"Polluted ponds drained at site of fire"

By Christopher Ruvo, Intelligencer, August 29, 2010:

The effort to determine the scope of water pollution in Plumstead continued last week as a contractor for the state began draining two contaminated ponds located near the site of a June 29 fire that destroyed an industrial building.
Tetra Tech, a California-headquartered company, also took samples of pond water, sediment, soil and air to test for contaminants, said Deborah Fries, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

More residential wells were tested for possible pollution, and pipes in homes that might have contaminated water were sampled too, Fries said. Residents believe their wells were contaminated by runoff of the estimated 3 million gallons of water from the firefighting effort and subsequent rains that carried chemicals from the building property located at 5189 Stump Road.

The water from the ponds is being trucked to the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority, she said.

DelCORA will accept up to 25,000 gallons of water per day, and Tetra Tech expects it will be draining the ponds and shipping out the water into this week, Fries said.

The state is continuing to analyze samples of water taken from private wells at more than 30 homes. Fries said final, comprehensive test results were not yet available.

Antimony, a metal sometimes used in fire retardants, was detected in the well water of Ann Drive resident . . . . He said Saturday that tests have shown his neighbor's well also has antimony, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea if ingested.

Tanker trucks have been brought in to provide water to residents on Ann Drive whose wells are suspected of being tainted.

Antimony was occasionally stored in the fire-destroyed building located. A DEP official has said the building owner maintains antimony was removed five days before the fire.

Officials say the building primarily contained chemicals used as food preservatives, in addition to heating oil.

DEP announced Aug. 19 that a preserving agent used in an initial round of laboratory tests of water samples inflated the level of benzene detected in samples of at least 21 wells.

Subsequent tests showed that benzene was present in those wells, but at less than 5 parts per billion, which is the drinking water standard, according to DEP.

Benzene, which occurs naturally in crude oil, gas and cigarette smoke, has been linked to leukemia and other health problems.

Tests by DEP have so far shown that the suspected contamination traveled east from the fire site. Pollutants were reportedly present more than a half-mile away. . . .