Radium filtering doesn’t get rid of it
Wash. Twp. gets plant to remove radium in water
1. Lake County Reporter:
Village seeks grant for well
Milwaukeeans opposeLake Michigan waterfor Waukesha
Peoria Journal-Star
Sussex Sun
1. October 26, 2004
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Drinking~waterdecree looms
1. Towns must meet
RADIUM:
Beacon
Oswego will pay $2.8 millionto remove radium from water

RE CE V r

CLERK’S

OF~~~

NOV 2 ~2004

Clean Water

Illinois

STATE OF ~

P.O. Box 268617 Chicago, Illinois

60626

Pollution

Contrc~bu;~

773/338-9825, FAX: 773/338-9859

Cell: 312/315-6887

E-Mail: dcdobmeyer@aol.com

November 26, 2004

Clerk’s Office

I ~

Illinois Pollution Control Board

State of Illinois Center, Suite 11-500

100 W. Randolph

Chicago, IL 60601

RE: R04-021

Dear Chairman Novak:

I want to thank the board for the opportunity to speak at the two hearings on October 21 and 22

on behalfof Clean Water-Illinois in support ofpreserving the current radium water quality

standards.

Our concerns along with those ofseveral other environmental organizations in Illinois are

highlighted in the attached

Chicago Tribune

story of. This news article also signifies the

increased media scrutiny regardingthe disposal ofradioactive wastes in our environment.

In addition I am submitting articles from Wisconsin and New Jerseythat detail similar problems

in those states. The bottom line is people are greatly concerned about levels ofradium in their

environment and the solutions are not easy to find.

Clean Water-Illinois lauds the board for their commitment to ensuring a thorough airing and

analysis ofthis pressing issue that will have a profound impact on the water, wildlife and most

importantly, the citizens of Illinois.

Sincerely,

Doug Dobmeyer

Clean Water-Illinois

attachments

Radium filtering doesn’t get rid of it

It’s taken out of water but put on land, in rivers

By Michael Hawthorne

Tribune staff reporter

Published November 9, 2004

Dozens of northeastern Illinois communities are stripping their drinking water of cancer-causing radium,

only to dump the radioactive element back into the environment in sludge spread on farm fields and

wastewater pumped into rivers and streams.

State officials say the disposal methods won’t threaten human health, food crops or wildlife. But critics,

including some federal regulators, fear that in the rush to make drinking water safer, towns might be

trading one radium problem for another.

Communities including Joliet, Channahon and Geneva draw their drinking water from deep wells laced

with naturally occurring radium. To comply with federal regulations, most of the towns will flush the

element through their sewage plants, dividing it between treated wastewater and nutrient-rich sludge that

farmers welcome as an inexpensive fertilizer.

A new federal report suggests that future homeowners could inherit a significant problcrnif suburban

sprawl transforms the farmland into subdivisions. As raduim decays, it forms radon, an odorless gas that

seeps into basements and can cause lung cancer.

Moreover, critics said, releasing concentrated radium into rivers and streams could harrn fish~andother

aquatic life.

“We need to get the radium out of our drinking water, but I’m really concerned there could be side effects

that could be even more hazardous,” said Michael McCoy, chairman of the Kane County Board and a

former water company engineer.

In an August draft report intended to give local officials advice about radium treatment and disposal

methods, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that spreading radium-contaminated

sludge on corn and soybean fields could create radium hot spots that would require future cleanup.

Although sludge may be good for crops, the report said, “EPA believes such benefits should be weighed

against potential hazards and risks of the practice.”

Communities have been forced to act by U.S. EPA regulations ordering utilities to reduce radium in

drinking water to 5 picocuries per liter of water (picocuries are a measure of radioactivity). The rules,

along with a federal appeals court ruling, strengthened a legal standard that has been on the books since

the mid-1970s.

Illinois records more violations of the federal radium standard than any other state. Deep wells in

northeastern Illinois tap geological sources of the radioactive element, which has been linked to bone

cancer and poses a greater risk to children than adults.

High levels from deep wells

Many of the northeastern Illinois communities that rely on deep wells post radium levels that are three to

five times the legal limit, according to the Illinois EPA. (Radium iS not a problem for any community that

draws its water from Lake Michigan, or for homes that rely on shallow wells.)

Enforcement of the federal standard was delayed for years by legal battles and conflicting opinions about

the risks posed by radium. The U.S. EPA once considered relaxing the drinking water standard but

eventually decided enough research existed to keep it at 5 picocuries per liter.

A child under age 5 exposed to radium-laced water has 10 times the lifetime risk of developing cancer as

someone exposed to the same amount of radium at age 25, according to the agency.

Two towns, Elburn and Oswego, are installing equipment that removes radium from drinking water and

traps the element in containers that can be sent to a landfill in the Pacific Northwest licensed to handle

low-level radioactive waste.

“If there is concern about what is coming into our water treatment plants, there’s going to be concern

about what is coming out,” said David Morrison, the Elburn village administrator. “We figured at some

point somebody would figure out we were just moving radium from one place to another instead of getting

rid of it.”

Officials in Joliet and most of the other towns with radium problems have rejected the system. They say it

has not been tested thoroughly and could force dozens of local utilities to register as radioactive waste

handlers.

The state already enforces limits on radium in sewage sludge. Under an agreement between the Illinois

EPA and the Illinois Division of Nuclear Safety, sludge spreading shouldn’t be allowed if it raises the level

of radioactivity by more than a tenth of a picocurie per gram of soil.

State regulators recently have warned five communities with radium problems--Joliet, Channahon,

Geneva, Huntley and Lake in the Hills--that they will need to cut back the amount of sludge distributed to

farmers to reduce potential health risks, according to Illinois EPA records obtained by the Tribune.

Joliet, the largest Illinois community with radium problems, plans to challenge the state’s limits.

“There is no basis in science for the state’s standard,” said Dennis Duffield, the city’s director of public

works and utilities. “As a result, I don’t think there is a problem.”

Lower water standard sought

As the Illinois EPA defends its limits on radium in soil, the agency also is pushing to make it easier to

dump radium-contaminated wastewater into rivers and streams.

The agency is asking the Illinois Pollution Control Board, a state rule-making panel, to eliminate a 32-

year-old standard for radium in surface water.

All of the communities with radium problems violate the current standard of I picocurie per liter of surface

water, but Illinois EPA officials said they can’t figure out why it was set at that level in 1972. The standard

apparently has never been enforced.

“We don’t expect there will be any measurable difference-in-the-aquatic environment” if the standard is

eliminated, said Marcia Willhite, chief of the Illinois EPA water bureau.

While state officials said they couldn’t find any scientific literature suggesting there is a problem with

radium in surface water, opponents found several papers that document how radiation can harmwildlife.

One Florida study found that levels of radium in some freshwater mussels were high enough that the

mollusks would qualify as low-level radioactive waste.

“I don’t think the state looked very hard, if they looked at all,” said Brian Anderson, a biology professor at

Lincolnland Community College in Springfield and a former top official at the Illinois Department of

Natural Resources. “Everything out there suggests this is a problem.”

Articles found through a search of GOGGLE

—

Radium in Water

Wash. Twp. gets plant to remove radium in water

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Treatment facility slated to start cleansing process next summer

By LISA GRZYBOSKI

Courier-Post Staff

WASHINGTON TWP.

Technology never before used to remove radium from municipal drinking water is coming to the township. The stated

goal couldn’t be clearer - eradicate the cancer-causing element and don’t leave anything behind.

The township’s municipal utilities authority formally broke ground Friday on the $3.75 million treatment plant located

just a stone’s throwaway from the offending well on Tuckahoe Road.

Layen Christensen Company, a national firm specializing in water-related services and products, will install a

patented filtration system that uses a resin to absorb the radium from the water, said Michael Havener, the company’s

vice president.

Developed by The Dow Chemical Company about 25 yearsago for cleaning mining sites, the resin will soak up the

radium until it reaches its capacity, which is usually in five years. The resin will then be collected and shipped off to

low-level radioactive storage sites in Hanford, Wash., or Clive, Utah, he said.

“It’s a very, very environmentally safe way of dealing with this material,” Havener remarked, emphasizing no

wastewater stream is created in the process.

Karen Hershey, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed the technology is

innovative and has the potential to be used by other communities.

“I do know that we see this as a good step forward,” she stated.

There are 13 wells in the township, but only one draws watercontaining radium abovefederal levels, explained

Sheldon Belson, the MUA’s executive director. Once it’s completed in the summer of 2005, the treatment facility will

cleanse the water coming from the Tuckahoe Road well and a new well that is drWedbutstill awaithig-approvaLto

operate from the state.

Both wells tap into the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, which studies have shown contains naturally elevated radium

levels, which are even further raised because of surface proximity and fertilizers farmers and homeowners use to

grow crops and plants.

The township’s MUA detected the radium in 1988 after it had drilled the Tuckahoe Road well and tested the water.

Soon the MUA began blending the waterwith another well to dilute the radium and meet federal safe drinking water

standards, Belson said.

But concerned residents during public meetings in the early I990s made it clear they “did not want the radium in the

water at all,” noted Belson.

The MUA began to look into radium removal and the treatment plant is the culmination of about a decade’s worth of

work and research, he said.

“Standards are based on risk and, in some respect, on probability,” said Vicki Binetti, a township resident of 13 years

and vice chairman of the environmental commission. “Everything is not without risk. So here we are eliminating the

risk from radium.”

The radioactive element is linked to increased risk of bone and sinus cancer, particularly among children.

The lifetime risk associated with drinking waterthat contains the maximum level of radium allowed by federal law is

about one in 10,000, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. That means if 10,000 people

consumed two liters of such water daily for70 years, it’s likely one additional person would develop fatal cancer.

Binetti uses and drinks the public water and considers it safe, but applauds the MUA for assuring that “every effort is

being made to clean up the radium” and making an “investment in our security”.

And it isan investment.

The MUA is borrowing the $3.75 million needed to build the plant from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure

Trust at a 2-percent interest rate.

Belson believes the construction costs shouldn’t translate into higher bills for property owners with public water.

However, the plant’s operation costs could spill over into higher rates, he said.

“It’s conceivable that once this thing gets going, it’s going to cost more to operate,” Belson remarked.

It’s a reality that doesn’t upset Binetti.

“I think it’s a very reasonable and forward-thinking thing to do,” she said. “People take the delivery of safe waterfor

granted.”

WHERE TO CALL

• For information, call the Washington Township Municipal Utilities Authority at (856) 227-7788.

Work on water plant set to begin

Friday, October 22, 2004

By Shawn G. Menzies

smenzies~sjnewsco.com

WASHINGTON TWP

It’s been close to 16 years since radium was first detected in a water well in town; t’

officials will break

ground on a near $4 million treatment plant that will eradicate the radioactive metallic chemical element in ti

municipality’s drinking water.

Local officials and members of the town’s Municipal Utilities Authority will hold the ceremonial event at th

location where the water in Well 10 was found to have radium when it was dug in 1988 offTuckahoe Road.

was not put into use until 1993, when Well 10’s water was blended with water from another well to drop rad

levels to within state standards, officials have said.

“It’s going to get rid ofthe radium in all ofthe town’s water,” Sheldon Belson, executive director ofthe MJJI~

former mayor in

town, said. “We hope it will do the job and the people really want this.”

Belson said once the plant comes online next year it will handle cleansing radium from approximately 2 billi

ofwater a year. The Central Water Treatment Plant will be built in two phases, the first being the building of

structure to house the equipment and the second phase entailing the installation and piecing together ofthe e

Belson said.

Radium is a radioactive metallic chemical element commonly found in very small amounts ofpitchblende an

uranium minerals.

Belson said treatment plants like the one the town will build are common in the western part ofthe United St

is believed to be the first ofits kind in the Garden State.

The engineering firm ofFederici & Akin will put in place a Layne-design plant, officials said. The plant will

filter media designed by Dow, officials said.

“It is really a huge step in our environmentand making sure people have quality clean water,” Mayor Rande

Davidson said. “It is a big project to get this plant and it will ensure the water supply is radium free.”

The MUA was notified in August2002 by the state it was eligible to receive the

$3.5

million loan with a spe

percent rate, Belson said.

Original plans had the plant coming online this year, but the project has been delayed because ofa state-requ

bidding process and a local law dealing with water well protection.

When the council in late 2002 approved the Wellhead Protection Ordinance, which limits development in an

weliheads, or shallow wells where toxins can enter the drinking water supply, the law forced MUA officials 1

the drawing board.

The MUA changed its plan for a plant backup generator’s fuel source from diesel to natural gas, because the’

fuel would have been stored underground in close proximity to a well.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. today on Tuckahoe Road near Brunswick Lanes bo

alley, officials said.

WTVD

North

Carolina:

Dozens of Orange County Residents Fight for Clean Water

By Mike Dunston

(10/20/04

ORANGE COUNTY)

—

In Orange County dozens ofpeople say their water is contaminated. The

had to boil water for more than a year. They’re finally sick ofthe hassle and they called Eyewitness News foi

Rita Fellers isn’t lugging jugs offiltered waterbecause she wants to; she says she’s doing it for her health. “It

tastes lousy, it has radium 226 and 228 in it, it gives offradon gas when it comes out ofthe faucet and the shi

head.”

For Rita and more than 40 neighbors in the Wildcat Creek subdivision, month after month ofthe past 14 moi

there’s been no let up to the letters.

They advise them to boil their water before drinking it. According to the notices, their water company found

potentially cancer causing radium and coliform bacteria in theirwater well.

Lonny Kylander will only let his Zinneas drink this water. And he says it’s definitely not fit for his dog Sarah

So he’s wearing his frustration on his front lawn. “Wejust want clean water, I mean this has gone on, long en

This is my message to the neighborhood.”

“We put out this boil water advisory as a precautionary measure.” Jerry Tweed, the head ofthe Cary-based w

company heater utilities said. “The water in the distribution system is totally safe, the water coming from the

has sporadically given us a problem, the chlorine kills that problem.”

“I’d like to see him try to drink this stuffout ofthe tap, I wouldn’t do it, we have to purchase all of the water

drink.” According to one document from the Utilities Commission, the water company wants to raise the rate

Residents planto meet Wednesday night to fight that move. Meantime, company leaders saythey found anol

and hope to lift the boil water advisory by the end ofthe year.

Lake County Reporter:

City

of Delafield

The amount of radium in the water from the

city

well near

Highway 83 and 1-94 is approaching levels that are too high, according to federal

and state restrictions.

‘We are right on the fence line,” Public Works Director Tom Hafner told the Common Council during a budget worksho

Monday night. In a later interview, Hafner emphasized that he did not think either public or private well water in the city

was at risk.

“If the well is determined not to be in compliance, the well water would either need to be treated or blended with water

from a shallow well,” Hafner said.

Hafner has asked for $600,000 to $700,000 to be set aside in the 2005 budget to deal with the issue.

Hafner said radium levels cannot exceed 5 picocuries per liter, according to federal environmental protection standarth

that are enforced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Radium is the substance that results from the breakdown of radioactive materials naturally found in aquifers, accordinç

Hafner.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency says consumption of large doses of radium over long periods of time car

contribute to bone cancer in some people, according to Hafner.

Hafner said the federal agency reduced from 20 picocuries-per ~terto five picocuries per liter the allowable levels of

radium in drinking water.

However, Hafner said a controversy swirling around the regulations made state and-federal-officials, until recently,

hesitant to enforce the lower level.

At issue in the controversy, according to Hafner, iswhether there is enough of a public health risk to merit the high cos

some government units to comply with the lower level requirements.

DNR has required quarterly tests of the water in the city’s only well. The well is located near the northeast corner of Gc

Road and Milwaukee Street.

He said the first two tests this year indicate the radium levels are on the borderline of being too high. He said city leveh

have ranged from 4 to 7 picocuries per liter.

He said if the levels are too high at the end of the year, the city might decide to dig a shallow well that will be connecte’

a reservoir so the water from the deep and shallow wells can be- blended.

He said he did not think the city’s public water supply was at risk because there are a number of alternatives for reduci

the radium levels.

He said he did not believe that private water supplies are risk because most private wells - particularly for residential

purposes - are shallow wells not subject to higher levels of radium.

Chicago Sun-Times

Environmentalists slam plan to drop radium limits

October 8, 2004

BY GARY WISBY

Environment

Reporter

An Illinois Environmental Protection agency proposal to eliminate

limits on radium in the state’s waterways would contaminate

mussels and wildlife that eat them, an environmental group charged Thursday.

At an April hearing, IEPA official Bob Mosher said the agency could find no studies about the impact of the radioactive

material on wildlife.

“They didn’t look very far,” said Doug Dobmeyer, spokesman for Clean Water-Illinois. He cited a study showing freshw

mussels absorb radium-226 at toxic levels.

Humans would be at direct risk if they ate the mussels, according to the study, done for the Southwest Water

Management District in Brooksville, Fla. It’s not known how many people do eat them.

But it is known that mussels are consumed by fish, raccoons, waterfowl, otters and muskrats, said Brian Anderson,

chairman of the biology department at Lincolnland Community College in Springfield.

Those creatures could serve as pathways to other predators, including bald eagles, said Anderson, who formerly work

for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

“The scientific literature and common sense argue that IEPA’s assertion that releasing concentrated radium into the

environment is ridiculous,” Anderson said.

When told of the Florida study, Marcia Willhite, chief of IEPA’s water bureau and Mosher’s boss, said, “We’ll certainly t

a look at it. It may or may not give us a clue as to the tie between lowering standardsland the concentration needed V

harmful to aquatic life.”

IEPA also wants to raise the radium limit forwater near intakes of treatment plants from one picocurie per liter to five

picocuries -- the same as for drinking water. “It didn’t seem appropriate to hold water being treated to a cleaner stand

than drinking water,” IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson said.

But the Florida study found that mussels in water with five picocuries of radium accumulated enough to require that thE

mollusks’ flesh be sent to a low-level radioactive waste site.

Galesburg Register-Mail,

October 16, 2004

Village seeks grant for well

October 16, 2004

ALEXIS

The Alexis Village Board on Monday approved a resolution to apply for Community Deve1opme~

Assistance Program funds for a newwater well.

The vote came after a public hearing to explain and discuss an application to construct a new water system. 1

village needs a new well to replace its oldest well and to comply with the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency radium standards. The whole water system needs updating, as well.

The project is estimated to cost $241,955. The village is seeking $181,451 from the state CDAP grant. That

leaves $60,504 the village would have to pay. The water fund has $51,050 already available for the work

through water fees.

John Roegiers, village engineer with Missman, Stanley and Associates, said the project estimate is 20 percen

higher than it was three years ago when the village first applied for the funds. This is the third attempt at a gr

Previous applications were denied due to lack offunds.

Trustee Curtis Moore resolved to establish a second park fund. The original fund forpark improvements was

established for grant funds. “We have a nice looking park but there are still improvements that need to be

made,” Moore said.

Among the items still needed are new swings.

The board approved his resolution and will create the fund at the Farmers State Bank. Individuals may

contribute there.

Moore, who is a member ofthe American Legion, reported the local post donated three 8-foot tables for use

the community center.

The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 in the Community Center.

Lake dwellers fear the suburbs’ thirst

Growth increases demand, stirs up clashes over water

By DARRYL ENRJQUEZ

denriguez(~journalsentinel.corn

Posted: Oct. 10, 2004

During the height ofan ugly dispute over water, an embattled town chairman from western Waukesha Count

publicly predicted that, for communities west ofMilwaukee, water would become more precious than oil.

Rapid

residential and business growthhas put new demands on aging rural water systems, forcing an

unprecedented number ofsuburban municipalities to hunt down new and plentiful sources of

contaminant-free water.

The search has put many ofthem on a collision course with conservationists and owners oflake properties ai

private wells.

Property owners fear that theirprivate wells and the lakes they share will run dry as water is sucked through

high-capacity wells and sent along to newcomers.

Residents ofUpper Phantom Lake, near Mukwonago, Beaver Lake, near Hartland, and Lake Beulah, near E2

Troy, are worried that their predominantly spring-fed bodies of water could be adversely affected by new we

on or near those lakes.

“The issue is basically that (communities) are taking on huge amounts ofgrowth and becoming suburbs of

Milwaukee, and East Troy is no different,” said Rob Hudson, whose family has lived on the nearly pristine L

Beulah since the mid-1800s.

“We’re saying, ‘Don’t take a chance ofdamaging one ofyour picturesque resources that attracts people to the

community,’” he continued. “People with homes on the lake have significant investments. Ifthe lake turns it

green sludge because ofdamage done by wells, we’ll lose our property values and East Troy will lose taxes.”

Hudson said Lake Beulah and Upper Phantom Lake residents are enlisting the help ofsportsmen and

conservationists who are concerned about waterresources.

Former Waukesha County Supervisor Karen J. McNelly is to host a meeting ofthe Citizen’s Water Protectioi

Study Group at the Mukwonago TownHall on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. State and local water resource experts a

to talk about dealing with municipalities and state agencies- that are designated to protect public waterways.

“It appears to us that there’s never been as many ofthese kinds of issues showing up,” said Bob Biebel, chief

environmental engineer with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, which oversees w;

issues.

“Occasionally, there’s been conflicts, but historically there’s never been this many at one time,” Biebel said.

Biebel said it’s become necessary for communities to dig newwells outside their municipal boundaries eithei

because there isn’t enough space for a new wellin the municipality, orpotential sites are in areas apt to becon

contaminated with gasoline, industrial waste or other poisonous substances.

The recent nasty fight between the village and town ofEagle made headlines. It was so contentious that it

spilled over into a failed referendum to dissolve the village in part over a new village well site in the town.

Town officials become angry when the village attempted to annex the land. Eagle Town Chairman Don Wilt

said during one ofmany meetings on the issue that water would surpass oil as the most valuable resource in

county thirsty for continued economic development and the clean water needed to accommodate growth.

The Eagle dispute highlighted the main problem facing water utilities. The traditional source of drinking wat

deep underground aquifers about 1,000 feet beneath the surface

has become unreliable and potentially

dangerous.

Water experts say that as utilities throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois put more demands on ti

shared deep aquifer, its water becomes more contaminated with radioactive substances.

Falling depth levels mean that water close to radioactive rock is being drawn for human consumption.

Shallower wells used

This issue has prompted many communities to dig shallow wells, 200 to 300 feet deep, as an alternative wate

source. Shallow aquifers are free ofradium contamination, but they also replenish lakes and streams and are

needed forprivate wells.

Municipal officials argue that they have no intent to damage a natural resource.

“If there was documented proofthat it would do damage to (Lake Beulah)

we’re not going to do this,” East

Troy Village President Bill Loesch said. “Three experts have advised us that it (the well) would not present a

problem to the lake or even draw water from the springs that recharge the lake.”

The water issue has also become heated in Walworth County, where it has reached Circuit Court, although ni

as heated as it became in the Eagle situation, Loesch said. Tensions are beginning to drive a wedge between

East Troy and lake residents, he said.

Just to the north, Mukwonago has an eye on drilling a well on the shores of Upper Phantom Lake to serve its

rapidly growing south side. Lake area residents have the same concerns as Lake Beulah residents about its

effect on water quality.

Water dispute quiets down

Another dispute over the Hartland well appears for the present to have been resolved.

Village Administrator Wally Thiel said Beaver Lake residents were given complete access to village records,

and they hired a hydrologist to run independent tests. They were advised that Hartland’s newwell was unlike

to damage the lake, although its long-term effect on the environment needs to be monitored, Thiel said.

Growing watertroubles in Hartland will be put to rest by the newwell, he said.

“It was sort oflike striking oil.”

Families ask again to receive lake water

By Mick Zawislak Daily Herald StaffWriter

Posted 10/2712004

Considering the source is 20 million gallons a day, a Lake County request

to supply four subdivisions east of Libertyville with Lake Michigan water is

~~rtMuItimedia

Gaflery:

Contacts

just a sip from a tall drink.

Together, the 500 families in unincorporated Countryside Manor,

Libertyville Estates, Ashford Trails and Terre Fair neighborhoods use a

mere 100,000 gallons of water daily.

Although that’s a sliver of what the Central Lake County of Joint Action

Water Agency pumps daily, the request has big implications.

JAWA, as it is known, has nine members and decisions are made based

on a bigger picture. Making sure there will be enough water for members in

the future has the agency and residents in a tough spot.

The situation also hints at a larger concern, as parts of the county outside

the membership area experience water supply problems.

“How many areas like this are out there?” asked Ed Glatfelter, JAWA’s

executive director. “Do we expand outside our original planning area?”

The county’s request was rejected in spring, in part, because members did

not have a handle on future needs. A planned population and water

demand forecast is not complete.

“This isgoing to be a big issue in the future in Lake County - the county

needsto have a more comprehensive approach,” said Donald Rudny,

Gurnee mayor and JAWA member.

The issues are expected to be aired tonight, as the agency reconsiders a

new water source forthe subdivisions. Water from wells there exceeds the

federal standard for radium. As operatorof the system, Lake County has to

correct the problem.

Four possibilities, including digging new wells or building a treatment

facility to remove the radium, have been considered. Getting Lake

Michigan water through the county is the least expensive, however.

Also an option is receiving Lake Michigan water via Green Oaks, which

gets its supply from Waukegan. That would come at a premium on monthly

bills and would cost more to install, said Peter KoIb, the county’s interim

public works superintendent. Extending pipes to connect to the system

would cost the county $225,000 through JAWA, compared with $365,000

through Green Oaks, he said.

As a JAWA member, the county resurrected the issue for a vote based on

new information. KoIb is expected to present his own analysis showing

future water needswon’t be affected if the Libertyville-area residents

connect.

The dispute has riled some subdivision residents, who can’t understand

why they still are drinking water containing radium above federal standards

more than a year after it was discovered.

“We have meetings quarterly and it’s pretty much the main topic of every

meeting we go to,” said Jennifer Elfering, a member ofthe Countryside

Manor Homeowners’ Association. “I just know that we need to do

something.”

KoIb emphasized although the water exceeds the standard, it doesn’t mean

the supply is unsafe. Nonetheless, the county has a mandate to come into

federal compliance.

Rudny, who voted against the extension the first time, said the agency

would need to verify the county’s numbers.

“I have no problem if someone can convince me there is a serious public

health issue at stake,” he said. “They have alternatives. Radium can be

removed from the system.”

Milwaukeeans oppose

Lake Michigan water

for Waukesha

Some

say

water diversion would

increase poverty, segregation

The Hoan Bridge looms in the

background while several small

sailboats make their way across the

waters of Lake Michigan on Monday.

Severalenvironmentalists toldthe state

Department of Natural Resources at a

meeting Tuesday they didn’t want

Waukesha County to tap into Lake

Michigan fordrinking water because of

the loss of what they called “a non-

environmentalists told

renewa e resource.

the state Department

of Natural Resources that they feared the loss of what they called

“a non-renewable resource,” others acknowledged that there were

social and political reasons behind their opposition.

The public information hearing was one of five being held

throughout the state in the next week to gather public opinion to

submit to the Council of Great Lakes Governors. That group is

considering a set of rules forthe future of the Great Lakes that will

determine what areas will be able to directly access the fresh water

and what environmental protections need to be installedto protect

lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.

DENNIS A. SHOOK

GM Today Staff

September 29, 2004

WESTALLIS - The

tide of public opinion

Tuesday certainly was

against allowing

access to Lake

Michigan water for

many Waukesha

County communities

and some even tied

the issue to urban

poverty and racism.

While several

The council that will ultimately consider the new regulations, which

have been called “Annex

2001,”

consists of the eight U.S. states

adjacent to the lakes and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and

Quebec.

The new standards would include where and how water from the

lakes should be allowed outside the basin. In Waukesha County,

only those lands that lie east of the subcontinental divide are

considered within that basin.

That rules out all of Waukesha, which would like to access Lake

Michigan water as a solution to the high radium levels in the

existing water supply. And keeping Waukesha and other suburbs

from the water was clearly a major issue for some who spoke

during more than two hours of public comment.

Suburban shots

Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy drew loud applause when he

read a Milwaukee Common Council resolution that asked the

council to “minimize all diversions” of water outside the basin.

Murphy added that any consideration of extending water should be

linked to suburban efforts to develop affordable housing projects in

the county.

Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties

Union of Wisconsin, took that recommendation even further in his

comment, saying that “environmental justice” standards needed to

be considered in any consideration of selling Lake Michigan water

to Waukesha. Ahmuty cited a section of the proposed changes that

states waterdiversions “that may harm the residents of Milwaukee.”

Ahmuty added, “Water diversions will almost certainly increase

suburban sprawl. The undisputed lack of affordable housing and

the ongoing resistance to meaningful public transportation-in and to

the suburbs means that many poor Milwaukee families -

disproportionately, persons of color - are simply unable to live or

work in prosperous suburban communities.

“In a metropolitan area as segregated as Milwaukee, providing

water diversions from Lake Michigan to suburbs outside ttsbasin

will exacerbate the residential isolation and economic de-rivation-of

the city’s poor and minority residents,” Ahmuty said.

Even Waukesha County residents joined in the torrent of

opposition.

Former New Berlin Alderman Paul Lincoln Scheuble commented,

“Some kind of water budget needs to be figured out before any

water is diverted.”

He said his own community, which already is nearly half in the

basin, should be denied water sales on the basis it would be an

“arbitrary” standard.

Steven Onsager, who lives in North Prairie but owns a

manufacturing business in West Allis, added, “There should be no

exceptions allowed unless they can replace the water” by sending

back treated wastewater.

“Instead, we ought to try to lure potential industrial water users into

the basin area,” Onsager said.

Some approve

Waukesha Water Utility Manager Dan Duchniak has made the

argument that Waukesha should be considered part of the Great

Lakes basin and should not be denied water from that source in

any event. He said about 40 percent of Waukesha groundwater

recharges the Great Lakes by seeping into the aquifer and

returning to the Great Lakes.

So he believes it is not really a diversion of waterfrom the system,

as the proposal has historically been treated. Duchniak said it can

be shown that there would be no need for an expensive system to

return water to Milwaukee even though Waukesha is located west

of the subcontinental divide because Waukesha groundwater seeps

back into the Great Lakes basin.

Some comments at the public hearing took the same stream of

thought.

New Berlin Mayor Ted Wysocki said that his community, which is

split by the subcontinental divide, should be considered completely

within the basin. He said the Annex 2001 rules recognize that

groundwater and surface water are interconnected.

“In reality, there is only one water,” he said. “Water flows between

the surface and the ground fairly freely. The proposed rules

recognize this connection and, in cases where science is available,

allow foreven further definition of the extent of this interconnection

and potential adjustment of the basin boundary.”

If it is adopted by the governors, Congress and the region’s state

legislatures, the compact would codify Great Lakes protections

such as requiring that any water diverted from the basin be

returned; calling forgreater water conservation throughout the

region, and requiring improvements to the Great Lakes

environment.

Dennis A. Shook can be reached at

dshook(áT,conkvnet.

coin.

New Berlin’s worries eased about groundwater supply

Hydrogeologist says city’s levels are strong

By KAYNOLAN

Special to the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Oct.

2004

New Berlin

There’s plenty ofgroundwater for future development in western New Berlin, a hydrogeologisi

told the city’s Plan Commission on Tuesday.

Even if all available land in the western portion ofthe city were to acquire new houses on five-acre p1ot~

and eachhouse had four occupants using 100 gallons ofwater per person every day, groundwater levels

would not be noticeably affected, he said.

The Plan Commissionhad asked for clarification ofthe matter after a recent study by the Southeastern

Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission reported a 500-foot drop in the level ofa deep sandstone aquifer i

Waukesha County within the last century. The report predicted continuing drops in groundwater levels in

coming decades, due to increased water usage by municipal wells.

But Steve Schultz, who heads the water supply department ofRuekert & Mielke Inc., said that residential we

in western New Berlin rarely, if ever, tap the deep sandstone aquifer. “A private well would have to be 400 t

500 feet deep,” he said.

Those shallow wells also are free ofradium, a radioactive and potentially harmful substance found in water

drawn from deep wells. The city is under state order to close contaminated deep wells or employ treatment

methods that rid waterofradium. The deadline is December 2006.

Six of the city’s 10 wells do not comply with federal standards forradium concentrations. The city can bring

drinking water into compliance by closing contaminated wells and importing Lake Michiganwater, or it can

blend shallow well water with contaminated water to dilute radium levels. Another option is to use radium-

reduction treatment methods at each ofthe deep wells.

There is considerable land west ofCalhoun Road in New Berlin that is ripe for development. Unlike resident

the eastern portion ofNew Berlin, who are served by municipal water and sewers, those living in the western

half have septic systems and private wells that tap groundwater from a shallow sand-and-gravel aquifer.

Groundwater is quickly replenished in the sand-and-gravel aquifer, separate studies by SEWRPC and Ruekei

& Mielke have shown, Schultz said.

Ninety percent ofthe water pumped by private wells in New Berlin is rapidly returned to the ground by septi

systems, he said. Some ofthe returned water flows into area wetlands and streams, and the rest seeps deeper

the ground and flows east, recharging the aquifer under a large part ofWaukesha County before eventually

reaching Lake Michigan.

“Western New Berlin is a major recharge area forthe entire county,” he said.

Both studies showed that groundwater there is recharged at a rate ofabout 3 million gallons per day, Schultz

said. Even if all suitable rural land in western New Berlin were developed, the amount ofgroundwater rechai

would only diminish by about 4, he said.

In addition, new state regulations that took effect Oct. 1 require new developments to incorporate measures

ensure groundwater recharge at 90 ofthe site’s pre-development levels, said Eric Nitschke, a city engineer.

Plan commissions can require developers to install ponds in new subdivisions to collect storm water. Where

dense clay soil is prevalent, developers can grade the areato direct water runoff into the storm waterponds.

New types ofporous asphalt can be used to minimize water runoffcaused by impermeable pavement surface

Roadways can be edged with gravel to further collect runoff.

“We could actually create a net gain (in recharge),” Nitschke said.

“This report is very encouraging to us who have had concerns over the groundwater supply,” said Lee Sisson

member ofthe Plan Commission. He called for copies ofthe report to be published in the city newsletter.

Pact to protect Great Lakes water finds public support

Many at hearing call for more protections against withdrawals

By LEE BERGQUIST

lberRguist(~journalsentinel.com

Posted: Sept. 28, 2004

West Allis

People attending a public hearing Tuesday night strongly supported the ideabehind a proposed

agreement by Great Lakes governors that would regulate large-scale diversions ofwater from the lakes.

But most ofthose who supported the agreement also said it does not go far enough.

They called for more protections against water withdrawals, a faster phase-in of

regulations and clearer language about how best to conserve the largest source of fresh water in the world.

The hearing at State Fair Park, and others like it in Wisconsin and in other Great Lakes states during Septemi

and October, is intended to provide the governors with public comment about how best to manage the Great

Lakes at a time when many experts view freshwater as the most critical resource ofthis century.

Before making his comments, Cameron Davis called southeastern Wisconsin the “flash point” for debate abc

who gets access to Great Lakes water, and who does not.

“The debate is more front and center here than anywhere else,” said Davis, executive director ofthe Lake

Michigan Federation, an environmental group.

It’s simply a matter ofgeography. In metro Milwaukee, the Great Lakes basin ends in eastern Waukesha

County. From there, all water eventually flows to the Mississippi River.

The basin is all-important because in 1986 Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act, which

required the governors ofWisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Y

to unanimously approve water diversions outside the boundary.

Running out of water

But fast-growing communities such as the City ofWaukesha that are outside the basin are running out ofwe

water, and their existing supplies are laced with unacceptably high levels ofradium, which has the potential

cause cancer.

Those communities want to tap the lake. But under the law, they need approval from all eight governors

something that has happened only twice before.

The agreement tries to open the spigot to the lakes, but perhaps just a little, and in a waythat could supply

nearby communities while making it virtually impossible for far-away cities to tap in.

Tuesday night’s hearing and an earlier informational meeting drewmore than a 100 people.

But during the hearing, no one spoke on behalfof the water needs ofWaukesha, Muskego, Brookfield,

Pewaukee and Sussex

municipalities that lie outside the basin and have water problems.

Where to draw the line

Instead, speakers such as Steven Onsager ofNorth Prairie in Waukesha County said he was fearful of the

cumulative effect ofwater diversions. “Where do you draw the line?” he asked.

Onsager called for minimizing diversions, forcing all those who take water out ofthe basin to return it and to

use incentives forpeople and businesses to move to Milwaukee County and other places in the basin so that

water is preserved.

Bruce Peacock ofBurlington said he spoke as someone with property along Lake Michigan near Marinette w

feared that already low lake levels would keep falling. Invasive species have reached fartherout onto the lak

beds, wreaking havoc on his stretch ofthe lake, he said. He called stronger water conservation practices the I

solution to protect the lakes.

Davis, ofthe Lake Michigan Federation, liked the agreement. But he echoed the sentiments ofothers and cal

for these changes:

Abandon language that allows larger waterusers inside the basin a higher threshold of waterremoval before

governors can step in. Maintain unanimous approval ofall water deals by governors. And clarify language

about requiring conservation practices forthose allowed to tap the lakes.

Chicago exempted

Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) said he was troubled that Chicago continues to be exempted from the

agreement. “I thii~kit’s worth some talk

you’d hate to see the largest user on the lake exempted from this.”

A 1967 Supreme Court decree allows Chicago and about 100 communities to use nearly 2 billion gallons of

water from the lake daily. But it’s not returned and is flushed down the Chicago River, flows into the Chicag

Sanitary and Ship Canal and ends up in the Mississippi River.

A sharper critic ofthe plan was Wisconsin Manufactures & Commerce, the state’s largestbusiness group. Jel

Schoepke, director ofenvironmental policy, said it created a “bureaucratic morass” that goes far beyond wha

necessary to protect the lakes.

Some ofthe highlights ofthe agreement:

• Authority over the Great Lakes would remain in the states and the two Canadian provinces that border the

lakes.

• Inside the basin, Great Lakes governors would have to review any new request to use

million gallons a d

ormore that will not be returned to the lake. This would also apply to any existing user that wanted to increa:

water use by that much.

• Outside the basin, Great Lakes governors would have to review any request for 1 million gallons a day. Al

eight governors would have to agree to the water use.

• Anyone asking for water would have to demonstrate that they neededthe water and couldn’t fmd it elsewh

They also must agree to return the water after treatment and fundwater restoration projects.

After the hearings, governors and their staffs will work with the Council of Great Lakes governors to draft a

final agreement

one between the states and another betweenthe states and provinces of Ontario and Quebe

From there, the process could get dicey.

Any of the legislatures, or Congress, or officials in Canada could rejectthe agreement.

BTMUA will meet with Howell officials, residents

BY DANIELLE MEDINA

Correspondent

HOWELL

—

Representatives from the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) have been

invited by Howell officials to discuss the authority’s role as a water supplier for the Ramtown section of the

township.

The meeting, scheduled for Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Howell Middle School South, Ram-town-Greenville Road,

was organized by Mayor Timothy J. Konopka and the Town-ship Council. BTMTJA Vice Chairman Andrev

P. Nittoso, Executive Director Kevin Donald, Director ofWater Quality Louis Gialanella and DirectoT of

Engineer-ing Steve Specht are expected to represent the authority at the meeting.

Following a brief presentation, the BTMUA officials will field questions from the public and Howell officis

“This is a big deal for our residents,” Konopka said. “It’s going to have a positive impact on the conimunity

Konopka said he expects that the BTMUA representatives will address water quality issues, rates and how

water will come from the new Brick reservoir instead offrom aquifers.

“It’s a get-acquainted session,” said BTMUA attorney John Doyle, “but there is still a lot to do and a lot of

approvals to get.”

Doyle was referring to the due diligence process that the authority is currently in with Parkway Water Co.,

previous water supplier for Ramtown.

BTMUA commissioners are still considering whether they want to purchase the Parkway Water Co. and its

Howell customer base of 1,800 homes and business. Parkway Water serves customers in the Ramtown secti

ofHowell, including three schools.

Last year, Parkway Water customers were notified that theirwater supply had excess levels ofradiuin-226

and radium-228, naturally occurring elements in the soil that can become activated by the introduction of

fertilizers and lime, as well as by the movement ofthe soil.

On Aug. 16, the BTMUA began temporarily selling 200,000 gallons of water daily to 500 customers in the

lower section ofRamtown, after Parkway Water’s last uncontaminated well ran out ofwater. Residents intl

upper section ofRam-town, as well as the three schools, continue to be served by the New Jersey-Ainer-icai

Water Co.

Nittoso said that since the BTMUA began supplying water to Ramtown, the authority has averaged about fe

phone calls a month with questions about the chloramine in the water. He said there have been no other

inquiries on any other topics.

Nittoso added that since the due diligence process is “close to the end,” he expected the Oct. 28 meeting to I

the next step in the approval process forthe authority’s acquisition of Parkway Water.

The BTMUA needs approval from the Brick and Howell governing bodies as well as approval from the stat

Board ofPublic Utilities before it can purchase the Park-way Water Co.

The Herald Palladium

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Benton Township

factory cleanup completed

Home Pace

Local

News

SCOTT

AIKEN

H-P Staff Writer

Sports

BENTON TOWNSHIP -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed an eight-year, $12 milli

Features

cleanup of radioactive material and other pollutants at an old factory complex alongthe Paw Paw River.

Obituaries

However, the EPA will continue to monitor chemicals in the groundwater for at least a decade at the former

usiness

CleanupAircraft Componentsactivity on thepropertyfederalonSuperfundNorth Shoresite Drive.began in 1996 after an investigation revealed the presence c

Editorial

radium-226, a radioactive material from World War Il-era aircraft gauges stored in buildings on the 17-acre

site.

About

Five contaminated warehouse buildings were demolished, and the rubble was hauled to hazardous waste

P (lassifieds

facilities. The work involved removing concrete foundations and a storage building. Over the course of the

Place an Ad

project, 10,000 tons of building debris and radioactive aircraft parts were hauled away.

Archives

The final phase includedthe demolition in May of a 150-foot-tall smokestack. All traces of radiation have be

removed from the site, and this year’s work involved removing soil tainted with chemicals or metals.

Radium is considered a public health hazard. Frequent contact with it can cause cancer, according to the

Health

News

Michigan Department of Community Health.

World News

While the EPA said the radium on the site was not a danger to nearby homes, a school and restaurant,

Stocks

cleanup was required to prevent the material from spreading off the site.

Amusement

U.S. Rep.

Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, who worked to get the site included on the list of projects eligible for

Town Hall

federal funding, described the effort as a “Superfund cleanup success story in our own backyard.

“Without having it done, who knows how many people would have been affected,” Upton said.

During the summer, contractors excavated and removed about 3,000 tons of contaminated soil and sedime

at the site and on the bank of the Paw Paw River. They backfllled excavations and remaining foundations t

remove hazards.

A “hot spot” of lead and cadmium in the Paw Paw River’s riverbed was removed by driving sheetsteel pilin~

into the river bottom to hold back water during excavation.

Cleaning groundwater

A technique called bioremediation is being used to eliminate chlorinated solvents pollutingthe groundwater

Kevin Adler, site manager forthe EPA, said hydrogen-releasing compounds were injected into the plume 01

contaminated groundwater. The compounds create conditions in which, overtime, bacteria use the chlorinE

solvents and change them into harmless, naturally occurring gas and salt, Adler said.

“We expect to monitor once every couple of months forthe first year, then quarterly, and then annually as ti

levels fall,” Adler said.

“The quantity we see is not huge, but it had some time to disperse,” he said.

The source of the solvents is unknown, but the chemicals have penetrated 80 feet into the ground. Progres

cleaning up the chemicals will be checkedwith a dozen monitoring wells.

The property, owned by D&L Sales, South Haven, has been a factory site for nearly a century. Baker-Vawt*

Co. opened a factory on the property in 1907 and merged with other companies in 1927 to form Remington

Rand Inc. Later, the company became Sperry-Rand, and paper forms were made at the site until 1964.

The vacant buildings were purchased by the late Charles Zollar of Benton Harbor, a state senator and

businessman. For years he and his brother, Herman, used the site to operate Aircraft Components, a mail-

order parts company.

Radioactive paint used to illuminate the faces of World War Il-era gauges the company sold was the sourct

radioactive contamination on the property, the EPA said.

When Aircraft Components moved out in 1991, thousands of the gauges were left behind. The deteriorating

condition of the buildings allowed radioactive dust to spread around the buildings.

The problem came to light when a truckload of scrapfrom Aircraft Components~including some ofthe gauç

set off an Arkansas dealer’s radiation detector.

With cleanup finished, Adler said, the EPA isworking with the Michigan Department of Environmental Qual

and Benton Township to ensure that future uses are compatible with the property.

Deed restrictions or other institutional controls can be put in place, said Adler. The site is suitablefora park

new factory or other business, he said.

As part of the project, soil was removed in areas contaminated with chemicals and replaced with a 2-foot-if

layer of clean fill.

The property is in a flood plain and has a high water table, which could restrict residential building.

Adler said that until the groundwater contamination is gone, wells could not be used to provide drinking wat

But that should not be a problem in using the property, he said, because municipal water lines are nearby.

The Aircraft Components site was the 904th Superfund National Priorities List project completed, the EPA

said. There are now 1,242 sites on the list.

August 26, 2004

Board passes series of items for Blackberry Creek subdivision

by Jennjer DuMont

The Elburn Village Board passed a series ofmotions that will help development at the Blackberry Creek

subdivision to continue its pace.

The board approved Monday an annexation agreement between the village and Blackberry Creek, engineerir

plans for well

#5,

located in the development, wetland plantings near tributary D ofthe creek, a proposed tot

and site plans for Units 8 and 9 site plans.

Annexation agreement

The annexation agreement included an impact fee structure, payable to the village from the developers on a

lot basis. Additionally, the agreement stated that the developers ofthe subdivision are responsible for paying

well

#5,

located on the property, as well as additional costs associated with the village’s radium removal proj

Well

site

Well

will be located at the base ofthe Blackberry Creek watertower at the northern entrance to the

development. It will be housed in a 15-by-20-foot building that B&B Enterprises’ Charlie Blood said was ma

to look as attractive as it could be, with brickwork, a metal roof and windows to resemble a house.

Village Administrator David Morrison said the building was a good-looking well building, and village engin

Bill Gain gave his approval, explaining that all well issues have been addressed through several meetings. G~

added that the useage of hypochioride at the well is a good choice, in comparison ofthe use of gas chlorine,

which presents a more serious hazard in the event of a leak.

Hypochloride is a liquid form ofchlorine and although it too is a hazard if spilled, the gas can be more

dangerous and requires more training thanthe use ofthe hypochioride.

“Not using gas chlorine in a residential area is a plus,” said Gain.

A radium treatment building will be constructed 20 feet from the well building. The two-story building will

house a silo, where the radium treatment tanks will be located.

Like the rest ofthe village, the Blackberry Creek development must deal with the presence ofradium in the

watersupply. Radium is a naturally occurring substance present in the water supply throughoutnorthern Illir

and, in high enough dosages over a long enough period oftime, may cause cancer. The treatment equipment

designed to pull the radium out ofthe water, making it meet the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s

standards.

Inthe future, the entire site at the base ofthe water tower will be fenced in and landscaped, said Blood.

Blackberry Creek tributary D

Trustees also reviewed wetland plantings at Blackberry Creek with Pat Kelsey from Christopher B. Burke

Engineering. Kelsey said plantings are completed at the island located in the northern pond ofthe developme

He added that the island will eventually be covered with one foot ofwater once plants have established

themselves.

Kelsey has been working with Kathy Chernich at the Army Corps ofEngineers, the body with jurisdiction oi

the creek. In addition to the Army Corps’ issues, the Illinois Department ofNatural Resources, the Conservat

Foundation, Water Conservation District and divisions offisheries and threatened and endangered species all

have a hand in decisions at the creek.

“We have lots ofeyes and ears on this,” said Village President Jim Willey.

In addition to ensuring water quality enhancements, storm water mitigation is also required at the site.

“This is the most complete storm water mitigation in probably all ofnortheastern Illinois,” said Kelsey.

Plantings along tributary D ofBlackberry Creek will take several years to flourish. Kelsey said the developni

has a construction permit forthe plantings that is valid for five years, and then it will have a seven-year

monitoring and maintenance period to go with it.

In infancy, the plantings are riddledwith weeds, and this allows them to grow under physical cover ofthe

weeds as they establish. In the second and third years, the weeds diminish and in years four, five and six, the

wetlands establish themselves as a transition to open water. Mowing ofthe weeds or over-mowing ofthe are~

delays the process, said Kelsey. After the seven-year maintenance period, the wetlandplantings become the

responsibility ofthe village, as outlined by the Army Corp.

“At that time, very little maintenance is required, maybe an annual burn,” said Kelsey. “We’re using a seed if

that’s not too grassy, that puts native annuals in for a better wildflower appearance and we’ll add (more

wildflowers) to subsequent mixes.”

When finished, Blackberry Creek’s plans call for 29 acres ofcreated wetland, said Kelsey. “Do not mow” sig

will go up along the area, and residents will receive “Living with Wetlands” brochures.

Tot lot

Blocks away, a tot lot will be erected on the northwest side ofthe development, where there already is a

collection ofexisting park benches. The tot lot will be similar to one B&B Enterprises put in at the Heron Cr

subdivision in Sycamore.

It will have playground equipment with slides and a bridge, as well as four swings. The areawill be surrounc

by railroad ties and approved wood chip mulch that complies with all requirements, such as the Americans ~

Disabilities Act, as this type ofchip allows wheelchairs to traverse the area.

The mulch, said Blood, is a cost-effective option and is easy to replace. The entire park site is over one acre

with access from sidewalks. The tot lot will cost approximately $30,000 to install.

Housing units

The board also approved to more units ofthe subdivision itself. Unit 8, located on the southwest corner, has

lots, and Unit 9, near the middle ofthe development, has 68 lots, all built by Kennedy Homes. All units are s

and under contract, according to Blood.

The next time Blood plans to appear before the Village Board, he will seek approval for Unit 10, which inclu

89 lots built as custom homes.

NEW RADIUM FILTER NOT AN OPTION FOR SUSSEX

Jim Stevens, staff writer

August 25, 2

A new radium-filtering system that the village of Pewaukee is considering is not now an

option for Sussex.

That’s the view of Steven Schultz, who heads the water supply department of Ruekert/ Mielke, the engineering firm

overseeing the test well project near Maple Avenue and Plainview Road in Lisbon, close to the Sussex border.

If the test well proves out, Schultz said, the shallow water well Sussex will build there “will be more cost

effective” than a “treatment solution” to the radium problem.

Blending option

Shallow water wells are not prone to the radium problems of deep wells, and their water can be blended with the outp

of deep water wells to meet federal radium standards.

Schultz pointed out that the village of Pewaukee is taking a “multilegged path” to solving its radium problems, includin

the blending option.

“The solution is different foreach well,” he said, “and depends on the well’s location in the water distribution system a

its closeness to shallow water resources.”

Test well

Shultz said the Sussex test well would be drilled shortly before Labor Day, and tested shortly after.

He said the village is also considering other sites for future wells, “but all of them have some limits - regulatory or

geological.”

He said he could not divulge where those sites were “because the property owners have not been approached yet.”

New filtering technology

With the deadline to meet federal regulations for radium levels in drinking water only about 27 months away, the villag

of Pewaukee is looking at some new filtering technology.

David White, director of public works, recommended to the Village Board at its Aug. 17 meeting a pilot program that

involves a relatively new technology that filters radium out of the water.

U.S. Filter would provide the equipment for free, but would charge an engineering fee of about $12,000, and between

$12,000 and $15,000 for lab analysis of the results of testing the system.

White said he would ask the board next month for formal approval of the pilot program.

The filter system “has a lot of promise,” he said.

The village has completed one pilot test involving the process of absorbing radium. That test went “very well,” White

said, though a lab analysis of the water has not yet been completed.

EPA deadline

The village - along with more than 50 communities or water systems in the state - is seeking ways to reduce the amoi.

of radium in its system to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations limiting radium in water su

plies to 5 picocuries or less per liter of water.

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is acting as the enforcement agency forthe EPA’s Dec. 8, 2006,

deadline.

The village is also looking at the blending option for one of its fourwells, and is currently testing several sites on the

Pewaukee School District campus.

At two other wells, radium levels are just above the allowable federal limit. One is at 5.1 and the other is at 5.6

picocuries per liter.

Lining off the radium

The village is testing the water in the well to determine where the highest concentration of radium is coming in. Once

that is identified, those areas in the well would be lined off with the hope of keeping the higher levels of radium out of I

well and lowering the overall radium level in village water.

The city of Brookfield has just completed a pilot program using the filter system and U.S. Filter will be giving the villag~

that equipment. The city of Waukesha and Germantown have also been involved in that pilot program.

Radium occurs naturally as certain elements, including uranium, decay in sandstone. Municipal deep wells draw wate

from the aquifer in the sandstone. Radium has been linked to cancer when there has been exposure-over-a-lifetime.

Staff writer Peter Abbottcontributed to this story.

New Jersey:

Howell now serviced by BTMUA

Lower section of

Ramtown gets water;

upper section on way

BY JENNIFER DOME

StaffWriter

BRICK

—

Water is flowing in Howell.

And no, it’s not because ofthe torrential rains the region has experienced recently. It’s all thanks to the Bric

Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA).

The authority began pumping water to the southern portion ofthe Ramtown section ofHowell on Aug. 16,

Executive Director Kevin Donald said Monday. Approximately 500 homes and businesses that were

previously served by the Parkway Water Co. ofMarlboro will now receive about 200,000 gallons ofwater

day from the BTM1JA.

The interim sale ofwater comes as the authority considers purchasing Parkway Water and its customer base

1,800 homes and businesses. Parkway Water serves customers in the Ramtown sectionofHowell, including

three schools

—

Ramtown Elementary School, Greenville Elementary School and Howell Middle School

South.

Lastyear, Parkway Water customers were notified that their water supply had excess levels ofradium-226 a

radium-228, naturally occurring elements in the soil that can become activated by the introduction of

fertilizers and lime, as well as by the movement ofthe soil.

Since then, Parkway Water has been providing residents in the lower section ofRamtown with water from f

company’s Englishtown well. That aquifer is not contaminated, but its supply was scheduled to run out on

Aug. 15, BTMUA officials said.

The Ramtown customers will pay the authority’s bulk rate for water, which is $3.13 per 1,000 gallons.

Lastmonth, the authority said it will inform its newRamtown customers oftwo specific concerns regarding

the chioramine additive in its water. Chioramine can be toxic to fish in aquariums, as well as to patients on

kidney dialysis machines. Both problems can be avoided by switching filters.

Residents in the upper section ofRamtown, including the three schools, will continue to be supplied ‘with

water from the New Jersey-American Water Co. Donald said that by next year the BTMUA will have the

hydraulic system in place to pump its water through the pipes to the customers in the upper section of

Ramtown

Peoria Journal-Star

Glasford will drill new well to control water supply

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Effort to remove radium

from water unsuccessful

BY ELAINE HOPKINS

of the Journal Star

GLASFORD - The village will drill at least one new well after a $30,000effort to remove high levels of

radium and radioactive particles from the town’s water supply failed.

That way, the town can maintain control of its water supply and rates, Village Board President Jack Ru

said.

“It’s pretty much a done deal,” he said of the new well.

The alternative, he said, is a $300,000 connection to the T-L Rural Water District, which buys water frc

Illinois-American Water Co.

The new well will likely cost about the same as the connection, he said.

Robert Meyer, board president of T-L Rural Water District, said Mapleton already has connected to the

water district.

The water district recently commissioned a $6,000 environmental assessment to evaluate the impact c

expanding its system to Mapleton, Glasford and Kingston Mines.

Nothing adverse was found, Meyer said of the assessment, which included an archeological survey.

“We had to do it,” he said of the survey, even though Glasford likely won’t be connecting to the systerr

Rudd said the $30,000 spent on Glasford’s current wells was not totally wasted. If the same company

gets the bid for drilling a new well, “We’ll get a discount.”

“It was shot in the dark,” he said of the failed effort.

The new well will be about 860 feet deep instead of 1,600 feet, Rudd said.

The village also is looking for grants to pay for the project, he said.

Charlette Hancock, Kingston Mines village board president, said her town plans to connect to the watet

district, and is looking for grants to help pay the cost, likely $400,000.

The town’s 259 residents are mostly elderly and on low, fixed incomes, she said. They’re already payin

almost $25 a month for water, and cannot afford to pay more, she said.

“It could go to $65 or $70 a month,” she said, if loans must be used to finance the hookup.

The towns face deadlines from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which is requiring them to

remove the radium from their water systems.

“The enforcement process is underway” for Kingston Mines, IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson said. TI

town received a violation notice, but has indicated the intent to find an alternative water source, she

said.

Glasford has agreed to complete its project by January 2006, then has 18 months to demonstrate

compliance, she said.

Sussex Sun

Quarry blast anniversary: second of

two

parts

NO WATER, NO MONEY, NO WILL, NO WAY

October 26, 2004

Town of Lisbon

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, the old saying goes, and at leas

four ways to fix the water problems in the neighborhood bordering the Halquist Stone Co.

quarry.

Thetrouble is, none of those solutions is likely to come about in the foreseeable future.

The problem came to a head when well disruptions led to a June lawsuit by 29 homeowners who blamed the

problem on a pair of explosions from two Halquist quarry blasts Oct. 9 of last year.

Some of the homeownersfound their water had turned turbid, chalky or muddy, with a substance that clogged their

well pumps, putting some of them out of commission permanently, forcing them to buy new pumps.

Halquist did replace three of those pumps after last year’s blasts.

Others found their water supplies contaminated with bacteria.

One drinking water expert, Chad Czarkowski of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) office in

Milwaukee, does not think the bacteria problem was “quarry related.”

In a recent telephone interview, he said, “Bacterial problems are common to any area with shallow bedrock,” which i~

where quarries often exist.

Mud and turbidity, however, are “natural rock powder dislodged during quarry blasts” and “can make wells unusable.

While the connection between those blasts and the wells’ problems are in dispute - and in the courts - any long-term

solution will require money, which some of the area’s residents say they simply don’t have, and political will, which th

also claim is in short supply.

Residents, experts and Lisbon officials have come up with four possible solutions:

Bringing Sussex municipal water and sewer services down Maple Avenue to those 50-plus homes.

Drilling a community well to serve the whole area.

Creating several “water trusts” to serve small groups of homes with shared wells.

Letting the homeowners fend for themselves individually, creating and paying for their own solutions.

Most of the experts, including Czarkowski and Lisbon Town Engineer John Stigler, agree that the best long-term

solution is for Lisbon and Sussex to come to an agreement that would supply the area-with-Sussex municipal water

and sewer services.

Politically, however, that idea seems dead in the water. Despite several meetings and exchanges of letters between

the two communities, Sussex and Lisbon are no closer to such a solution than they were a year ago.

That frustrates Emil Glodoski of Northview Drive, a frequent spokesman for those in his neighborhood who believe Ia

year’s quarry blasts damaged their well-water supply.

“I don’t think either government cares about the people of this community,” he said in a telephone interview Monday.

“Each side blames the other” for the stalemate.

Sussex Village President Michael Knapp said he is waiting for Lisbon to put an offer on the table, and insists that any

deal must be an amendment to the border agreement between the two communities.

Lisbon officials are just as adamant that the border agreement not be touched. Town Supervisor Ronald Evert pointe

out in a telephone interview that the recent shared compost site agreement was reached without amending the bordE

deal.

Lisbon Town Clerk Jeffrey Musche said, “I honestly don’t know what Sussex wants” in return for an agreement.

Opinion is divided on the issue among the area’s residents, though four of the six homeowners interviewed for this

article supported the Sussex municipal water and sewer solution.

One of those who doesn’t is Judith Duquaine of Maple Avenue. “There’s no way I can afford to have Sussex water

come in,” she said, “not at the price they’re talking about.”

Stigler estimated the cost of bringing in both sewer and water services from Sussex at $1.7 million, or $34,000 per

household, including the lateral lines required to hook up each household.

Amortized over 20 years at an extremely low interest rate from the state’s federally-financed revolving loan fund, eaci

homeowner would pay about $1,700 a year.

That’s still too much for Duquaine, who relies solely on bottled drinking water.

“I’m not drinking my well water,” she said. “That’s how I’m solving it.”

She blames last year’s Halquist quarry blasts for her “dirty, smelly water” and “rusted sinks.”

“I’ve lived here 30 years and never had any problems ‘til last year’s blasts,” she said. She didn’t join the lawsuit again

Halquist, however.

“I couldn’t afford to,” she said.

Another area resident who didn’t join the lawsuit, Robert Zimdars of Parkview Drive, does want Sussex sewer and

water.

Though he didn’t experience any problems himself from last year’s Oct. 9 quarry blasts, he thinks Halquist should

“contribute a bit” to bringing Sussex services to the area.

“It would help mend some fences,” he said.

Zimdars doesn’t think the company should have to foot the entire-bilL

“It’s not appropriate,” he said, “and it will never happen.”

Like Glodoski, the four-year resident can’t understand why officials from the two municipalities “are totally unwilling tc

work with each other.”

“It’s an indictment of the local governments,” he said, “and I don’t know who’s at fault.”

The community well solution, originally suggested by Evert, would cost about $1.5 million, $200,000 less than Susse:

sewer and water, and would only supply water services. That amounts to about $1,500 per year.

Czarkowski believes that aging and failing residential Septic systems are one of the sources of bacteria in some

homes’ water supplies. Because of the high bedrock in the area around quarries, he said, “even rainwater can carry

bacteria into well water” because “it doesn’t get filtered.”

The area’s 50-plus households also raise the stakes.

“Fifty is the magic number,” Czarkowski said, because the DNR requires a community well that serves at least that

number of households to add either a second well or a two-day reservoir in order to back up the main well.

Community wells often have to be drilled deeper than 500 feet, Czarkowski added, increasing the risk of radium

contamination.

Blending the water from both a deep and a shallow well could meet both needs, he said.

He also suggested a third solution: several water trusts that would serve no more than six -households each, thereby

avoiding the costs of complying with state regulations.

One such arrangement already exists in the area, with a 715-foot-deep well on the property of Robert Johann ing of

Northview Court, which serves three other households, as well.

The well cost the group about $28,000 in 1991, Johanning recalled in a telephone interview yesterday. That was a

better deal than about $90,000 for four individual wells, he said.

Evert thinks the cost of an individual well is much less than that. At $18 a foot plus lateral pipes and a pump, he think

a 240-foot well should cost about $7,000 to $8,000.

Like Glodoski, Johanning is one of the homeowners suing Halquist over its quarry blasts, not only for their alleged

effects on the neighborhood’s water supply, but for the rocks and dust the plaintiffs claim damage their houses.

Halquist Stone Co. President Tom Halquist has said he will not comment on any of these matters-because of the

lawsuit. He did not return a recent phone call by press time.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Working together on water

Posted: Oct. 23, 2004

Patrick

Mcllheran

E-MAIL