Owners of at least 21 homes on Stony Hill Road near Wake Forest, North Carolina are worried about the well water they’ve been drinking for years. Nearby residents also are concerned.
According to Wral.com, the water from their wells tested positive for TCE, a cancer causing substance used to clean up grease.
Soil contamination by TCE in that area has been a problem known to the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) since 2005. At that time, it was thought the soil contaminant was confined to only one well on Stony Hill Road.
Dozens of anxious residents met the night of Sept. 12 with DENR officials and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives to learn more about the contamination.
The pollution is probably caused by the actions of two unnamed small circuit board assembly companies that used to be located at 7303 Stony Hill Road, DENR officials said.
When they took soil samples at the site on Sept. 19, they found the presence of chlorinated solvents, a group of chemicals containing TCE. DENR officials said the agency has been working for years to make the companies who were most likely responsible for the pollution pay to clean up the problem.
“We know that [TCE] was present in soils on the property. We know there was a discharge on that property. We know there’s ground water contamination. We have to show which of those parties did that,” Charlotte Jesneck, a DENR representative told the group Wednesday night.
While the cleanup process is underway, the EPA says it plans to find a way to supply clean drinking water to residents affected by the contamination.
WRAL.com obtained letters showing that a minimum of three possible developers were warned about an “inactive hazardous site” at the location between 2008 and 2010. Homeowners say they were never informed of the possibility of contamination in the area.
John Roth, from the Stonewalls Homeowners Association, said he is thinking about filing a class action lawsuit against the companies.
Source: Wral.com
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