Tainted groundwater is studied for cleanup at 3 Superfund sites
The pollution is so bad that the federal government decided to join state regulators in directing long-term cleanup efforts of those sites.
Business owners who bought property in the affected areas, but were unaware that sources of contamination within the Superfund sites were beneath them, are expected to pay for removal of tainted soil and old polluting underground tanks that were put in long before they came along. Federal funds for cleanup are available for Superfund sites if they are active on the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List, but some property owners still pay.
Utah Division of Drinking Water director Ken Bousfield said last week that water suppliers in Bountiful and Woods Cross are, based on the most recent tests, providing clean drinking water. Bousfield also is aware of the plumes of contaminated groundwater in those areas and how test results can change.
"That's why you monitor," he said.
The EPA lists at least 14 active Superfund sites in Utah that are among the worst hazardous waste sites in the country. Two sites in the Woods Cross and Bountiful areas are active due to three plumes of groundwater polluted by chemicals used in the past by dry cleaners, automotive garages and other industry.
At one time, however, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and EPA were looking into whether those who rely on the so-called East Shore aquifer for drinking water — about 68,000 people — were "potentially affected" by a release of dichloroethylene into the aquifer.
Woods Cross public works director Scott Anderson follows state and federal testing regulations, which call for sampling of two wells every three years. He said municipal drinking water in his city is safe, serving about 7,400 people.
"Safe as anywhere else in the country," Anderson said. "I think it's very safe."
Still, Woods Cross shut down one of its four drinking water sources, which supplied half the city, due to contamination by tetrachloroethylene, which the EPA said consistently was above the Cancer Risk Screening Concentration. Karla Scott can see the well from her home, where someone representing Woods Cross showed up about five years ago asking to test her water.
Recent comments
What part of Duh goes with water in Woods Cross or West Bountiful…
Current Resident | March 30, 2008 at 8:41 p.m.
As home owner and former residents of the area in Woods Cross located…
Former Resident | March 30, 2008 at 3:04 p.m.
....and you're not aware that they're historically the worst polluters…
You buy a cleaners.... | March 30, 2008 at 11:42 a.m.
