Company searches for source of Linwood well contaminants

Nov, 03-2009 4:27 pm

By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

LINWOOD – City Council welcomed the president of Resource Environmental LLC of Mandeville, La. Wednesday, Oct. 28 to explain the water research he has been doing here since the summer.

John Englehardt said he has been conducting research to find out who is responsible for contaminants that were found in New Jersey American Water Well No. 8 near New Road and Oak Avenue.

City Council invited him to the meeting to inform residents of the work that is being done around town.

He said water samples from the well were found to contain benzene, nonpetroleum solvents and 10 to 25 parts per billion of MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether – a product no longer used in gasoline to make emissions cleaner, being replaced by ethanol. State safety standards say there should be less than 70 parts per billion, according to Englehardt.

“It is well below,” he said.

Englehardt said the well, which is sized to pump 700 gallons per minute, is safe. He said he has tested many private wells in the area to see if corrective action needs to be taken, and the results were good.

“We found 21 active wells,” he said, and only one had even a small trace of petroleum.

He said residents were asked for their permission when well samples were taken, and in some cases soil and groundwater samples were taken.

Benzene was present at about three to five parts per billion in the New Jersey American well, Englehardt said, noting that Department of Environmental Protection standards deem anything more than one part unsafe. But the well’s carbon filter takes care of any danger to the water supply, he said.

Five to 10 parts per billion of other nonpetroleum solvents were present, which he said could have come from paint or other materials getting into the reservoir unintentionally. These levels are safe, according to Englehardt.

Englehardt and his company and professionals he has hired have inspected three locations substations where a possible leak could have come: the Gulf service station at new Road and Maple Avenue in Linwood, an old service station that is now the Crown Bank in Linwood, and the Shell service station in Northfield.

“The remedial process on these properties is minuscule,” he said.

Another part of the testing involved doing 36 soil borings, many in the city right of ways.

These temporary wells 70-30 feet down are monitoring how water flows to Well No. 8.

“Sometimes water flows vertically or horizontally,” he said.

The flow patterns will help them better track where the trace particles came from.

“So far this story is a good story,” he said. “The water is protected.”

Englehardt said his company is owned in part by several petroleum companies.

He said if the company were to find a more serious problem, it would fix it, with the party found responsible ultimately paying those costs.

No action has been recommended at this time, as testing continues.

To comment on this story email Jackie.Hanusey@catamaranmedia.com.