Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Scientists must decide what to do next after a two-year-long study of "tentatively identified compounds," or "tics," in Dover Township's water left researchers with almost as many questions as answers.
"It was necessary to draw a line at some point and say this is the end of this segment," said Gerald P. Nicholls, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Environmental Safety, Health and Analytical Programs. "No, this is not the end of the work."
Nicholls spoke at last night's meeting of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, after John Jenks, who chaired a subcommittee that studied the tics, gave a lengthy presentation on what researchers found in water.
The subcommittee was organized after extensive testing of Dover's water supply found dozens of compounds in the water that researchers could not immediately identify. The testing was done as part of the ongoing investigation into elevated levels of childhood cancer here.
Scientists looked at substances that occur at very low concentrations in the water, at levels down to 10 parts per trillion. A typical commercial laboratory would report substances at levels of 500 parts per trillion and above, Jenks said.
The analysis was done using water samples taken in 1997, during the cancer investigation. Many of the samples were of water pulled from monitoring wells that track the progress of a plume of groundwater contamination emanating from the Reich Farm Superfund site, where barrels of chemical waste from the Union Carbide Corp.'s Bound Brook plant were dumped by an independent trucker in the early 1970s.
A total of 261 substances were found in water samples, and 78 of them were styrene acrylontrile trimer, substances related to the trimer, or trimer hydrolysis products, which are by-products of the trimer's interaction with ground water.
The trimer is a chemical compound related to plastics production, and so far, its toxicity is unknown. Trimer or trimer by-products make up the bulk of material found in the groundwater contamination that has seeped into wells from Reich Farm.
The trimer has been found in three United Water Toms River wells in the company's parkway well field, and may also have been found in Well 20, which is off Indian Head Road.
The trimer is removed from the well water with carbon filters. A team of scientists is studying the trimer's toxicity in an attempt to determine if the chemical can cause cancer in humans. Final results of the toxicity tests are not expected for several years.
Jenks described the trimer as "unique to Toms River."
"You're not going to find it anywhere else unless they were making styrene acrylontrile-type products," he said.
Jenks said despite in-depth study, many substances scientists found in ground water remain unidentified. For example, a total of 91.31 parts per billion of a substance labeled simply, "unknown 25," was found in 13 water samples.
"This unknown 25, is it going to remain unknown 25?" asked John Cardini, whose daughter Jessica is in remission after battling leukemia.
Nicholls said researchers will meet soon to decide how much further to pursue studies of the tics. "We're going to need some time to figure it out," Nicholls said.
He noted that it would take approximately 350 years to test the toxicity of all the substances found in the water.
Published: April 11, 2000
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