Apr 19, 2009 9:49 pm US/Central
Report: Chicago Suburb Supplied Contaminated Water
Residents Want Answers From Village Officials
CRESTWOOD, Ill. (CBS) ―
Officials in a south Chicago suburb knowingly drew drinking water from a contaminated well for more than two decades, even after warnings by state environmental officials, according to a published report.
The water was contaminated with chemicals linked to perchloroethylene, or PCE, which is believed to cause cancer.
Village officials then told state regulators that they would draw tap water from Lake Michigan, but Crestwood continued to draw the contaminated well water.
At times, 20 percent of the village's water supply came from the contaminated well, according to the Chicago Tribune.
During the two decades, as residents of the village of about 11,000 unknowingly drank the contaminated water, officials touted Crestwood's cheap water rates, the Tribune reported.
Patricia Krause had three kids when she lived in Crestwood – all of whom she thinks developed serious illness linked to the water. And she wants answers from the village.
Krause says she's collected volumes of evidence to support her claims. Documents she says outline how the EPA warned the village some 20 years ago that its tap water contained chemicals related to dry cleaning solvent – that tap water drawn from an allegedly contaminated municipal well.
Krause says the village continued to draw from that well anyway.
She has a 19-year-old who had leukemia and a daughter who ended up with a brain tumor.
"My poor Brianne had this brain tumor. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. And it's not fair to any of these citizens. I've heard so many terrible stories and my heart goes out to them," Krause said.
She thinks her daughter's tumor and her son's leukemia and a string of other illnesses are linked to the tap water the family drank when they lived in Crestwood years ago.
For months, Krause has been collecting documents that point to tap water in the village being contaminated with chemicals that could cause cancer and neurological disorders.
And now, there's a letter from the EPA saying its earliest indication of the contaminants was back in 1985 -- water coming from the village's municipal well.
"They had a suspicion that these chemicals could be in the drinking water and could be extremely detrimental to people's health," Krause said.
The Illinois EPA says after that initial contact, the Village of Crestwood indicated it would not use the well except for emergencies.
But the EPA says the village continued to use high volumes of the well water, mixed with water from Lake Michigan.
"I'd be angry with village officials for doing something they shouldn't be doing," said Doug Scott of the Illinois EPA.
CBS 2 visited the home or a man who worked at the well some 20 years ago and he still works for the village's Public Works Department. He didn't want to be on camera, but says there was no wrongdoing.
"We were not attempting to poison anybody. And we were not poisoning anybody. The EPA is an agency that's pretty much on the ball. We're required to meet every standard they set," he said.
Adrian Wayforth isn't buying the "no blame" game. She still suffers from a nerve tumor she developed and connects with bad water she says she drank in Crestwood.
"It was poison," she said. "You're told the water is O.K. to drink, Lake Michigan water and here it wasn't."
The contaminated well was not shut off until late 2007, after EPA officials tested the water and found contamination.
Former Crestwood Mayor Chester Stranczek, who was mayor in the mid-1980s, said he did not know the details of the investigation and declined to comment to the Daily Southtown in a story posted online over the weekend.
"I was mayor for 38 years, and I've never been accused of doing something wrong..." Stranczek told the Southtown Star. "... I have to wait for the lawyers. If there is a lawsuit, our lawyers will be very unhappy if I talk about it."
The Illinois EPA says it can't determine whether the illnesses people are reporting were caused by the water. That would be up to health officials.
Wayforth says it's more than coincidence that she got sick. She babysat for Krause's children for years.They were all in the same household drinking the same water.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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