Pa. townships soon to require septic plumbing
Every township in Franklin County soon will require residents to pump their septic tanks on a three-year schedule, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
“Every municipality will have the requirement at some point,” said Sandy Roderick, spokeswoman for the state DEP.
The requirement is part of a state initiative designed to improve local sewage management and protect groundwater.
In 1997, the state amended Act 537 to require regular maintenance of septic systems, Roderick said. The legislation mandates that municipalities require all on-lot septic systems to be pumped every three years.
“Act 537 is the municipality’s responsibility, but some have yet to show progress,” Roderick said.
“We have areas in Pennsylvania that are rural, and only have on-lot systems,” Roderick said. “Some are old, malfunctioning and contaminating drinking water.”
Local septic tank specialists S R Daley Sons of Greencastle, Pa., say that once a system malfunctions, the only remedy is expensive alternative systems.
“When a system goes bad, it is because it is not maintained,” said April Daley of S R Daley Sons. “It costs $139 to pump a tank; a replacement can cost up to $20,000.”
Read full article at Hagerstown Morning Herald
NO DREDGE IN SPRINGDALE PIT!
http://www.ahs.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=4275
N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10/18/2006
CONTACT:
Tom Rathbun
Phone: (717) 787-1323
LC&N TELLS DEP IT NO LONGER INTENDS TO USE DREDGE IN RECLAMATION OF SPRINGDALE PIT
Request Has No Affect on Statewide General Permit Allowing Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials in Mine Reclamation
HARRISBURG — Coaldale Energy LLC, which assumed responsibilities for Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. in April, has informed the Department of Environmental Protection that it no longer intends to pursue the use of dredged materials in the reclamation of the Springdale Pit in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County.
In a letter submitted to the department Tuesday, the company stated it is not seeking reauthorization in its pending permit renewal of special conditions that allow the beneficial use of a mixture of dredged sediment, coal ash, cement kiln dust and lime kiln dust.
The company’s decision to forgo the use of dredge has no implication for the general permit that the department issued in March 2004 in association with the use of a mixture of dredge and other materials for mine reclamation in Pennsylvania.
DEP approved amendments to LC&N’s surface mining permit in January 2005 to allow the beneficial use of dredged sediment and other materials in the reclamation project. No dredge material has been placed on site to date.
For more information on mining in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s Web site, www.depweb.state.pa.us, Keyword: “Active Mining Operations.”
# # #
2006
Lakehurst Acres residents’ tests indicate lead in blood
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3147510.shtml?com_sent=1
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Lakehurst Acres residents’ tests indicate lead in blood
By GLEN BOLDUC
Staff Writer
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
MANCHESTER — A majority of the residents at Lakehurst Acres who were tested for lead over the past two weeks showed low traces of the metal in their blood, according to state toxicology tests.
The tests were taken after abnormally high levels of lead were found earlier this month in the drinking water of the 25-unit housing complex on Pond Road. Officials have since determined the development’s water pipes corroded, releasing the lead into the water.
About 30 of the estimated 40 residents currently living at Lakehurst Acres have been tested, said Andrew Smith, state toxicologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ideal lead levels in adults should be below 25 micrograms per deciliter, and below 10 micrograms in children, Smith said. Most of the tests taken at Lakehurst were below these limits, he said, with many falling under 5 micrograms per deciliter.
“They clearly indicate exposure,” he said of the test results. “But these are not the levels where there’s going to be any clinical intervention.”
For some of the residents at Lakehurst, the lead tests are the latest in a series of issues with the drinking water there.
“It irritates me,” said Seamus Pike. “But more than that, it’s really been stressful.”
Three weeks ago, Pike brought home his newborn son, Axel. That same day, he got a notice from C&C Realty Management of Augusta, which manages Lakehurst, saying that lead was discovered in the drinking water, and that residents should be tested.
“We’re getting him re-tested every week,” Seamus said of his son.
Axel has had a steady blood-lead level of 9 micrograms per deciliter. Seamus’ results originally reached 24, but last week decreased to 22.
“Pretty much every day I’m at the doctor,” he said. “They’re questioning me, whether I’m still taking in the water.”
Late last month, residents of Lakehurst Acres were told by C&C Realty that they should see a doctor after water tests indicated that lead levels were more than 100 times higher than federal limits.
The increased levels were detected after the property managers installed a filtration system to help eliminate arsenic — which flows naturally in the ground water of that area of Pond Road. Lakehurst’s drinking water comes from a well.
After the installation of the arsenic control equipment, the water grew more acidic and began to eat away at the water pipes and leach lead.
“Pretty much every month we had a reason why we couldn’t touch our water,” Seamus said. “We’re trying to find a way to get out of here.”
Catherine Whitney, chief operating officer for C&C Realty Management, previously has said that copper was present in the water when the company took over management of the property in January. Whitney could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Equipment was installed last Friday to help neutralize acid levels in the water, and help stop the corrosion of pipes.
“So far, those have been looking very promising,” said Carlton Gardner, compliance and enforcement team leader for the Maine Drinking Water Program with the Department of Health and Human Services.
A new lead sample of the housing community’s water will be taken this week, he said. Results should be available by Friday.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to lead through drinking water is relatively uncommon. The greatest exposure to lead comes from swallowing or breathing in lead paint chips and dust.
Lead is rarely found in source water — springs, lakes and rivers — but enters tap water through the corrosion of plumbing materials.
By the 1920s, most pipes installed for water distribution were made of iron, at least in part because lead was known to seriously contaminate drinking-water supplies.
But lead solder was used well into the 1980s to seal water pipes. The Lakehurst Acres property was built sometime near 1980.
In babies and children, excessive exposure to lead can result in delays in physical and mental development, according to the EPA, along with slight deficits in attention span and learning abilities. In adults, it can cause increases in blood pressure.
According to State Toxicologist Smith, lead in blood has a half-life of one month, so it could take a few months for residents at Lakehurst to process the lead out of their bodies.
“We want all of them to be as low as possible,” Smith said.
C&C Realty, an Augusta-based firm that manages 19 properties throughout the state, including Lakehurst Acres, said it will continue to provide residents with bottled water until lead levels return to normal.
Glen Bolduc — 623-3811, Ext. 431
gbolduc@centralmaine.com
Reader Comments
Frank Waksmunski of Palmerton, PA
Sep 21, 2006 8:23 AM
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released the following Public Health Statement for Lead: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs13.html#bookmark04
This is an excerpt:
Children are more sensitive to the health effects of lead than adults. NO SAFE BLOOD LEAD LEVEL IN CHILDREN HAS BEEN DETERMINED. …
Fetuses exposed to lead in the womb, because their mothers had a lot of lead in their bodies, may be born prematurely and have lower weights at birth. Exposure in the womb, in infancy, or in early childhood also may slow mental development and cause lower intelligence later in childhood. There is evidence that these effects may persist beyond childhood.
Frank Waksmunski
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians
http://www.carbonwaters.org/
Penn State Master Well Owner
http://mwon.cas.psu.edu/
ADHD Cases Linked to Lead, Smoking
About one-third of attention deficit cases among U.S. children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth or to lead exposure afterward, according to provocative new research.
Even levels of lead the government considers acceptable appeared to increase a child’s risk of having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the study found.
The study bolsters suspicions that low-level lead exposure previously linked to behavior problems “is in fact associated with ADHD,” …
Based on study estimates, more than 5 million 4-to-15-year-olds nationwide have levels higher than 2 micrograms per deciliter, Lanphear said.
Children with blood lead levels of more than 2 micrograms per deciliter were four times more likely to have ADHD than children with levels below 0.8 microgram per deciliter. The government’s “acceptable” blood lead level is 10 micrograms per deciliter, and an estimated 310,000 U.S. children ages 1 to 5 have levels exceeding that.
Read this article by clicking Government: CDC
Traces of lead found in newborn’s blood
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3098442.shtml
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Traces of lead found in newborn’s blood
By GLEN BOLDUC
Staff Writer
Staff photo by Jim Evans
Lenora Cotta says her 15-day-old son Axel has tested positive for lead in his blood from contaminated drinking water at the Lakehurst Acres apartments in Manchester.
MANCHESTER — Axel had only been out of his mother’s womb for six days when he got tested for lead.
“It’s not exactly something you take lightly,” said his mother, 20-year-old Lenora Cotta.
She had been waiting since the Monday before Labor Day. Axel’s father, Seamus, slept little, and each phone ring at their Lakehurst Acres apartment was full of anxiety.
Cotta finally heard back Wednesday.
Axel tested positive for traces of lead, Cotta said, but the levels may be low enough to escape major health problems.
“Just the fact that it’s even a problem is ridiculous,” she said. “There are so many kids here.”
Officials say abnormally high levels of lead that have been leaking into the drinking water at Lakehurst Acres should be eliminated next week after the property owners install state-approved equipment to correct the problem.
Catherine Whitney, chief operating officer for C&C Realty Management, which oversees the 25-unit housing development on Pond Road, said the equipment will be installed by Monday and will prevent more lead from contaminating the drinking water, and poisoning the estimated 40 people who live there.
Officials believe the development’s water pipes corroded, releasing the lead into the water.
After the equipment is installed, reduction in the amount of lead in the water “will be almost immediate,” said Carlton Gardner, compliance and enforcement team leader for the Maine Drinking Water Program with the Department of Health and Human Services.
But, Gardner cautioned, it is hard to say how long it will take for the pipes to be coated and protected.
C&C Realty, an Augusta-based firm that manages 19 properties throughout the state, said it will continue to provide residents with bottled water until lead levels return to normal.
Late last month, residents of Lakehurst Acres were told by C&C Realty officials that they should consider seeing a doctor after water tests indicated that lead levels were more than 100 times higher than federal limits.
This week, nurses and volunteers from the Maine Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program were taking blood samples from residents who cannot make it to a doctor.
“We wanted to make sure there were no barriers on people getting their blood tested,” said Andrew Smith, state toxicologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Test results should be available in a few days.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services intends to pay medical fees for residents who do not have access to medical insurance.
Federal limits say lead levels in drinking water should not exceed 15 parts per billion. Water from homes tested in Lakehurst reached into the hundreds and thousands of parts per billion, with one of the highest readings hitting 1,600 parts per billion.
“Often, the problem with lead … is that it’s present with the plumbing,” Smith said.
For Lakehurst Acres, the cause of the increased lead levels came after the property managers installed a filtration system to help eliminate arsenic, Gardner said. Arsenic flows naturally in the ground water of that area of Pond Road, she said, and Lakehurst’s drinking water comes from a well.
After the installation of the arsenic control equipment, the water grew more acidic and began to corrode and eat away at the water pipes.
“Nobody expected to see this increase in lead,” Gardner said.
“An important consideration is the age of the building,” Smith said.
By the 1920s, most pipes installed for water distribution were made of iron, at least in part because lead was known to seriously contaminate drinking-water supplies. But lead solder was used well into the 1980s to seal water pipes together. Whitney said the Lakehurst Acres property was built sometime near 1980.
Lead poisoning can effect anyone, but the highest risk is to children under the age of 5, whose developing brains can be ravaged by the toxin. Even in low doses, lead can impair neurological function, and at higher levels it can cause stunted growth.
Lead could have been leaching into drinking water since May, but the effects of the lead will differ depending on how much each resident ingested, and how quickly their bodies absorbed the metals.
“We consumed a lot of it,” said Cotta.
Although the same variables play out in how long lead remains in the blood, Amrich said, in most cases lead is excreted entirely from the body within two months.
“There really is not any treatment,” she said.
The Department of Health and Human Services last week approved installing equipment that will help balance the water chemistry, and stop lead from leaching into drinking water.
“Finding lead in water in Maine is unusual,” said Amrich, whose program monitors and analyzes the roughly 16,000 blood lead test results submitted each year.
According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, lead is potentially present in the environment of almost 80 percent of the housing in Maine. Exposure to lead is most common in buildings built before 1950 — when paint contained up to 50 percent lead — and in buildings built before 1978, before use of it in house paint was outlawed.
Before C&C Realty was hired in January by the Lakehurst Acres Association, Whitney said, past property managers knew of increased levels of copper in the drinking water.
The federal government mandates that public housing units such as Lakehurst Acres be tested either every three years, every year, or every six months, depending on the need.
Records kept by the Maine Drinking Water Program show that six-month tests — which are administered to high-risk water systems — have been going on at Lakehurst for more than a year because of copper traces in the water, Gardner said.
Glen Bolduc — 623-3811, Ext. 431
gbolduc@centralmaine.com
Thousands drink from unregulated private wells
This is a news article about private wells, reported in the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. I think this same story could be written by The Times News about Carbon County.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D919A022DE10917D862571E60053032A?OpenDocument
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – MO, United States
Thousands drink from unregulated private wells
By Clay Barbour
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Sep. 11 2006
Clean water is something most people take for granted. Turn the spigot on and like magic, fresh cold water travels from some treatment plant on the far side of town, up through the ground and into the sink.
Whenever something bad happens – such as in July
There are about 800,000 private wells in Missouri and Illinois, serving about 3 million people. And in truth, that’s little more than an educated guess. Missouri started keeping track in 1987. Illinois started in the mid-’60s.
Officials say records before that are spotty, at best.
Regardless, whether the existing wells provide clean, safe water depends almost entirely on the vigilance of owners.
Robert Kiesel recently bought a house in Wildwood. One day while inspecting his yard, he noticed the cap was off his well.
“My wife was convinced a chipmunk had fallen in,” he said.
So Kiesel had his water checked at the St. Louis County Health Department and discovered that his well needed a strong chlorine treatment to kill off the high levels of bacteria.
“I’m not worried about it,” he said. “But my wife is. She’s a chemist, and she knows everything that could go wrong with water. So I’ll keep an eye on it.”
The federal government is currently working on a nationwide survey of drinking water. Until now, there has been no such study.
There are about 1,800 private wells in St. Louis County. In the past three years, officials have performed 266 water quality tests, 40 percent of which failed because of high levels of coliform bacteria.
Across the river there are more than 10,000 wells in Madison and St. Clair counties. Along with Monroe and Randolph counties, the two make up a region that has been cited for having the “high potential” for groundwater contamination.
St. Clair does not offer water testing. Officials do give free kits and applications for people who want the state to test their water.
Madison County, which has about 5,400 private wells, offers free testing to residents once a year, but few get them. Officials have performed 135 water quality tests so far this year, of which about 40 percent failed.
“I would imagine that most of the people who get their water tested think they might have a problem,” said Mike Hungerford, Madison’s environmental health services manager. “But there are probably a lot of people out there who think their water is OK, when it’s not.”
cbarbour@post-dispatch.com 314-727-6234
Tamaqua dredge in the news
News from the Republican & Herald
TAMAQUA— The borough council delayed a vote on a controversial biosolids ordinance Tuesday evening after its solicitor failed to advertise it on time.
However, by a narrow margin, council members voted to overturn a controversial agreement with a Pottsville mining company supporters say gave the borough court standing if river dredge material were ever to be imported.
Read more here.
Is it safe to do the right thing?
News from the Environmental News Service:
Clean Water Act Whistleblowers Murky Legal Protection
WASHINGTON, DC, September 5, 2006 (ENS) – The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or cleanup failures.
Read more here.
Flood victims have until Oct. 3 to register for federal assistance
August 28, 2006
Registration deadline extended in Pa. Flood victims have until Oct. 3 to register for federal assistance
HARRISBURG, Pa. – FEMA and the Commonwealth want to be sure all Pennsylvanians affected by June’s flooding receive disaster assistance. That’s why FEMA has approved the state’s request to extend the deadline for Pennsylvania residents and business owners to apply for federal disaster assistance to Oct. 3.
“With dozens of new applications coming in every day, we thought it was important to extend the registration deadline so everyone who was affected has a chance to apply,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Tom Davies. “If you or your family suffered losses and you haven’t yet contacted FEMA, please do.”
Read more at the Times News Online
Flood Victims_Free Test Kits, Oil Tank Cleanup Services Available Until Sept. 8
Press Release Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Free Test Kits, Oil Tank Cleanup Services Available Until Sept. 8 in Counties Affected by June Floods
Monday August 28, 1:44 pm ET
HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Flood victims who wish to take advantage of free water well testing kits should contact the Department of Environmental Protection’s regional offices prior to Sept. 8. The department began providing the free kits after the June floods to homeowners with a private well system to ensure they have access to safe drinking water.
The department also will continue to offer free pumping and removal services for flooded or damaged home heating oil tanks in affected areas. Residents or local officials who call before Sept. 8 can make an appointment for DEP staff and a contractor to come to the home for cleanup.
Proper handling of home heating oil is essential to prevent soil and groundwater contamination that could linger long after flood waters recede.
Pennsylvania has more private water wells then any other state in the nation. It is estimated there are nearly 1 million private wells in the commonwealth, and they are the sole source of drinking water for most rural populations.
Individuals with questions or concerns about the test kits or cleanup should contact the Department of Environmental Protection regional office in the area:
— Southeast Regional Office, 484-250-5900.
— Northeast Regional Office, 570-826-2511.
— Southcentral Regional Office, 717-705-4741.
— Northcentral Regional Office, 570-327-3636.
— Southwest Regional Office, 412-442-4000.
— Northwest Regional Office, 814-332-6945.
For copies of the fact sheet and more flood recovery information on re- entering and cleaning homes and businesses, cleaning up home heating oil, reporting spills and other environmental emergencies, contact the nearest DEP regional office or visit DEP’s Web site at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us and click on “Flood Recovery.”
CONTACT: Kurt M. Knaus
717-787-1323
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection