OREGON -- Michigan State University
researchers revealed it's very likely water used
in some wells around the Oregon area could be
contaminated.
The contamination centers around Envirosafe
Services where toxic waste had been dumped for
years. "It's scary," said Kent Wolf who lives
near Envirosafe and who uses well water for his
chickens. "It's not good. I don't like to hear
that," he added.
MSU researchers told a group of various city
leaders and concerned citizens some of the soil
on Envirosafe property has contamination as high
as 9,800 times the accepted levels. But they
said they need more wells at certain depths to
get a better idea of how bad it is and if it's
spread beyond the Envirosafe site.
One of the areas researchers called a hot
spot is where Toledo's raw water lines are. The
city said it's been focused on water samples for
20 years. "We've done some analytical
testing...sophisticated testing," said Director
of Public Utilities Robert Stevenson. "We've
implemented various barriers around raw water
lines and our tests show no contamination,"
Stevenson said.
As far as wells in the Oregon area, the Lucas
County Department of Health says it's getting
ready to locate and test more of the water.
Oregon city leaders say the next phase of this
investigation is clean-up. "That's very
important," said Oregon Assistant Law Director
Tom Hays. "We want to make sure it's done
correctly and that all the environmental
standards are met," he added.
MSU researchers would like to see wells
checked for contamination right at the top level
of the water source to get a better idea what
could be floating around down there. So far
contaminants like metals including lead, Vinyl
Chloride, PCB's and others have been found at
dangerous levels.
MSU researchers say they'll come up with a
final report about their findings and send it to
the EPA within the next couple of months.
Updated at 11:45pm Wednesday by ismith@wtol.com