"Tests detect benzene in well"

By Christopher Ruvo, Intelligencer, July 29, 2010:

Residents complained their drinking water had been fouled by runoff from a nearby industrial fire.


Tests detected E. coli and total coliform in the drinking water of four homes in Plumstead, and at least one private well has unsafe levels of a metal used in fire retardants and a cancer-causing chemical found in gas, oil and cigarette smoke, authorities said Wednesday.

The Bucks County Health Department had water from four private wells tested following complaints by residents who believed their drinking water had been contaminated by pollutants that traveled in runoff water from a neighboring industrial building that was destroyed by fire on June 29.

Tests showed that unsafe levels of benzene and antimony were in the well water at a home on Ann Drive, said Peter Noll, an environmental specialist with the county health department. . . .

Authorities are waiting for test results on the other three wells to see if they're contaminated as well, said Noll. It has been confirmed that E. coli and total coliform are in four wells, officials said.

"The coliform and E. coli could have come from human or animal waste that somehow traveled over the surface and washed into the wells," said Deborah Fries, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP is monitoring the situation but has not yet decided if its hazardous sites specialists will become involved. "We don't have a full picture yet of what's happening here," Fries said.

Dennis Rice, owner of the industrial building at 5189 Stump Road that was destroyed in the blaze, has agreed to provide bottled water to the residents with contaminated water, said Noll.

Nonetheless, state and county officials said that does not mean that authorities have concluded that the well water contamination resulted from fallout of the June 29 fire at Rice's building.

"We asked him to do this out of concern for the residents while we continue to evaluate the situation," said Noll. "It's not an admission of responsibility."

Rice has also agreed to have water from two ponds on site at the industrial complex tested for contamination, said Noll.

A preliminary investigation suggests the antimony . . . might have come from fire-retardant foam that was used to battle the fire, said Noll.

"It's not a metal I have encountered before in drinking water," he said.

Antimony oxide is added to textiles and plastics to prevent them from catching fire. Antimony is a silvery white metal that is often mixed with alloys and used in storage batteries, solder, sheet and pipe metal, bearings, casting and pewter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says exposure to harmful levels of benzene can cause cancer, anemia, excessive bleeding and deleterious effects on the immune system.

Drinking a high level of benzene can cause dizziness, vomiting, convulsions and, if consumed at very high levels, death, the center says.

In the aftermath of the June 29 fire, health officials claimed that no wells or waterways were contaminated by runoff water from the fire site, despite the death of an undetermined number of fish in two ponds at the industrial facility.

Officials said the fish kill resulted when low-oxygen, very hot water used in the firefighting effort choked the ponds.

Immediately after the fire, . . . [one resident] said the water at his home became discolored, foaming and foul smelling. It has remained so for a month now, he said, and his neighbors report similar problems.

. . . [He] suspects the wells were contaminated by runoff water from the industrial site that was produced during the firefighting and in subsequent rains.

An estimated 3 million gallons of water were used to battle the blaze. Hot spots flared at the building over the course of the ensuing week, drawing firefighters to the scene.

The cause of the blaze was officially ruled undetermined, though there were indications it might have begun with an electrical problem.