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39 Waste sites is chemicals discarded from branch , said the university sites remains under the Superfui UNC chemistry and hospital continue to rank low on the roles, Mouberry said, groun continued from page Al labs , state's list of priorities. water . regulators and othe At the center of the site the Rankings issued last year could only act in an adviso: hazardous waste, " Chapel Hill benzene levels were 142 ,000 show UNC 's chemical waste site _ role. Mayor Kevin Foy said Tuesday. times the acceptable limit of 1 ranked at 207 and the nearby old Jesneck said the state wou What the council does with the part per billion. Another moni- municipal landfill ranked at still like to see the universi information, he said , " will toring well roughly 400 feet 214. The two sites were included follow through on a plan for away and near the Crow Branch on a federal Environmental Pro- voluntary cleanup of the chen depend on what's out there. Creek shows levels 2 , 020 times tection Agency list of potential cal waste depository site. Foy said in talking with uni-versity officials about the issue the acceptable limit of 1 part Superfund sites in 1981 , but Jesneck said university ai he believes they would like to per billion , were not viewed as enough of a DENR negotiators could n see the sites dealt with as well. Chloroform readings vary threat to human health and reach an agreement on " I think they ' re concerned from 273,000 parts per billion at safety to be included on the fed- cleanup when UNC wanted about it and with what to do, but the center of the site to 8 ,050 eral priority list. Management include a provision that wou the big problem is money, " he parts per billion at a monitoring of the sites was turned over to have made the cleanup conti saido well near the creek . The states the state. There are roughly 400 gent on finding funds to do it. Foy said he'd be willing to see acceptable limit for chloroform sites on the state 's priority list. The university could proce is 0 . 19 parts per billion. Jesneck said it is unlikely the with a cleanup without sta the town work with the univer- , sity to help find funding for the Chloroform is a suspected sites priority rankings would approval , Jesneck said, but th cleanup. human carcinogen. Benzene is be altered unless new informa- would open the school up to cc The universitya known human carcinogen and tion comes to light about the siderable legal liabilities. is considering has been linked in studies to risk of contamination or the " We certainly want to s land near the site for its Caroli- leukemia , size and character of the site. them seek approval, but there na North project. The two sites University officials have The state would not force a nothing legally binding the include a 0 .2-acre chemical acknowledged that there is a cleanup of the sites, she said, from doing that unless they p waste depository that closed in contaminant plume leaking unless there were an immediate someone at risk, " she said. " ` 1979 and the old Chapel . Hill into groundwater at the site, but threat. strongly suggest they se municipal landfill — a 35-acre have maintained that it is not "If there were an immediate approval . " area where the university spo- leaking at a rate that would exposure problem or a problem radically dumped chemical cause i waste from 1967 to 1972 . t to extend past universi- with a (drinking water) well, we Kirk Ross can be reached Materials provided by the ty property. would do something, " she said, at 932-2005 or kross@nando. co university include a year-2000 According to the university but leaking into a creek isn't water sampling report from 22 consultant's report, part of the necessarily going to be a reason. monitoring wells in and around plume terminates in the vicini.- The main thing is immediate the 0.2-acre chemical waste site. ty of Crow Branch Creek. The exposure: ; If there were a drink- The report shows that 11 of the creek flows under Airport Road ing water intake on that creek wells registered contamination and into Booker Creek near then pit would be a different levels in violation of the state 's Lake Ellen about a half mile story. away. Arthur Mouberry, chief of groundwater protection rules . State officials in charge . of DENR's groundwater section, In 76 instances , the contamina- monitoring the site said they said the site's status as an inac- tion exceeded acceptable levels have not received new reports tive waste site shouldn't exempt of various chemicals , and the _ on it since negotiations with the it from groundwater contami- report shows a contaminant plume extending hundreds of state over a voluntary cleanup nation rules. feet from the perimeter of the broke off in 1998 . "If you have potential for con- site. Charlotte Jesneck , head of taminants to migrate . off the Some of the highest levels the Superfund section of the site, you would have to look at it N. C . Department of Environ- and possibly change the status registered are for benzene, chlo- „ roform and other volatile organ- ment and Natural Resources of the project, he said. inactive hazardous waste sites But as long as the site s status