e n e ( D CE) 1 7 X

1 ,1 ,1 - tr i c h l o ro eth an e (TC A ) 1 0 X Xv i n y l c h l o r i d e 6 X X X X

1 ,1 -d i c h lo ro eth an e (D C A ) 5 X X

to l u en e 2 X X Xcarb o n tetrac h lo ri d e 1 X X X

ch lo ro fo rm 1 X X X Xn i trate 1 X X

1 ,2 -d i c h lo ro p ro p an e 1 X X


16/35


on protecting human health:regulators must consider the costand feasibility of rem oving thecon taminan t as w ell. The finallegal limit is, in many cases, acompromise between pub lic

health and the cost of treating thepollution.

In dustrial pollutants in schoo lw ater supplies

In the 46 communities withcontaminated w ater supp lies,schoo ls and daycare facilitiestypically rece ive the same qu alityof water as the rest of the town .

O hio EPA has a lso ide ntified atleast seven m ore schools that relyor at one time relied on privatewe ll water contaminated withindu strial pollutan ts (Table 5).For almost all of these sch oo ls,the responsible industry is eitherunknown, or the contaminationhas no t been investigated.

Table 5. Schools and daycare centers are not im m une from industrial contaminants in theirdrinking water.

So u r c e : O EP A 1 9 9 8 . * A c t i o n t a k e n i s a s o f N o v e m b e r 1 9 9 8 , a c c o r d i n g t o O E PA 1 9 9 8 .

According to Ohio EPA(1998), the scho ols respo nsesto the co ntamination has var-ied. Tobo so Elem en tary inLicking Cou nty drilled a ne w ,deeper well , which provides

clean wa ter to the scho ol.The ABC Daycare Center inGeauga County filters the wa-ter to rem ove the carbo n tetra-chloride. Three of the scho olsfind legal levels of contami-nants in their water, and sohave not been required byOhio EPA to treat the water orfind an alternate source for thechildren (Mt. Vernon Academy

in Knox Coun ty, Donn elsvilleElementary School in ClarkCounty, and Lawrence El-em entary in WashingtonCoun ty). For the two rem ain-ing schools in Table 4, VictorySchool in Trumbull Countyan d Miss Pats Da ycare II inGeau ga County, Ohio EPA had

School County C ontam inants A ction taken

Central O hio

Toboso E lementary Schoo l in Toboso L i ck i n g tr i c h lo ro eth y len e (TC E) n ew w el l d r i l l edM t V e rn o n A c a d e m y i n M t V e rn o n K n o x tetrac h lo ro eth y len e (PC E) n o ac ti o n tak en

N ortheast O hio

M iss Pat' s D aycare I I in C hester land Ge a u g a ch lor ina ted organ ics and gaso l inec o m p o n e n t s

V i c t o r y S ch o o l

A B C D a yca r e Ce n t e r Ge a u g a c arb o n tetrac h lo r i d e o n si te fi l trati o n sy stem

V ic t o r y S ch o o l T r u m b u l l d i ch lo r o b e n ze n e , p o ssib l yd i ch lo r o m e t h a n e

n o a c t i o n t a ke n

Southw est O hio

D o n n e l sv i l l e Ele m e n t a r y Sch o o l W e l l i n

Do n n e l sv i l l e

C l ark PCE, 1 ,1 ,1 -TC A n o ac ti o n tak en

Law rence Elem entary in M ar ie t ta W a sh i n g ton 1 ,2 -D C A an d i so p ro py l to l u en e n o ac ti o n tak en

*


17/35


no t verified or follow ed the situ-ation as of November 1998.

Schools are not required tonotify parents of contamination

in the school water until levelsexce ed the legal limits. But legaldoe s not ne cessarily me an safe,especially for small children,w ho se sp ecial vulne rability tocontaminants has no t normallybeen considered in the standard-setting process. It is likely thatmo st paren ts wh ose childrenattend these schools anddaycares are n ot awa re of the

po llution in the w ater supp ly.

Table 6 . Businesses clean up their o w n w ater supp lies at 14 t im es the rate they clean upcom m unity w ater supplies.

Sourc e : O EPA 1998 an d O EPA 199 7 . I n fo rm at ion fo r t r eatm en t o f w a te r o r p rov i s ion o f a l t e rna te sourc e i s as o f N ov em ber 1 9 9 8 , a c c o r d i n g t o O E PA 1 9 9 8 .

Industrial pollutants in drinkingw ater at O hio b usinesses

Oh io EPA data show that drink-ing water sources for private wells

at over 24 industrial facilities andother companies in Ohio havebeen contaminated, primarily withorganic solvents and pe troleumcomp oun ds (Table 6). This watereither is or was in the past pro-vided to em ployees as drinkingwater.

Most of the se facilities n ow pro -vide their employees with an alter-

nate, clean source of drinking w a-

I t is l ikely that m ostparents whosechi ldren attendschoo ls and daycar esw i th contam inated

drinking water are notaware of the pol lut ion.

D oes the companytreat the water or

Contaminated W ater Supply C ity County Contam inants provide an alternate source?

N ortheast Ohio

Publ ic w ater suppl ies at num erous Bainbri dge Geauga c h lo r ina ted o rgan ic s and gaso l ine unk now ni nd u str ial fac i l i ti es i n Bai nb rid ge To w n sh i p and Tw p c o m p o nen tsM c Far lands Co rne rs, i n c lud ing w e l l s a t

industr ia l fac i l i t ies .Publ ic water suppl ies at numerous industr ies in Ch ester lan d G eau ga c h lo r ina ted o rgan ic s and gaso l ine unk now n

Ch ester lan d . c o m p o nen ts

B P O i l Park m an G eau ga v a r ious o rgan ic c om pounds ,inc lud ing benz ene , e thy lbenz ene ,naphthalene, to luene, 1 ,2 ,4-t ri m e th l b en z en e , x l en e

u n k n o w n

U l l m a n O i l Geauga c h l o r i nated so l v en ts y esCrandel l Ford Geauga b en z en e y esLake County Convenience Store Lake U ST-related c on tam in atio n y esM ona rc h Indus t ria l T i re Portage c i s-1 ,2 -D CE, 1 ,1 -D CA y esRepubl i c Engineered Steel Stark TCE, c arb on tetrac h l o r i de y esLu c ern Pro d uc ts Su m m i t v o l ati l e o rgan ic c om p o u nd s (V O Cs) y es

Speedway G as Stat ion #3 692 A k ro n Su m m i t c h l o r i nated so l v en ts y esAk ron Pub l i c L in ing S u m m i t V O Cs y esBramble Equipment Serv ices S u m m i t PCE y esW i l l s T ruc k ing S u m m i t c arbo n tetrac h lo r id e y esAs t ro Me ta l lu rg ic a l ( fo rme r ly As t ro H a rsc o Co rp ) W a y n e c h l o r i nated so l v en ts y esM on tana Produc ts W a y n e TCE y es

Southwest O hio

Scarff's N ursery , Inc . N ew C arl i sle C lark v in y l c h lo r id e n oCap to r Co rpo ra tion W e l l f i e ld Tip p C i ty M i am i TCE, c i s-1 ,2 -D CE y esW i ley Indus tr ia l Park W e l l f i e ld Tip p C i ty M i am i PCE, TCE, c i s-1 ,2 -D CE y esU S D O E M o u n d P l an t M iam isb u rg M on tgo m ery PCE, TCE, c i s 1 ,2 -D CE, v in y l c h lo r id e y es

Southeast Oh io

D ayton Pow er and L ight Stuart Stat ion A b erd een A d am s 1 ,1 ,1 -TCA and 1 ,1 -D C A y esSou th Po in t W e l l f i e ld So u th Po i n t Law ren c e n i trates u n k no w nCons o l ida ted A luminum H an n ib al M o n ro e 1 ,1 ,1 -TCE, c i s-1 ,2 -D CE, 1 ,1 -D CE n oGou ld , Inc . M c Co nn el sv il le M o rgan PCE, TCE, D CE y esO h io Power M us k ingum R iv e r P lan t Bev erl y W ash i ngton 1 ,1 ,1 -TCA n o


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ter. In som e cases, they havedrilled new wells, in other casesthey have added treatment stepsto remo ve the co ntaminants fromthe water. In a few cases clean

wa ter is hauled in from o thersources.

Compa red with their negli-gence in cleaning up communitywater supplies, Ohio companiesare m uch mo re w illing to cleanup tap water they have pollutedwh en their employees and man-agem en t have to drink it. Busi-ness have taken action on their

private water supplies in 85 per-cent of the cases for w hich wehave information. In con trast,businesses have co ntributed to-ward cleanup of only about 6percent of the community water

supp lies they have contami-nated, leaving the community tobear the cleanup costs.

A few companies, however,

have failed to clean up eventheir own water, and workersmay b e receiving w ater that con-tains co ntam inants at levelsabo ve the drinking w ater stan-dards, including Annies Restau-rant in Chesterland (GeaugaCou nty), an d Scarffs Nu rsery inClark Coun ty (O EPA 1998). Inother cases, contaminant levelsare legal, so Ohio EPA has not

required a clean w ater supp ly tobe p rovided (O hio Powe rMuskingu m River Plant in Wash-ington County and ConsolidatedAluminum in Monroe County).


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Inconsistent Enforcement

Chapter 2

The Environmental WorkingGrou ps an alysis of O hio EPAdata (OEPA 1998 and OEPA1997) shows that the system forcleaning up industrial contami-nation is failing on ma ny levels.

In describing their difficultiesin regulating contaminated sites,O hio EPA argue s that statecleanup laws are ambiguous,and that their authority is ques-tionable for regulating contami-nants that do not fit the narrowdefinition of hazardous waste,or in cases wh ere there are m ul-tip le p olluters.

A close look at the law show sthat the agency has broad au-thority to force industries toclean up contaminated publicwater sup plies. The problem isthat political appointeesthroughou t the Voinovich an dTaft administrations have failedto use this power to protect citi-zen s of the state. Instead,through their inaction they have

effectively shifted po w er fromthe agen cy to the po lluters andcrippled the ability of their staffto help what are primarily smalltowns struggling to provide safew ater for their residen ts.

Ohio EPA leadership hasadopted a procedure of courting

industrial polluters, issuing formalinvitation s for p olluters to en gagein negotiations with the agency.If po lluters d ecline , Oh io EPAhas traditionally backed awayfrom litigation, complaining inbroad terms abou t their lack of

statutory au thority to force p ollut-ers to the table.

Notably, in man y cases wh erepolluters have been identified,they have en tered into b indingagreeme nts with the a gency toclean up their ow n prop erty. Innearly every case, how ever, pol-luters do n ot extend theircleanup to the contaminated

groundwater outside the propertyboundaries, and they do not re-imb urse the water sup pliers fortreating and monitoring thedrinking w ater sup ply. In adocumen t prepared for the Ohiolegislature on contaminated p ub-lic water supplies, the agencycomplains no less than five timeslacks the autho rity to e ithe r in-vestigate or enforce cleanups of

public water supplies (OEPA,1998). The fact is, the law givesthem amp le authority. Oh io EPAleadership has just chosen not toexercise it.

Ohios water pollution controllaw states No person shall causepo llution or place or cause to b e

O hio EPA has broadauthority toinvestigate andenforce cleanups ofcontaminated publ icw ater supp lies; theyhave simply failed to

use it.

N ot only does O hioEPA alm ost neverpur sue ind ustrycleanup, they oftenfai l to require sim pleinvestigations of theproblem.


20/35


placed any sew age, industrialwaste, or other wastes in a loca-tion wh ere they shall cause p ol-lution of any w aters of the state,and then goe s on to give the Di-

rector of Ohio EPA broad author-ity to investigate con taminatedwa ters and to prosecute p olluters(Chapter 6111 of Ohios RevisedCode ). The states haza rdou swaste law gives Ohio EPA theautho rity to investigate an y loca-tion where hazardous waste isThreatening to cause or contrib-ute to water pollution, furtherdirecting the Attorney General,

upon written request of OhioEPAs Director, to institute a civilaction to recover cleanup costsfrom the polluting industry(Chapter 3734 of Ohios RevisedCode).

The politically-appointed lead-ership at Oh io EPA have ch osento igno re this au tho rity. As a re-sult, their staff has be en un able

to pu rsue cleanup s of contami-nated p ub lic w ater sup plies. It isnot surprising that given this lackof support, Ohio EPA district of-fices are often even unable torequire that businesses simplyinvestigate a contamination prob-lem . The agency has gon e as faras suggesting to the small townof Malta, po pu lation 804, that thetown itself enter into negotiations

with the polluter, Tomkins Indus-tries, in lieu of the age ncy u singits ow n statutory au thority.

In a case in Laure lville (Ho ck-ing Coun ty), the a gen cy claims tolack the authority to conduct acomplete source investigation fornitrate contamination (OEPA

1998), de spite the fact that thestates w ater p ollution co ntrollaw requires the Director toinvestigate, if a resident ofLaurelville files a written com-

plaint.

Nume rous small pu blic wa -ter sup plies in Bainb ridgeTownship and McFarlands Cor-ners, Geauga Coun ty, are con-taminated with chlorinated or-ganics and petroleum com-po und s. In these cases, Oh ioEPA failed to proceed with anenforcement referral against the

polluters, because of a lack oflegal and technical resources(O EPA 1998).

In Chesterland, also inGeauga County, Ohio EPA is-sued an Interim Action order in1993 to five polluters respon-sible for organics and petro-leum compo unds in pub lic wa-ter sup plies. Five years later,

Ohio EPA has not yet forcedthe polluters to comply withthe order.

The co ntamination in UnionCity, Darke Coun ty, illustratethe extrem e o f Oh io EPAs in-ability to en force state laws.The city found tetrachlorethene(PCE) in their water supplyw ell in 1986. They continue to

test the w ater to e nsure thatdrinking water standards aremet in their treated water.Meanwhile, in the 13 yearssince the contamination wa sdiscovered, Ohio EPA has notinvestigated to find the magni-tude or e xtent o f contaminationin the groundw ater. Oh io EPA

Typically polluters areresponsible forc leanup of the i r ow nproper ty only, and arenot required to

contr ibute tow ardcleanup of the townswell f ie ld.


21/35


writes, Ohio EPA believes thatfurther action is nee ded to en-sure a long term safe w ater sup -ply at the Union City Wellfield.Ohio EPA... lacks the clearly es-

tablished authority to remedythe con tamination. (OEPA 1998)

Even when Ohio EPA doesrespon d to a co mm unitys con-tamination prob lem , the re-spo nse is often too little andpe rhap s too late. According todata presented in OEPA (1998),O hio EPA investigations to d e-fine pollution sources begin an

average of over four years afterthe contamination in the watersupp ly is detected. The agencyhas begun investigations as lateas 10 years after the problem isfound.

Kenn y Jon es runs the w ater treatment p lant i nC oa l G r ove , w he r e he de l i ve r s sa f e tap w a t er t o t hev i l l age s 400 0 r esi den t s. W h i l e he s busy w i t h m a i n -tenance and co l l ec t i ng samp les for rout i n e test i ng ,he s a l so t w eak i ng t he v i l l age s ow n h aza r dous w ast ec l eanup p r o j ec t , as he m akes su r e C oa l G r ove s ex -t r ac t i on w e l l num ber 2 i s d r aw i ng a TC E p l um e aw ayf r om t he v i l l age s w a t e r supp l y w e l l s.

W i t h no f o r m a l t r a i n i ng i n haza r dous w ast erem edia t i on , M r . Jon es has f i gured ou t tha t by cy -c l i ng t he ex tr ac ti on w e l l to r un abou t fou r m on t hsou t o f t he yea r, he can k eep T C E i n t he v i l l age w e l l s

dow n a t l eve l s be l ow O h i o s d r i nk i ng w a t er st an -da r d .

Th i s seat -o f - the-pan ts op era t i on g i ves v i l l ageresiden ts tap w ater w i th l ess than o ne par t per b i l l i on(ppb ) o f t he po t en t i a l l y ca r c i nogen i c T C E, w e l l be -l ow t he d r i nk i n g w a t er st anda r d o f fi ve ppb . M ean-w h i l e , e x tr ac t i o n w e l l n u m b e r 2 p u m p s a w a y a tabou t 16 0 , 000 ga l l ons each day , d i scha r g i ng w a t er

C O A L G R O V E PA YSFO R I N D U S T R I A L C L E A N U PO F TH E I R W ATER SU PPLY

w i t h abou t 20 pp b o f T C E i n t o t he O h i o R i ve r , T C Ew h i c h w o u l d o t h e rw i se h a v e en d e d u p a t k it c h enfaucets across Coal G rove.

I n C oa l G r ove t he p r ob l em s began i n t he 1980sw hen t he Fo r d b r o t he r s began op e r at i ng t he i r t ruckdeg r easi ng op e r at i on u p t he h i l l f r om t he v i l l agew e l l fi e l d . T h r ough t he i r sl opp y w ast e hand l i n gprac t i ces , the d egreaser TCE foun d i t s way i n to th eg r ound w a t er benea th t he si t e . T he T C E p l um e m i -g r at ed tow ar d the O h i o R i ve r . C oa l G r ove s w a t ersupp l y w e l l s, si t ua t ed b e t w een t he Fo r d b r o t he r sope r a t i on and t he O h i o R i ve r , w e r e d i r ec tl y i n i t s

pa t h .

T he Fo r ds have sk i pped t ow n , acco r d i ng t oM r . Jon es, and O hio EPA has begun i n ves ti ga t i ngthe i r o ld t ru ck s i t e to f i nd the ex tent o f TCE con -t am i na t i on . M eanw h i l e , t he V i l l age o f C oa l G r ovehas spen t up w ar ds o f $5 0 , 000 i n t he pas t 10 yea r s,c l ean i ng up som ebody e l se s m i s takes, t o m akesure the i r k i ds have w ater tha t i s sa fe to dr i n k .

In other cases, how ever, OhioEPA has exercised its authority toforce industry to clean up at leastsome of the prob lem s that itcaused. But even in these cases,

industry responsibility is limitedto cleanu p of its own prop erty,the polluter is not required tocontribute tow ard cleanu p of thetowns wellfield. Ohio EPA hassigned consen t orders requ iringinvestigation or cleanup with anumber of polluters who havecontaminated pu blic water sup-plies: Regal Ware in Woo ster(Wayn e Cou nty), AEP FLEXO in

Middletown (Butler County),Muncy Corporation in Enon(Clark County), Morris Bean, Inc.in Yellow Springs (GreeneCoun ty), Tomk ins Indu stries inMalta (Morgan County), Joy In-


22/35


dustries in New Philadelphia(Tuscarawas Coun ty), and UnionCarbide an d Shell in Newp ort(Washington County).

In othe r situation s, Oh io EPAclaims to lack the resources evento begin an investigation of thesource of contamination (OEPA,1998), as is the case for thewellfields in Union City (DarkeCounty), Fairborn (GreeneCounty), and Hillsboro (HighlandCounty), all of which are con-taminated w ith indu strial sol-vents.

For well over half of the pub-lic water supplies contaminatedby ind ustrial po llution, O hio EPAhas not been able to conduct asource investigation of any type.

Worse, there is no eviden cethat the state aims its limited re-sources at the mo st imp ortantprob lems. Their decision to con-

duct a source investigation bearslittle relationship to the level ofcontamination in the pu blic w atersupp ly. Oh io EPA has cond uctedsource investigations at slightlyover half of the more seriouslycontaminated sites, wh ere con -centrations of contaminants at the

wa ter sup ply wells exceeddrinking w ater standard s. Butthey have also condu cted inves-tigation s at n early as h igh a frac-tion of the less contaminated

sites (40 p ercen t), leaving a largenum ber of more seriously con-taminated sites completelyuninvestigated.

McCon ne llsville in MorganCounty is just one town payingthe p rice for agency and indu s-try inaction . If this tow ns singlewa ter sup ply well beco me s in-op erable, the town will have

w ater for on ly five o r six d aysbefore their storage tanks aredep leted. According to the wa-ter superintendent, Ohio EPA isnot allowing them to drill newwe lls be cause o f contaminationin the aquifer. They foun d outon ly last March tha t the low ca-pacity of their eme rgency w atersupp ly line from the town ofMalta would fall far short of the

towns needs in an emergency.They have totally destroyed ourw ellfield, says the w ater sup er-intendent of the gas stations re-sponsible for the pollution, add-ing, If our well goes down,were in a critical situation.

There is no evidencethat t he state aim s itslim ited resources atthe most importantproblems.


23/35


The C ost to Publ ic H ealth

Chapter 3

In every case that EWG inves-tigated, water suppliers are tak-ing the nece ssary step s to en suretheir tap water meets legal stan-dards for the protection of hu-ma n health. Som etimes this in-

volves monitoring the pollutantsto en sure that their conce ntra-tions in water supply wells areno t increasing. In othe r cases,water suppliers operate ground-water p um p-and-treat system s, ata cost they are forced to pass onto their custom ers. Throu ghtheir efforts, their customers areensured that the w ater theydrink meets legal standards.

Unfortunately, it is nearly im-possible to remove all of thecontamination from a pollutedwater sup ply. For the 26 com-munities shown in Table 7, datafrom Ohio EPA shows that con-taminants are consistently foundin what is called the finishedwater, the water that leaves thetreatmen t plant and e nters the

distribu tion p ipes. EWG alsofoun d 257 other com mu nitiesthat have found industrial pollut-ants in their tap water over thepa st five ye ars (App en dix A),wh ich are not currently beingaddressed in any way un derO hio EPAs haza rdou s w asteremediation program.

It is no t illegal u nd er the fed-eral Safe Drinking Water Act toserve water containing industrialcontaminants. A certain amou ntof contamination is allow ed un-der the law, and these 26 com-

mu nities all satisfy the law . It isa different question altogether,though, whether the residentswo uld p refer to drink w ater freeof industrial contaminants, orwh ether drinking these con tami-nants can be considered safe.For a nu mb er of che micals, theallowable level of the contami-nant in drinking water is higherthan the federal government

would prefer.

The U.S. Environm en tal Pro-tection Agency (EPA) sets limitscalled Maximum ContaminantLeve l Go als, or MCLGs, th at re p -resent their ultimate health-basedgoals for levels of contam inantsthey wo uld prefer to see indrinking w ater. Then they set analternate grou p of stand ards

called Maximum ContaminantLeve ls, or MCLs, w hich are theactual amounts of contaminationlegally allowed in drinking water.In man y cases the allow ablelimit, or th e MCL, is highe r tha nEPAs goa l, the MCLG. This isbe cause the MCL takes into ac-cou nt the cost and feasibility of

In many communi t iesresidents continu e todr ink tap w ater thatconta ins indu strialcontaminants.


24/35


Table 7 . D espite the best efforts of w ater supp liers, cit izens contin ue todrin k low leve ls of industrial contam inants in tap w ater. In m ost cases,pol luters do no thing to help clean i t up.

N ote : Po ten t i a l po l l u te r s as des c ribed i n O EPA 199 8 and 199 7 , a re designa ted w i th an as te r i sk ( * ).So u r c e : O EP A 1 9 9 8 , p e r so n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w i t h O h i o EP A a n d t o w n w a t er su p e r i n t en d e n t s, a n d O h i o p u b l i c w a te r su p p l y c o m p l i a n c e t est i n g d a ta b a se su p p l i e d t o E W G b y O h i o E PA . .

LocationContaminants found in tap

w ater Potential or know n polluter

N o r th w e st O h io

Fay ette, Fu l to n Co ., p o p . 1 ,1 5 0 v in y l c h l o r id e Fay ette Tu b u lar Pro d u c ts

Brad n er, W oo d C o ., p o p . 1 ,0 9 3 PC E u n k n o w n ; i n ad eq u ate O h i o EPAi n v e st i a ti o n

N ortheast Ohio

N orth Canton, S tark Co. , pop.1 7 0 00

c is-1 ,2 -D CE an d D CA u n k n o w n

Southwest O hio

Ri pl ey , B ro w n C o., p op . 2 ,2 00 T CE an d 1 ,2 -d ic hl or o r o an e

former U .S. Shoe factory , f o rmerw a ste o nd s

U rb a n a (U rb a n a M a d R i v e rw el l f i e ld) , Cham paign Co. , pop.1 1 , 3 5 3

PC E, TC E G rim es A ero sp ac e Ru ssel l Streetfac i l i t y and S iemens Energy andA u t o m a t i o n

En o n, C la rk Co ., p o p. 2 ,6 0 3 PC E, T CE, c is- an d t ra ns- 1,2 -D CE

M u n c y C o rp o ra ti o n

M i l f o r d , C l e rm o n t C o ., p o p . 5 , 8 3 0 P C E, T CE, c i s- 1 ,2 - D C E,1,1 ,1-TCA, 1 ,1-DCE, 1 ,1-D CA

u n k n o w n

Spr ing Va l ley , Greene County ,

o . 5 6 9

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n

Bel le fonta ine, Logan Co. , pop.1 2 , 1 4 2

TCE, 1 ,1 ,1-TCA, c i s -1 ,2-D C E , 1 , 1 - D C A

a b a n d o n e d d ru m d u m p

Tro y , M iam i Co ., p o p . 2 0 ,5 0 0 PC E fo rm er au to d ea lersh ip (W am p lerB u i c k -G M C I n c . )* a n d K i m b e r l yC lark e a er m il l*

D a y t o n (M i a m i a n d O t t o w aw el l f i e lds), M ontgom ery Co. , pop.4 2 0 , 0 0 0

TCE and o ther i nd ust r i a lso l vents

D A P * , G a y s to n C o rp o ra t i o n * , G e mCi ty Chem ica ls* , Va l l eycrest Landf i l l(North San Landf i l l I nc)* , Van Dyne-Crot t y Inc . * , and U .S. A i r ForceW r i h t -P at te r so n A F B

M i a m i s b u rg, M o n t g o m e ry C o . ,o . 1 7 9 0 0

PC E, c i s-1 ,2 -D C E u n k n o w n

H u b e r H e i g h t s, M o n t g o m e ry C o . ,o . 3 9 ,4 00

c is-1 ,2 -D CE n o t ad d ressed in O hio EPA rep o rt

Southeast O hio

Bridgeport , Be lmont Co. , pop.3 , 5 7 0

PC E, TC E, ci s- 1,2 -D C E d ry c le an er , n o t n am e d in O h i o EPAre o rt

Be lmon t County (Sani tary Sew erD is t ri c t #3) , pop. 25,89 0

c is-1 ,2 -D CE U nic al C o rp o rat io n , A sh lan dChemica l , and 3 ind iv idua ls (currento w n e r s

W est Lafayet te , Coshocton Co . ,o . 3 ,2 00

v in y l c h l o r id e Pen n -M ic h igan M an u fac tu r i n g

Lau rel v i l l e, H oc k i n g Co ., p o p . 8 5 8 n i t ra tes O hio EPA h as id en t i fi ed at l east o n ep o t e n t i al s o u rc e , n o t n a m e d i n O h i oEPA r e o rt

Yo rk v i l l e, Je fferso n C o ., p o p . 1 ,2 4 8 PC E, TC E u n k n o w n

C o a l G ro v e , L a w re n c e C o . , p o p .4 , 7 1 9

TC E, ci s-1 ,2 -D CE Tr i -Sta te Tan k (fo rm er l y Fo rdBrothers

M i dd lep ort, M eigs Co ., po p. 2,5 70 TC E, ci s-1 ,2 -D C E u nk no w n, no t i n vestigated

M c C o n n e l sv i l l e , M o rg a n C o . , p o p .1 , 8 0 4

PC E, TC E, c is- 1,2 -D C E Pe nn z oi l an d B ri ti sh P et ro le um ,p ro p e r t y n o w o w n e d b y C e n tu ryBank

W av er l y , Pi k e Co ., p o p . 5 ,0 0 0 c is-1 ,2 -D CE h isto ri c d u m pi n g o n c i ty p ro p erty

N ew Phi lade lph ia , TuscarawasC o ., o . 1 6,0 00

TC E Jo y Tec h n o lo gi es

N e w p o r t , Wa s h i n g to n C o . , p o p .8 94

TCE, c i s-1 ,2-D CE, v iny lc h l o r i d e

U n i o n C a rb i d e a n d S h e l l

M ar ie t ta, Washington Co. , pop.2 0 , 3 0 0

1 ,1 ,1 -TCA u n k n o w n

Bever l y , Washington Co. , pop.1 5 50

PC E Lau gh erty C lean ers, M ak r i sC leaners*


25/35


removing the co ntaminant fromthe water. When treatmen t for aparticular contaminant is expen-sive o r no t com p letely effective,the MCL can be higher than the

MCLG.

For instance , wh ile EPAwo uld prefer to ha ve no PCE orTCE present in drinking watersupp lies (bo th che micals haveMCLGs of zero), the drinkingwater standards for bo th are setat five parts per billion (ppb).So it is legal for w ater com p aniesto serve water that contains

some amou nt of know n or po-tential cancer-causing com-po un ds like PCE and TCE. Atthe low levels allowed in drink-ing water, the risk of contractingcancer beco mes very low . Butfor most of these chemicals,there is no known absolutesafe level that will not causecancer.

Certainly for ch ildren , w hoare mo re susceptible to the e f-fects of some chemicals thanadults, these low levels becomemo re of a concern. Som e child-

hoo d diseases are l inked to spe-cific contaminants found in Ohiopu blic w ater sup plies. For in-stance, TCE, an industrial solventbelieved to cause leukem ia, has

been found in at least 21 of the46 contaminated community wa-ter supplies (Tables 1 and 2).

The Pub lics Right to Kno w

Beginning in 1999, fed eralregulations require public watersupp liers to mail an an nual sum-mary o f drinking w ater qu ality toeach of their custom ers. The

sum ma ry will list the co ntam i-nants foun d in the water supp lythroughout the year, the levels atwhich they we re found , and po-tential he alth effects. These re-ports will be vital in a statewhere polluting industries golargely unp unished an d p olluteddrinking w ater sources remaincontaminated. And for the 26towns in Oh io that find contami-

nants in their finished water,these right-to-know reports willbe critical for residents interestedin protecting their health and thehealth of their children.


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Recommendat ions

Chapter 4

The problem of water con-tamination in O hio is mu ltifac-eted, and the solution mu st beas well. Pub lic water sup plies inat least 43 Ohio counties havebeen contaminated with indus-

trial p ollutants. The lead ershipof O hio EPA has failed to use itsclear legal au thority to force p ol-luters to clean u p pu blic w atersupp lies they have contami-nated. Instead, the agency is re-lying largely on the good will ofindustries to clean up their pol-lution . Indu stries, seeing Oh ioEPA take an increasingly weakerstance in enforcing the law, are

in som e cases refusing to co op -erate or o utright d efying legallybinding consen t orde rs. And , inalmost all cases, they do nothelp communities clean up theirdrinking water.

The first priority sho uld b e toprovide uncontaminated drink-ing w ater to the affected com -mu nities. It is no t en ou gh for

people to be provided with tapwater contaminated with sup-posedly safe levels of industrialcon taminan ts. The po llutersmust pay to provide uncontami-nated tap water to all the resi-den ts currently be ing providedpo lluted tap water. In all caseswhere the polluter has been

identified, payment should beginimmediately.

For cases where polluters areinsolvent or cant be identified, astate Superfund law could be

used to pay for clean up . The fundcould be p rovided through a surtaxon big business, similar to the fed-eral mode l. Oh io EPA has be entalking ab out a law that wou ld cre-ate such a fund for years now.The 43 towns in Table 3 are casu-alties of agen cy and legislature in-action on this issue.

The legislature is no t taking the

lead on creating a state supe rfund .In a 1998 Ohio EPA report on con-taminated pu blic w ater supp liesprep ared for an Oh io legislator(OEPA, 1998), the agency madethe case that it needs authority,money, and staff to protect Ohiocitizens from industrial pollutants.Describing the con taminated watersup ply in Midd lepo rt, MeigsCounty, the agency said Ohio EPA

believes that the TCE contamina-tion cou ld ea sily exceed the MCL atany time, add ing that if the y we redelegated funding an d authority,they could solve the p roblem.These claims have not be eneno ugh to mo ve the legislature toaction.

For cases w herepollu ters are in solventor cant be ident i f ied,a state Superfu ndlaw could be used topay for cleanup.


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The p ublic has a right to kno wthe names of the polluters incases of contaminated tap w atersup p lies. Whe re the polluter isknown, water suppliers should

identify the polluter by name in

their annual water quality re-po rts required u nde r the SafeDrinking Water Act, the first ofwh ich is due to custom ers ofpu blic w ater supp liers by O cto-

be r 1999.


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Appendix A

C ity W ater Supplier Population

N u mb er ofV O C

D etect ionsSince 199 4

N u mb er ofChemicalsD etected

W RIG H T-PA TTERSO N A FB W RIG H T-PA TTERSO N A FB,' A / 1 5 1 6 0 3 3 1 7CO LU M BU S PLEA SA N T A CRES M H P 2 7 0 1 1 1 1H O LG A TE H O LG A TE, V ILLA G E O F 1 3 0 0 1 1 8CH ESTERLA N D M A N CH ESTER FA RM S W A TER 9 4 1 2 8D A YTO N D A YTO N , C ITY O F-M IA M I PL 1 8 4 0 0 0 1 2 5 7M CCO N N ELSV ILLE M CCO N N ELSV ILLE, V ILLA G E 1 8 0 4 3 4 7SO U TH V IEN N A SU N SH IN E M O BILE H O M E PA R 1 4 6 1 2 7W RIG H T-PA TTERSO N A FB W RIG H T-PA TTERSO N A FB,' B ' 1 2 0 4 5 8 7A D A A D A , V ILLA G E O F 5 6 0 0 6 6SPRIN G FIELD CLEA RV IEW M O BILE H O M E PK 1 2 7 2 1 6SO U TH V IEN N A CO U N TRY H A V EN M O BILE H O M 2 4 7 6 6BA IN BRID G E H IG H LA N D CO U N TY W A TER CO 2 7 1 0 4 6 6M ILFO RD M ILFO RD , C ITY O F 5 8 3 0 2 4 6BO LIV A R TCM SD -RID G EW O O D 3 9 0 7 6A KRO N W ILLO W REST TRA ILER PA RK 1 9 6 1 8 6V IEN N A BIRCH W O O D M A N O R-O LD .PA RK 8 7 0 5 5BRID G EPO RT BRID G EPO RT, V ILLA G E O F 3 5 7 0 6 1 5SA RA H SV ILLE CLEA R W A TER CO RPO RA TIO N 2 0 2 5 5 5PO RT CLIN TO N O H IO A D JG N CA M P PERRY 2 5 0 0 1 3 5RICH W O O D RICH W O O D , V ILLA G E O F 2 1 8 6 5 5CLEV ELA N D A U BU RN W A TER SERV ICE CO 2 9 0 4 4BELLEFO N TA IN E BELLEFO N TA IN E, C ITY O F 1 2 1 4 2 1 6 4BLU FFTO N BLU FFTO N , V ILLA G E O F 3 3 6 7 4 4SID N EY CH RISTO PH ERS N ' BRO O K M H P 1 8 0 4 4KEN T CITIZ EN S U TILITIES-A U RO R 9 5 0 4 4CO A L G RO V E CO A L G RO V E, V ILLA G E O F 4 7 1 9 1 4 4SA LEM CO LO N IA L V ILLA ESTA TES 3 9 5 6 4D A YTO N D A YTO N , C ITY O F-O TTA W A P 2 3 6 0 0 0 1 2 4W A RSA W ECH O IN G H ILLS V ILLA G E, I 8 6 7 4EN O N EN O N ,V ILLA G E O F 2 6 0 3 2 5 4N EW A RK LICKIN G CO ,JA RD IN M A N O R 4 3 0 4 4M A RIETTA M A RIETTA , C ITY O F 2 0 3 0 0 2 0 4M A N SFIELD O A K G RO V E M A N O R 1 7 1 1 3 4PRO CTO RV ILLE PRO CTO RV ILLE, V ILLA G E O F 7 0 0 5 4SA LEM SA LEM , C ITY O F 1 9 0 0 0 4 4M A SO N SH A D O W LA KE V ILLA G E M H P 8 5 7 4 4G O SH EN W ESTERN W A TER CO M PA N Y 3 1 1 5 0 4 4D O YLESTO W N W ESTV IEW M H P & SA LES 4 0 0 4 4KIRTLA N D W H ISPERIN G W ILLO W M H P 3 0 0 7 4SH ELBY A BRA XA S FO U N D A TIO N O F O H 1 0 8 1 0 3D ELPH O S D ELPH O S, C ITY O F 7 0 9 3 4 3EN O N D W IG H T RO A D M O BILE H O M E 3 8 9 3FRA N KLIN FRA N KLIN , C ITY O F 1 0 5 0 0 3 3M ILLERSBU RG H ILLTO P BO A RD IN G H O M E 4 8 4 3JA M ESTO W N JA M ESTO W N , V ILLA G E O F 1 8 5 0 3 3LU D LO W FA LLS LE-O -N A FA LLS M H P 3 1 3 3

RU TLA N D LEA D IN G CREEK CO N S. D IST 4 7 6 7 3 3N EW A RK LICKIN G CO ,H A RBO R H ILLS 7 2 8 3 3M CCLU RE M CCLU RE, V ILLA G E O F 8 5 0 3 3N EW PH ILA D ELPH IA N EW PH ILA D ELPH IA ,C ITY O F 1 6 0 0 0 2 0 3N EW W A TERFO RD N EW W A TERFO RD , V LG . O F 1 3 6 0 4 3N EW CO M ERSTO W N N EW CO M ERSTO W N , V LG . O F 4 0 0 0 3 3N EW PO RT N EW PO RT W TR. & SW R. D IST 8 9 4 3 9 3LO U D O N V ILLE O D YS-M O H ICA N YO U TH CTR 3 2 5 4 3PA U LD IN G PA U LD IN G , V ILLA G E O F 3 3 3 8 3 3A KRO N RID G EW O O D PLA CE 1 5 5 1 0 3RIPLEY RIPLEY, V ILLA G E O F 2 2 0 0 1 6 3U RBA N A U RBA N A , C ITY O F 1 1 3 5 3 6 3

At least 28 3 co m m unit ies have found industrial pol lutants in their tap w ater since 19 94 .


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C ity W ater Supplier Populat ion

N u m b er o fV O C

D etect ionsSince 1994

N u m b er ofChemicalsD etected

W EST M ILTO N W EST M ILTO N , V ILLA G E O F 4 6 2 8 3 3YO RKV ILLE YO RKV ILLE, V ILLA G E O F 1 2 4 8 7 3A BERD EEN A BERD EEN , V ILLA G E O F 2 0 0 0 2 2

TIPP CITY A L BA LLIN G ER M O BILE H O M E 7 5 4 2W O O STER A U STIN -TERRA C E II 7 0 2 2BA IN BRID G E BA IN BRID G E, V ILLA G E O F 1 0 5 0 3 2N O RTH LIM A BEECH W O O D M O BILE ESTA TES 9 0 4 2ST. CLA IRSV ILLE BELM O N T CO . SA N . D IST. 3 2 5 8 9 0 5 2BRA D N ER BRA D N ER, V ILLA G E O F 1 0 9 3 1 3 2C ECIL BREN TW O O D CO U RT M H P 9 5 2 2C O RTLA N D BRIA RFIELD O F C O RTLA N D N 5 0 5 2D A YTO N C A IN S M O BILE H O M E C O U RT 7 0 1 7 2C A LD W ELL C A LD W ELL, V ILLA G E O F 7 5 0 0 2 2C A M PBELL C A M PBELL, C ITY O F 9 6 5 0 2 2

C A RRO LL W A TER & SEW ER 0 2 2W ILBERFO RCE C EN TRA L STA TE U N IV ERSITY 4 1 0 0 3 2C LIN TO N C O M ET M O BILE H O M E PA RK 3 0 3 2H A M ILTO N ED G EW O O D M O BILE H O M E PA R 6 0 2 2BED FO RD H EIG H TS EV ERG REEN V ILLA G E 1 0 0 2 2FA IRFIELD FA IRFIELD , C ITY O F 4 1 2 0 0 2 2D ELTA FO RREST M H P 8 2 7 2W IN D SO R G RA N D V A LLEY CO U N TRY M A N 2 1 5 3 2BEA V ERCREEK G REEN E C O .-SO U TH W EST REG 2 8 8 2 2BEA V ERCREEK G REEN E C O U N TY-C ED A RV ILLE 3 2 1 0 2 2LISBO N G U ILFO RD LA KE ESTA TES 2 1 0 2 2BELO IT ISLA N D CREEK H O M EO W N ERS 5 2 1 1 2LO C KLA N D LO C KLA N D , V ILLA G E O F 4 3 5 6 2 2YO U N G STO W N M A H O N IN G CO .-C RA IG BEA C H 1 9 7 5 2 2FO W LER M EA D O W BRO O K M A N O R N U RSIN 5 4 2 2M IA M ISBU RG M IA M ISBU RG ,CITY O F 1 7 9 0 0 5 2M ID D LE PO IN T M ID D LE PO IN T, V ILLA G E O F 6 3 9 2 2M ID D LEPO RT M ID D LEPO RT, V ILLA G E O F 2 5 7 0 1 3 2

N EW PH ILA D ELPH IA M W C D - SITES LA KE 3 6 0 2 2N EW LO N D O N N EW LO N D O N , V LG O F-PLT 1 3 0 5 0 2 2N EW LO N D O N , V LG O F-PLT 2 0 2 2

N O RTH BEN TO N N O RTH BEN TO N SH O RES,A SSN 4 0 2 2N O RTH C A N TO N N O RTH C A N TO N , C ITY O F 1 7 0 0 0 1 0 2O TTA W A O TTA W A , V ILLA G E O F 4 1 9 9 2 2PA YN E PA YN E, V ILLA G E O F 1 3 5 0 3 2D ELTA PEA CEFU L A CRES M H P 1 8 0 1 0 2JA SPER PIKE W A TER, IN C.-PLA N T 8 3 0 3 2 2PLYM O U TH PIN E G RO V E M O BILE ESTA TE 6 0 5 2

PIN EBRO O K ESTA TES 0 2 2LO N D O N SPRIN G V A LLEY M H P 1 2 6 2 2W O O STER SPRU CE TREE V ILLA G E M H P 2 0 0 2 2LO W ELLV ILLE STA TE LIN E M H P # 1 3 0 3 2STRYKER STRYKER, V ILLA G E O F 1 5 0 0 8 2

SU G A RCREEK SU G A RC REEK, V ILLA G E O F 2 2 0 0 2 2A KRO N SU M M IT CO -C O U N TRY CLU B Y 3 2 6 5 2 2SYLV A N IA SW A N TO N M EA D O W S 2 7 5 4 2H IRA M TRO Y O A KS H O M ES 2 5 0 3 2TRO Y TRO Y, C ITY O F 2 0 5 0 0 5 2W A SH IN G TO N V ILLE W A SH IN G TO N V ILLE, V LG . O F 8 9 0 3 2W A V ERLY W A V ERLY, C ITY O F 5 0 0 0 1 3 2A KRO N W ESTERN RESERV E V ILLA G E 1 5 0 4 2W O O D V ILLE W O O D V ILLE, V ILLA G E O F 2 0 6 0 2 2XEN IA XEN IA , C ITY O F 2 5 7 7 0 2 2C U RTIC E A LLEN PA RK M O BILE C O U RT 8 0 1 1


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City W ater Supplier Population

N u m b er ofV O C


N u m b er ofChemicalsDetected

A N TW ERP A N TW ERP, V ILLA G E O F 2 0 0 0 1 1SYLV A N IA A RRO W H EA D M H P 3 2 0 1 1A TH EN S A TH EN S, C ITY O F 2 2 3 3 5 1 1

W O O STER A U STIN - CO U N TRY M A N O R 5 0 1 1W O O STER A U STIN -TERRA CE I 7 0 1 1G A RRETTSV ILLE BA IN BRO O K W A TER CO M PA N Y 7 2 0 1 1BELLA IRE BELLA IRE, C ITY O F 6 0 2 5 1 1BERLIN BERLIN W A TER C O M PA N Y 1 7 8 0 2 1BETH EL BETH EL, V ILLA G E O F 3 0 0 0 1 1BEV ERLY BEV ERLY, V ILLA G E O F 1 5 5 0 3 1BLA N CH ESTER BLA N CH ESTER, V ILLA G E O F 4 4 5 0 1 1H U N TSBU RG BLO SSO M H ILL C A RE CEN TER 1 3 1 1 1N EW A RK BLU E H ERO N M A N O R 5 0 1 1FREM O N T BO W ER, RIC H A RD M H P 4 5 1 1SM ITH V ILLE BO Y' S V ILLA G E, IN C . 1 0 0 1 1KIN SM A N BO YD ' S KIN SM A N H O M E 6 5 1 1LEETO N IA BREEZ EW A Y M O BILE M A N O R 6 0 1 1BREW STER BREW STER, V ILLA G E O F 2 3 0 0 1 1RIPLEY BRO W N CO U N TY RU RA L W A TER 2 0 1 7 4 1 1TH O RN V ILLE BU C KEYE BEA C H M A RIN A M H P 1 4 0 1 1BU C YRU S BU C YRU S, C ITY O F 1 3 5 0 0 1 1EA ST LIV ERPO O L CA LCU TTA A CRES A SSO C. 1 4 3 1 1CIN CIN N A TI CA N D LE LIG H T M H P 5 6 1 1CA REY CA REY, V ILLA G E O F 3 7 0 0 1 1CH ILLIC O TH E CA RO U SEL C O U RT M H P 3 0 0 1 1CO RTLA N D CA SS LA KE M O BILE H O M E PA 7 5 1 1CELIN A CELIN A , C ITY O F 1 0 8 8 9 1 1Z A N ESV ILLE CH A TEA U ESTA TES M O BILE H 2 4 0 1 1BA TA V IA CLERM O N T C O W A TER, BM W TP 6 3 1 9 1 1 1CO LD W A TER CO LD W A TER, V ILLA G E O F 4 3 3 5 1 1M T. V ERN O N CO LO N IA L H ILLS M H P 1 4 6 1 1M O U N T V ERN O N CO LO N IA L TERRA CE M H P 9 0 2 1

CO LU M BU S G RO V E CO LU M BU S G RO V E, V LG . O F 2 2 3 1 1 1O A K H A RBO R CO M E SA IL A W A Y C O N D O S 4 0 0 1 1M ID D LE PO IN T CO N RA D M O BILE H O M ES 2 1 3 1 1BELLV ILLE CO U N TRY M EA D O W C A RE C EN T 8 6 1 1M ED W A Y CO U N TRYSID E A PA RTM EN TS 9 0 1 1CO V IN G TO N CO V IN G TO N , V ILLA G E O F 2 6 0 3 1 1CU M BERLA N D CU M BERLA N D , V ILLA G E O F 4 7 0 1 1G A LLO W A Y D A RBY C REST C IV IC A SSO C 1 3 6 1 1CIRC LEV ILLE D A RBYV ILLE, V ILLA G E O F 2 2 5 2 1D ILLO N V A LE D ILLO N V A LE, V ILLA G E O F 9 0 0 2 1CA N TO N D LH PRO PERTIES 3 5 1 1D O V ER D O V ER, C ITY O F 1 1 5 3 6 4 1D RESD EN D RESD EN , V ILLA G E O F 2 0 0 0 3 1SPRIN G FIELD ED G EW O O D M O BILE H O M E PK. 9 4 1 1ED O N ED O N , V ILLA G E O F 8 8 0 1 1

M A N SFIELD EXPRESSV IEW CO M M W TR A SS 3 0 0 2 1FA IRBO RN FA IRBO RN , C ITY O F 3 2 0 0 0 1 1M IN STER FA IRH A V EN -SH ELBY C O H O M E 2 9 1 1 1STO W FA IRLA N E W A TER C O . 4 0 0 1 1FA RM ERSV ILLE FA RM ERSV ILLE,V ILLA G E O F 9 3 2 2 1W ELLSV ILLE FA RR H ILL TRA ILER PA RK 1 1 7 1 1FA YETTE FA YETTE, V ILLA G E O F 1 1 5 0 9 1FLU SH IN G FLU SH IN G , V ILLA G E O F 1 9 2 6 1 1FO RT RECO V ERY FO RT REC O V ERY, V ILLA G E O 1 3 8 6 4 1FO W LER FO W LER M O BILE H O M E CO U RT 4 0 1 1O RIEN T FO XLA IR FA RM S M H P IN C. 4 9 0 1 1


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C ity W ater Supplier Population

N u m b er ofV O C


N u m b er ofChemicalsDetected

FRA Z EYSBU RG FRA Z EYSBU RG , V ILLA G E O F 1 1 0 0 1 1G A LLIPO LIS G A LLIPO LIS, C ITY O F 9 0 0 0 1 1A SH LA N D G REEN A C RES M H P 9 7 1 1

A D A G REEN M EA D O W M O BILE H O M E 3 0 1 1ELM O RE G REE

polluter privilege

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