IEPA Receives Results of Lisle Private Well Sampling
For Immediate Release
January 3, 2001 |
Contact: Stan Black
(217) 785-1427
TDD: (217) 782-9143 |
Springfield, Ill. -- The Illinois EPA announced today that it
has received the laboratory analysis results of its recent sampling of
48 private residential wells in a Lisle neighborhood. The results are
being forwarded today to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH),
so that their experts can write letters to the residents of each home,
explaining what their results mean. Of the 48 wells in this round of sampling,
nine had levels of contamination that exceeded the safe drinking water
standard; 26 had detectable levels of solvent contamination, but the levels
were not above the standard; and 13 had no detectable contamination.
The primary chemical of concern in this area is trichloroethylene (TCE,
also spelled trichloroethene), which has a federal drinking water standard
of 5 parts per billion (5 micrograms per liter). The federal standards
reflect the amount of the chemical that is believed to be safe for daily
exposure in household water for a lifetime of seventy years. Previous
sampling by private parties had found six wells with TCE above the standard
and 13 with the solvent below the level of health concern.
Illinois EPA's Office of Community Relations staff called each home where
levels exceeded the standard on the day that results were received, so
that residents in those homes would not have to wait for the letters from
IDPH to arrive, a process that may take up to two weeks. None of the wells
sampled by Illinois EPA had levels above 8 parts per billion of TCE, just
a few parts per billion over the standard -- so residents of the homes
sampled by the Agency so far are not facing extreme contamination of their
water supplies. However, IEPA officials are concerned that they continue
to discover residential wells that contain levels of this industrial solvent
that U.S. EPA considers too high for a lifetime of exposure.
Illinois EPA technical staff are currently mapping the results from all
the well tests so far, in an effort to determine where additional sampling
will be needed in order to define the full extent of the area affected
by the solvent contamination. Illinois EPA officials expect to sample
wells to the east and west of those already sampled; and some wells north
of Ogden Avenue will also be sampled, to discover whether the problem
affects that area. Additional investigative steps will be determined soon,
and will be announced by a Fact Sheet the Illinois EPA expects to issue
in the near future, mailing it to residents in and near the affected area
and providing it to local officials and media.
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