Agenda - 01-20-1998 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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~~~ r Dr. Rosemary L. Summers, Dr.P.H., MPH, Interim Director ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION P.O. Box 8181 -306-C Revero Road Hillsborough, NC 27278 FAX # 919-644-3006 Hillsborough 919.732-8181 x2360 Chapel Hilt 919-968-4501 x2360 REPORT DATE: January 12, 1998 TO: Margaret Brown, Chair, Orange County BOCC FROM: Ron Holdway ~~ COPIES: John Link Rosemary Summers Paul Thames RE: Wells in the Landfill Area Betty Borland Jim Brown, RS Perry Bums, RS Alan Clapp, RS, LSS Greg Grimes, RS David Hecht, RS Mebane 910-227-2031 x2360 Ron Hedrick, RS Ron Hokiway, RS Jan Jackson, RS Tom Konsler, RS Barbara Patterson Wendy Thigpen, RS Durham 91988-7333 x2360 In the ongoing discussions about problems with private wells in the proximity of the current landfill, several issues have surfaced and I will attempt to clarify some of them in this report. This report is generally limited to the Environmental Health staff s direct involvement with the issues or to our scope of programmatic expertise, however several consultants have been contacted for input. BACKGROUND Since 1994, at least 24 different wells on Mill House Road, Eubanks Road, Rogers Road and other lesser roads in the area have been sampled for the presence of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). Some were sampled as part of the ongoing surveillance of the water wells along the perimeter of the current landfill property and some asked for the service after the LOG offered anyone within 2500 feet of the landfill a courtesy sample in early 1997. Because of the potential public health implications ,all VOC samples have been offered at no charge to the residents and the costs are subsidized out of the County's coffers, specifically the Environmental Health budget. Only one of those sampled wells, the Kirschner well on Mill House Road, has shown any VOC related to the contaminants identified in the landfill monitor wells and the level of the VOC in this well is also the only one considered to pose a health risk over time. It was only last summer that the VOC level in this well increased to the point that it was judged to pose such a risk. The Kirschners, based on the recommendation of a State toxicologist, have since installed a treatment system which effectively lowers the VOC level to the point where it is no longer detectable and therefore not dangerous for normal usage.