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Water Health Assessment
(Dover Township) Toms River, New Jersey
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Public Health Action Plan
Draft for Public Comment -- November 16, 1999
Public Health Action Plan
The Public Health Action Plan (PHAP) is a description of actions to be taken by ATSDR and/or NJDHSS. The purpose of the PHAP is to ensure that a Public Health Consultation not only identifies public health hazards, but provides a plan of action designed to mitigate and prevent adverse human health effects resulting from exposure to hazardous substances in the environment.
Included is a commitment on the part of ATSDR and NJDHSS to monitor this plan to ensure that the plan is implemented. The public health actions to be implemented by ATSDR and NJDHSS are as follows:
Actions Undertaken
1) The NJDHSS, NJDEP and ATSDR implemented a program of extensive sampling and testing of the UWTR community water supply beginning in 1996.
2) Testing led to the discovery of a previously uncharacterized contaminant (SAN trimer). This discovery prompted efforts on the part of NJDEP, USEPA, and UWTR to interrupt the exposure pathway through the voluntary closure of the Parkway well field in November 1996 and later (May 1997) installation of GAC treatment of wells 26 and 28. GAC treatment was extended to wells 29 and well 22 to protect against sporadic or potential contamination from the Reich Farm plume.
3) Sampling and testing also led to the recognition of a regional problem of naturally-occurring radium contamination, and a need for ilinprovement in the standard methods for collecting and handling specimens for radiological analyses. This discovery led to the voluntary reduction in use of certain wells in the UWTR system to reduce overall exposure to radium.
Actions Planned
1) The ATSDR and the NJDHSS will continue to evaluate water quality data associated with the Parkway well field for public health significance, and recommend or take appropriate mitigative public health actions as needed.
2) In cooperation with the USEPA, the NIEHS and the NJDEP, the NJDHSS and the ATSDR will review the public health implications of exposure to the SAN trimer as relevant toxicological data become available.
3) The NJDHSS and ATSDR will assess exposure to specific drinking water sources in the on-going epidemiologic study of childhood cancers in Dover Township.
4) The NJDHSS will work with NJDEP to promote tap water flushing programs in schools, to reduce overall exposures to lead.
5) The ATSDR and NJDHSS will reevaluate and revise this Public Health Action Plan as warranted, should new environmental, toxicological or other information indicate the need for additional actions.
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