Water tests urged as chemicals found

Ground sources face pollution

By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal
February 24, 2002

About 10 percent of the drinking water in small, privately owned public water systems in Dutchess County has tested positive for chemical contamination, according to Dutchess County's chief public health engineer.

The estimate is based on preliminary results from a Department of Health inspection program that will continue this year.

Some of the chemicals found are known carcinogens; others are suspected of causing cancer or other health problems.

''I tell you, we're finding all kinds of stuff out there. It's scary,'' said John Glass, chief public health engineer for the Dutchess County Department of Health. ''We opened a real can of worms ... but it's good because nobody ever really knew this was here before.''

The discovery underscores the importance of testing drinking water for its safety -- and protecting groundwater, which provides about two- thirds of Dutchess County residents with drinking water.

Testing of public water systems for bacterial contamination has been going on for several decades. And many private well owners also have water tested for bacteria.

Fewer chemical tests

But testing for chemical contamination has been less common until recently. The Department of Health mandates a gamut of tests for public water systems that serve resident populations, but other water systems have es-caped regulated testing. Because testing of private wells is not mandated or tracked, it's not known how many such wells are contaminated.

''You make big assumptions that what's coming out of the ground is clean, and you rely heavily on the assumption that you're safe, and you're drinking water that's not going to harm you,'' said Christine Silla, a resident of East Fishkill whose rural, wooded neighborhood was found to be contaminated with the industrial solvent PCE.

She didn't have her well tested until a neighbor informed her that others had had health problems they suspected were caused by the contamination.

''I didn't notice anything different, and that's when the real scare came in, thinking about the kids,'' Silla said.

Aquifers -- underground reservoirs -- are considered the cheapest and among the safest sources of drinking water because the ground itself filters out bacteria.

Aquifers lie beneath 10 to 15 percent of the county and they can produce enough water for large community water supplies.

Other options include reservoirs -- used by Beacon, for example -- and the Hudson River, used by the city and town of Poughkeepsie, the Hyde Park Water District and the Village of Rhinebeck.

But water from reservoirs and rivers -- or surface water -- must be filtered and treated with chemicals before it can be consumed, an often costly process.

Groundwater, however, has its own threats, which grow as the population grows. Dutchess and Ulster counties grew by about 8 percent during the 1990s, according to the U.S. Census.

The problem is two-fold.

On the bacterial front, as more houses with septic systems and water wells are built, the chances for pollution can grow. Septic systems placed too near wells can lead to contamination. Or the ground's ability to filter water can be overwhelmed by the amount of contaminants seeping through it.

On the chemical front, products such as the gasoline additive MTBE seep through the ground into water sources.

Contamination can come from a number of sources: nearby businesses or industry and residents who dispose of waste improperly. Even minor spills of gasoline or car accidents can cause contamination.

Bacterial contamination remains the most widespread problem, resulting from septic malfunction, improperly maintained wells, surface water infiltration or even improperly maintained water softeners. County officials recommend testing home wells for bacteria yearly.

Unlike bacteria, chemical contamination threatens aquifers' long-term usefulness. It takes decades to cleanse polluted groundwater, and the results are often only an improvement -- not a return to completely clean water.

Officials recommend testing private wells if they are near potential sources of contamination.

The cost to clean polluted water is immense. The National Research Council, a part of the National Academies of Science, has estimated the cost at $1 trillion over 30 years to clean the worst-polluted groundwater in the United States.

The cost of cleaning water polluted with MTBE alone has been estimated at $30 billion. MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether, is a gasoline additive intended to reduce air pollution that has infiltrated water supplies nationwide. New York plans to phase it out by 2004.

Underground resources vital

Dutchess County needs its underground water sources, according to Ed Hoxsie, executive director of the county Soil and Water Conservation District. Though expansions to the Poughkeepsies' Water Treatment Facility are planned, Hoxsie said the presence of salt in the river and the sheer volume needed to supply the county would make the river an inadequate supply.

''It can't all come from the Hudson. There's only a limited amount there,'' Hoxsie said.

Some think government should do more to protect aquifers -- especially from chemical contamination.

High-profile instances of contamination include the Greenbush area of Hyde Park, where the gasoline additive MTBE contaminates groundwater, and the Shenandoah area of East Fishkill, where the solvent PCE, or tetrachloroethylene, also contaminates groundwater.

Each will cost millions of dollars to remedy. Polluted water will have to be replaced with clean water from a public system, which will have to be extended to the neighborhood. The groundwater will also have to be cleaned up.

''Before we tested for bacteria, we never tested for a lot of the other things. It probably should be mandatory, especially when you buy a house. A lot of people bought a house here and never thought to test the water,'' said Joseph Curran, whose well is one of those in the Greenbush area now outfitted with a filter because of MTBE contamination.

He said he'd also like to see neighbors notified if contamination is found near their homes. The state Department of Environmental Conservation typically notifies only those people whose wells are to be actually tested for possible contamination.

To raise awareness about possible contamination, Dutchess County officials recently sent a pamphlet to well owners, detailing some of the potential threats to groundwater.

Some think the government should test every resident's well in the county.

Dutchess officials say that's just not possible.

It has taken a staff of five and a $374,000 state grant to test 200 small public water supplies totaling about 1,200 wells last year. There are tens of thousands of private wells in the county.

Advocates want local zoning laws to prevent high-risk industry from building on aquifers. And they also call for more public disclosure of known contamination, so residents can better assess risks to their own water.

The county has not enacted a document, the ''Dutchess County Water Supply Protection Strategy,'' drafted in 1997. Developed by the Water Supply Protection Committee for the Water and Wastewater Authority, it includes numerous strategies to reach three broad objectives:

- Continue to monitor and address water quality at regulated public water supplies.

- Provide oversight of private wells through regional water quality monitoring and groundwater protection.

- Support existing programs and implement new programs to address known sources of contamination.

Some communities have, with county help, moved toward some of those goals. Municipalities in both the Ten Mile River watershed in the Harlem Valley and the Wappinger Creek watershed in central Dutchess have organized to discuss and implement protection strategies that will affect groundwater quality.

Zoning laws revised

The Town of Dover was the first to act to change zoning laws based on those discussions, limiting the types of uses for lands on the aquifer it shares with the five other municipalities, Hoxsie said.

Hoxsie served on the committee that developed the Water Supply Protection Strategy. He still hopes it will be enacted.

Scott Chase, executive director of the Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority, said many of the first-priority strategies are being implemented, even if the plan has not been officially enacted.

''I think that the difficulty we face as a society in general ... is our society and our economy have become much more dependent on the use of chemicals,'' Chase said. ''I don't think it's unrealistic to expect that ultimately those chemicals get dispersed in the environment. And they're going to show up in one manner or another in our water supplies.''

''Are there more things that government can be doing? Certainly. Is the level of attention that's being paid sufficient or not? I think that's what people decide when they tell their legislators and their regulators how much they want to be regulated.''

All but a handful of the county's 730 public water systems -- the most in the state -- rely on groundwater.

Many of them, like municipal systems or those at apartment complexes, subdivisions and trailer parks, must be regularly tested for contamination.

The new state-funded program is testing those water systems that had traditionally escaped scrutiny beyond regular bacterial tests. Such systems include those at small businesses, such as convenience stores, day-care centers and restaurants.

The tests' results give homeowners added reason to have their own water tested, Glass said.

While contamination was not pervasive -- and was below state drinking water limits in some of the places it was found -- officials were startled by the number of chemicals found and how widespread contamination was.

And in some cases, the chemicals found were at dangerously high levels, including levels of benzene -- a constituent of gasoline known to cause cancer.

The results from the tests on public systems show chemicals are widespread throughout Dutchess' aquifers. Information from the county tests are available to the public but only through site-specific Freedom of Information Law requests.

''We're seeing it all around, but primarily in heavily commercialized areas where you have gas stations or dry cleaners, heavy industry, medium industry,'' Glass said.

MTBE, for example, has shown up in many of the tests.

''We've found it in places you wouldn't expect,'' Glass said. ''We've found that in places that aren't anywhere near gas stations."

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Relevant Web links For information about water issues, visit:

- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water: www.epa.gov/OW. The Web site includes a searchable database of water quality reports submitted by regulated water suppliers.

- The state Department of Environmental Conservation's Division of Water: www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow.

- The DEC database with some information about spills the DEC has responded to: www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/derfoil.

- The Fishkill Ridge Caretakers at www.fishkillridge.org.

- The New York State Association of Approved Environmental Laboratories at www.nysaael.org.

AT A GLANCE CONTAMINANTS

Here are some contaminants found in water:

Coliform bacteria generally occurs in wells that may be contaminated with either dirt or sewage. Coliform is harmless but is used as an indicator that other, harmful bacteria -- such as cryptosporidium or giardia -- could be present. Harmful bacteria typically causes gastrointestinal problems, vomiting and diarrhea.

Organic chemicals occur in wells that could have been contaminated by leaking underground fuel oil or gasoline tanks, industrial processes or pesticide use. Some of these chemicals can have strong odors or tastes at low concentrations, but others are difficult or impossible to detect unless at high concentrations.

MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether, is an organic gasoline additive that dissolves very easily in water and is the most common chemical contaminant that can result from even small gasoline spills. It generally has a fragrant odor at low concentrations.

Inorganic chemicals include a long list of naturally occurring and introduced chemicals, including lead, mercury and nitrite.

How to get your water tested To have your well tested, call a laboratory that is state and federally accredited and arrange for a test.

Labs can be found in the Yellow Pages or through the Dutchess County Department of Health. Call the Environmental Services Division at (845) 486-3404 for that or other questions about drinking water.

Bacterial tests, which officials recommend be done yearly, cost between $20 and $30.

Chemical tests, which officials recommend if there are potential chemical sources near a well, can cost as much as $150.

Some also encourage home buyers to have this test.

Most home sales include a bacterial test.

If you have a chemical test conducted, make sure the test includes checks for all volatile organic compounds including MTBE. One such test is known as EPA 502.2.