Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- Traces of a chemical compound related to plastics production may have been found in a United Water Toms River well in February, an official from the state Department of Environmental Protection said last night.
Speaking at a community forum at Ocean County College, Gerald P. Nicholls, director of the DEP's Division of Environmental Safety, Health and Analytical Programs said researchers found what they believe are traces of styrene acrylonitrile trimer in a water sample taken Feb. 10 at United's well 29. That well is located in the company's parkway well field off Dugan Lane.
Nicholls said the amount of the trimer found in the water sample was extremely low, about 12 parts per trillion. In July, researchers found about 30 to 40 parts per trillion of the chemical compound in the well.
He said that researchers must complete a further analysis before they can be certain that the substance found in the water is actually the trimer. But if researchers confirm their findings, it could indicate that a plume of groundwater contamination from the Reich Farm Superfund site has moved back into the well field.
"It could mean the plume has migrated," Nicholls said following last night's forum, which was sponsored by News Channel 12 and the Star-Ledger. "Or it could mean the plume is not exactly where we thought it was."
Nicholls said the water test results are confusing because scientists did not find any trichloroethylene in the samples. Trichloroethylene, which is found in the Reich Farm plume, has always shown up whenever researchers found the trimer in water samples, he said.
In July, about .4 to .8 parts per billion of trichloroethylene were found in water samples taken from well 29.
In the fall, Gov. Whitman ordered that carbon filters be placed on wells 22 and 29 in United's parkway field. The state has agreed to pay the cost of the filtration system, which is expected to be in place by June 9.
Reich Farm, which is located about one mile north of the well field, is believed to be the source of a plume of ground water contamination that has migrated into some United Water Toms River wells. Union Carbide Corp. has taken responsibility for the contamination at Reich Farm, where independent trucker Nicholas Fernicola dumped thousands of drums of chemical waste from Carbide's Bound Brook plant in the early 1970s.
Trichloroethylene is a suspected human carcinogen. The toxicity of the trimer is not yet known. Union Carbide is funding an ongoing study of the trimer's toxicity.
Nicholls' comments last night came toward the end of a two-hour town meeting titled: "Environment of Fear: 'What's Making Our Children Sick?"
The forum featured panels of speakers which included representatives from United Water, Union Carbide, DEP, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Health and Senior Services and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The panelists took questions from the audience in a forum that was televised live on News Channel 12 and was frequently interrupted by commercial breaks. Most of the panelists had little time to give more than an overview of the ongoing investigation into elevated levels of childhood cancers here.
But some in the audience took offense when Star-Ledger reporter Paul Mulshine criticized media coverage of the cancer cluster, saying newspapers and television have not pointed out how unlikely it is that an environmental contaminant caused the childrens' cancers.
"Dover Township's name has been dragged through the mud for all time, based on the slim possibility of an environmental connection," said Mulshine, who grew up in Dover.
Linda L. Gillick, who chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, said Mulshine's statements were an insult to the families of children with cancer, as well as all the researchers studying the possible links between environmental contaminants and cancer cases.
"You should be ashamed of yourself for coming up here and making these kinds of statements," Gillick said, to applause from the audience.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: April 02, 1999
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