"Tankers pump in water"

By Christopher Ruvo, Intelligencer, August 15, 2010:

For more than a month, . . . [a Plumstead resident] was unable to take a shower at his home on Ann Drive in Plumstead after water traveled from the site of a fire and polluted his private well.

But the 34-year-old finally got to rinse off at home last week after tanker trucks were brought in to pump water into his house and other residences that have contaminated wells.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says that 11 township homes are receiving the water.

Bradley said the tanker trucks are a welcomed temporary solution to the water woes, but he and other residents want to know what is going to be done to clean up the tainted wells and provide permanent potable water.

"There's a lot of questions. Are we going to public water? Are we going to have deeper wells? We're not hearing anything yet," said . . . [the resident], who will not drink the tanker water or bathe his year-old son in it.

He's worried, in part, that the tainted well water might have coated his home's pipes with contaminants.

. . . [He's] not the only one with ongoing questions and concerns.

[Another] Plumstead resident . . . doesn't have bad water, but he's concerned that pollution could one day reach his well and other residents' water supplies that currently show no signs of contamination.

"What will DEP do in the future to ensure that this problem has not spread?" . . . a Stump Road resident, asked in an email.

Well contamination has been detected more than a half-mile east of the fire site at 5189 Stump Road. So far, it appears points west have not been disturbed, but officials say it is challenging to tell where the contamination is headed, if anywhere.

"Because groundwater moves with the underground geologic contours, it is difficult to predict or to be definitive as to where/if the contamination will spread," according to an e-mail alert state Rep. Marguerite Quinn sent to residents.

The Bucks County Health Department has collected samples from more than 30 wells and DEP is testing the water at its Harrisburg laboratories.

Still, test results are not complete, and officials are continuing to determine the reach and severity of the pollution. Officials say that the Cabin Run and Country Greene water systems were tested and showed no signs of contamination.

As the wait continues, . . . [the Ann Drive resident] and other affected residents are making due with the temporary water supply. He said a 5,800 gallon truck, which is parked outside his home, has hoses that feed water to his house.

"They're back-feeding the water in through an outside hose bit," he said.

Dennis K. Rice, an owner of the burned down building, has been providing some residents with bottled water at the request of DEP.

At a meeting Tuesday night attended by more than 100 people, a DEP official said the testing and possible expensive solutions to the contamination are being paid for with taxpayers dollars, and the state could go after the building owner to recoup its expenses.

Tests have shown that benzene, a carcinogen linked to leukemia, is in water on homes on Ann Drive. At least one of those homes . . . has antimony, a metal that can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Jenifer Fields, water program director for DEP's southeastern region, said this week that a preservative used in laboratory tests might have increased the levels of benzene in samples. More tests are being done without the preservative, but the results aren't in.

"There's not much new to report today," DEP Spokeswoman Deborah Fries said Friday.

Hundreds of firefighters from Bucks County, neighboring counties and New Jersey responded when the industrial building ignited on June 29.

An estimated 3 million gallons of water were used to battle the fire, which continued to ignite for about a week, sending firemen back to extinguish the flare-ups.

Residents believe the water used to fight the fire and subsequent rains moved chemicals from the industrial building into their drinking supply.

The cause of the fire has been ruled undetermined, though there were indications it might have begun with an electrical issue.