Jun 8, 2009 5:28 pm US/Central
EPA Begins Soil Testing Near Toxic Crestwood Well
Well Was Used For Drinking Water For 21 Years Despite Being Contaminated
CRESTWOOD, Ill. (CBS) ―
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A well was used for drinking water in Crestwood for 21 years despite being contaminated.
CBS
Environmental investigators are digging for answers in south suburban Crestwood. In the shadow of Crestwood's Playfield Park, a team from the Illinois EPA is finally testing groundwater and soil for contamination, 23 years after the agency first notified this village that its groundwater well was contaminated.
The agency is testing the ground surrounding the village water tower and the tainted well, near 127th Street and Illinois 83, that supplied some of the village's drinking water.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports the Environmental Protection Agency's first mission is to determine in which direction the shallow groundwater is flowing. Among the possible contamination sources is Playfield Cleaners, which sits 300 feet from the tainted well. If the water is flowing toward the drycleaner, that business is likely not the source of contamination.
Residents drawn to the site by the noisy geo-probe drill told CBS 2 they were delighted to see scientific testing finally underway.
"I'm elated," said Crestwood water activist Tricia Krause. "I feel as though we should have answers step by step. It's been a long 10 years of investigating and I feel as though we will have some answers soon."
"I grew up here, so… if you're going to get sick in the future, my kids are going to get sick over this. I mean, anything you see on these chemicals it seems dangerous," Crestwood resident Jenny Gray said. "They seem to finally be doing something about this."
"It may not have been the source of my husband's cancer, but I want answers just like everyone else," said Debbie Thormann, whose husband died of pancreatic cancer.
In addition to drilling for soil and water samples the scientists were also using a hand-held x-ray device. It's capable of spotting at a glance any heavy metal poisons lurking in the soil.
"It will tell you what sorts of concentrations are in the soil," said Jerry Willman of the Illinois EPA.
They're drilling at least six holes around that well and they expect to be there through Thursday. Scientists from the Illinois EPA promise to make their findings public within the next few weeks.
In another reaction to the Crestwood controversy, lawmakers passed changes Saturday to the Illinois Right to Know Act to prevent residents being kept in the dark.
Village residents were unaware the well was used from 1986 to 2007, instead believing they drank 100 percent Lake Michigan water. They also were unaware the well was deemed contaminated in 1986, when the village told the IEPA it only would use the well in an emergency.
The revelation led to an FBI raid on the Crestwood Village Hall and other municipal buildings in April.
Under the new Right to Know Act, changes include:
• Owners and operators of the state's public water supply systems must provide more reports and documents for inspection by the IEPA.
• The IEPA must notify the public in a news releases and Internet postings when it doles out enforcement or violations reporting groundwater is a public health threat or fraudulent information is submitted to it.
• The agency must send written notice to the public water supply of its enforcement within seven days and the supply to then notify users within three days - documenting that notice to the IEPA.
• The penalty for providing false information to the IEPA or a local government with delegation authority becomes a Class 4 felony.
The IEPA also is beefing up its monitoring of water supplies that buy water from other communities and of its emergency wells.
Tricia Krause, who helped bring the well's contamination to light because of her children's illnesses, said she wished the measure passed included stricter consequences for the agency.
Her proposed 20-year prison term and $20 million bond for the IEPA's failure to inform residents wasn't included in a final version of the bill.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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