Published in the Asbury Park Press
By PATRICIA A. MILLER
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Although a new study concludes the Reich Farm Superfund site and the former Dover Township landfill posed health risks in the past but not at present, the data used to make that determination had its limits, according to a health assessment report released to the public last night.
"These are not final documents," James Blumenstock, an assistant commissioner of the state Department of Health and Senior Services told an audience of about 200 at the monthly meeting of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster. "That's a very important point to stress."
The health assessment of the former municipal landfill on Bay Avenue here was based on one round of sampling and "limited analytical methods . . . and there remains uncertainty as to the duration and levels of exposure that residents may have experienced before their wells were tested," the report states.
"Much uncertainty" still exists about just how much drinking water supplies -- both public and private -- were exposed to pollutants from the Reich Farm site.
The Reich Farm assessment relied on "limited historical environmental data," since both agencies doing the study were unable to locate original data reports dealing with groundwater investigations in the early 1970s, according to the report.
The health assessment report -- a joint effort by the state Department of Health and Senior Services and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry -- was handed out to the public last night.
But the assessment concludes that both sites no longer pose a health risk because private wells in both areas are no longer in use, health officials said.
"I don't think anything right now should be written in concrete about the Dover Township Landfill," said Kevin Root, a former member of the Toms River Regional Board of Education.
Nicholas Fernicola, an independent hauler hired by Union Carbide Corp. back in 1971, dumped thousands of 55-gallon drums of chemical waste at both the Reich Farm site and the landfill.
The source of contamination of some private wells in the Silverton section of Dover Township, one mile east of the landfill, remains unknown, said Dr. Jerald A. Fagliano, a state epidemiologist.
The state will accept written comments on the report for the next 60 days, until Oct. 1. Linda Gillick, who chairs the CAC committee, urged residents who may have more information to write.
"If you get the report in your hands and you do nothing with it, everything will have been wasted," she said.
Assemblyman James W. Holzapfel, R-Ocean, asked Blumenstock his opinion on legislation he has sponsored to have carbon filters installed on wells 24, 15, and 44 in United Water's parkway well field, even though contamination from the Reich Farm plume has not reached them.
"My probable opinion would be in the prevention mode," Blumenstock said.
"If we have filters on those wells, we are going to be protected," Holzapfel said.
"Yes," Blumenstock replied.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: August 3, 1999
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