"Celebration set to welcome public water lines"

By Christina Kristofic, Intelligencer, June 15, 2010:

Township officials and local businesses will boil hot dogs and make iced tea to celebrate public water at Cross Keys.

About a dozen property owners in the Cross Keys neighborhood now have potable water. Dozens more are due to get it within a month.
And they're drinking it up.
Officials from Buckingham, Doylestown and Plumstead townships, local business owners and residents are celebrating the installation of public water lines in Cross Keys with a little barbecue on Airport Boulevard at noon June 30. They'll have boiled hot dogs, iced tea, lemonade, desserts and other snacks.
Doylestown Township officials say there's a lot to celebrate.
"People are now going to be able to bathe in their water without having to worry about breathing vapors or getting contaminated water into their skin," said Doylestown Township Municipal Authority Director Dick John. "And they'll be able to drink water now from their tap."
The state Department of Environmental Protection is paying for the installation of water mains and residential connections. About 100 properties are in the area; half are residential. The project costs approximately $1.7 million.
Business owners are required to pay for their own connections to the new public water system.
County and state officials have been monitoring the Cross Keys area since 1979.
The Bucks County Department of Health found tetrachloroethylene (PCE), dichloroethylene (DCE) and dioxane in several wells in May 2008. The DEP took over the testing in September 2008 and sampled dozens of well in the area.
In April 2009, nine homes and 21 businesses were found to exceed the state's standards for safe drinking water. Doylestown Township manager Stephanie Mason said the water is so contaminated that property owners aren't supposed to drink it - even if they boil it.
PCE exposure can cause dizziness, headaches, sleepiness, confusion, nausea, difficulty in speaking and walking, and possibly death, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. It might also cause cancer.
Little is known about the health effects of exposure to DCE, a colorless, oily liquid.
Dioxane exposure can lead to kidney and liver damage, and death, according to the agency.
DEP officials said they have also found low levels of trichloroethane, tetrachloroethane, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and trichlorethene (TCE) in area wells. All of the chemicals are considered toxic in higher levels.
The source of the chemicals has not been found yet. DEP officials do not believe the chemicals come from nearby gas stations.
The DEP installed and maintained whole house carbon filters at 3 residences in the area. It had also been providing bottled water to seven residences.
The DEP proposed the project last year and approved it after officials from Buckingham, Doylestown and Plumstead townships agreed to work together to get the work done.
PACT Construction, which is based in Ringoes, N.J., began construction on the project at the beginning of April. John said they should be finished by July 10.
Hartsville-based Joseph A. Van Loon & Sons Plumbing is connecting the residences to the mains PACT installed. John said the plumbers have connected about a dozen homes, and have more than 30 to go; he expects them to be finished by the middle of July.