Lebanon wells to undergo industrial solvent testing
By Ellen Ast
Albany Democrat-Herald
LEBANON — Contaminated groundwater in north Lebanon may be getting into private wells, according to Department of Environmental Quality officials. Next month, the DEQ is having water from about 300 wells tested to find out exactly how many are affected.
A survey conducted last month by Hart Crowser Inc., a DEQ contractor, shows close to 300 residents and businesses between Reeves Parkway and D Street and 10th and Hiatt streets use well water.
Don Hanson with the DEQ Environmental Cleanup Program said groundwater beneath the surveyed area is contaminated with the industrial solvents trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), which are possibly cancer-causing.
The DEQ and Environmental Protection Agency began looking into the solvent contamination about a decade ago, and the DEQ has worked since to clean several targeted sites: the former NuWay Cleaners on Main Street, the former Johannsen Cleaners on Park Street and the former PolyClean cleaners at Oak and Main streets.
While dry cleaning shops are known to use TCE and PCE, the solvents are also used by many other industries, Hanson said.
The DEQ and EPA have already identified several contaminated wells in the area and the DEQ anticipates more.
“When you have a shallow water table and you have these wells, these wells are susceptible to any kind of spills and leaks and things like that,” Hanson said.
Sampling is free to well owners and they will receive a copy of the test results.
Once the number of affected wells is identified, the DEQ will offer users alternate water supplies, which may include free hookups to the city’s water system.
Hanson said in the meantime, the DEQ will give about three well users bottled water sometime in the next couple of weeks to encourage them not to use their wells until a solution is found.
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