History repeats itself

Stella Gibbs knows not to drink the water.

The DeVilla Mobile Home Park resident said she never takes a drop from her tap except to bathe or wash clothes.

One of her neighbors, Gail Garrison, takes it a step further.

"I can't even wash my windshield with this water," she said.

Both women live within what's known as the East 67th Street Plume, one of four groundwater contamination sites just outside Odessa's city limits. This one sits along 67th Street between Yukon Road to the north, VFW Lane to the south, Andrews Highway to the west and Alderfer Avenue to the east. 

Gibbs, Garrison and all others within the plume's reach depend on wells for their needs and were unknowingly sucking up carcinogen-laced groundwater until 2005.

Three years later, the pollution is still bad enough to warrant a partnership between Odessa's utilities department and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide city water service to about 30 homeowners in the area.

This marks the fourth time the city has had to extend service to groundwater contamination sites outside city limits since the late '80s.

The initiative, approved this month, is part of a years-long EPA cleanup effort. But Vincent Malott, EPA remedial project manager for the East 67th Street Plume, said potential for future contamination lurks wherever the dirty groundwater migrates.

THE AGREEMENT

On April 8, City Council members approved an agreement with the EPA to extend city water service to the East 67th Street Plume area. The EPA will pay all construction costs to install water lines, including pipes from meters to homes.

City water lines will be installed along Andrews Highway starting just north of 61st Street to East 67th, down East 67th to North Dixie Boulevard and south along Dixie back to 61st. Two more lines will branch off the East 67th stretch to cover East Stevenson Avenue and the portion of VFW Lane between Stevenson Avenue and Andrews Highway.

Residents north and south of a portion of the East 67th Street line and homes along the Stevenson Avenue line will be able to tap into city water, but Malott said those south of the VFW line won't be included.

EPA spokesman David Bary said about 30 homes will be eligible. He said line construction should begin in late May or early June, but the agency doesn't have an expected cost because bids are still being taken for the work. Surveyors have been in the area recently.

Once the water lines are installed, the city will take over operation and maintenance. If people choose to keep private wells for irrigation, Odessa Utilities Department Director Debbie McReynolds said there must be no connection between well water lines and the city's system.

Since the EPA is funding the project construction, the only out-of-pocket cost 67th Street Plume homeowners will pay is an "outside city customer" rate on their water bill. It's 1.5 times the city's normal rate for water service.

Several residents in the affected area said they wouldn't mind the increased cost, including Bill Mantooth, who lives at the corner of Stevenson and 67th. The Texas Commission in Environmental Quality installed a filtration system on his water well after testing revealed high contaminate levels.

"I ain't gonna use much," he said, after mentioning he relies on bottled water to drink and cook with. "If it's too much, we can tell them to cut it off."

In order to tap into city water services, eligible residents must sign two contracts, one with the EPA and one with the city. Odessa Billing and Collections Department Director Donna Carrasco said all signatures on "outside city limit" contracts will be filed in Ector County, effectively allowing those people to receive city water service. The EPA is distributing that contract to residents in the affected area.

Malott said quite a few people have already signed up.

Once residents get that taken care of, a second contract must be signed to get their new meters running. Carrasco said the second document will be handled by the city. Details haven't been totally ironed out, but she thinks residents will be asked to sign the meter agreement downtown.

Both contracts are completely optional.

"It's every person's choice out there," Malott said.

THE CONCERN

In 2005, TCEQ officials were doing routine testing on public supply water wells at DeVilla Mobile Home Park on VFW Lane. They got disquieting results.

One of the park's four wells showed above-normal groundwater contamination levels. Further water well testing flagged 31 sites within a mile of DeVilla as abnormal. Eight of those wells were marked as having groundwater contamination levels above federal drinking water standards.

Odessa utilities director McReynolds said the city was not aware of the area's condition before TCEQ tested DeVilla's wells.

Three culprits contaminate groundwater in the East 67th Street Plume - tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene and 1,2-dichloroethene.

Tetrachloroethene is a chemical used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing. It's listed as a probable carcinogen with the Department of Health and Human Services and has been known to cause liver tumors in mice and kidney tumors in male rats.

Malott said one of the highest tetrachloroethene levels found in the plume came in at 20 times the drinking water limit.

Trichloroethene is a liquid solvent used to clean metal parts. When people or companies dispose of the chemical improperly, it can leech into groundwater.

According to an EPA report, liver and kidney damage can result from drinking small amounts of the chemical over time. It can also impair immune functions and fetal development in pregnant women, but "the extent of some of those effects is not yet clear."

The National Toxicology Program has identified trichloroethene as a probable carcinogen.

Malott said tetrachloroethene presents the greatest danger to East 67th Street Plume residents because it's the groundwater's main invader, followed by trichloroethene.

The third contaminate, 1,2-dichloroethene, is a liquid used with chemical mixtures and to make solvents. The EPA report says it can be broken down in groundwater in about 13 to 48 weeks, but that process has potential to create vinyl chloride, an even harsher chemical than 1,2 dichloroethene.

It's the only contaminate out of the three that isn't labeled as a probable carcinogen.

Malott said no one in the plume is currently exposed to chemicals above drinking water standards thanks to TCEQ-installed water well filters.

But, the plume will slowly but surely migrate with groundwater flow, he said, opening up potential for future contamination of areas that are currently unaffected.

"Then you continually have contaminates leaching into the water as the plume moves," Malott said.

THE CAUSE

The source of groundwater contamination in the East 67th Street Plume isn't known, but the EPA doves have some ideas.

In March, the agency installed soil gas samplers in the 100 block of East 67th Street, as well as a place in the 200 block of the same street. The intent is to identify a groundwater contamination source.

EPA documents showed that earlier test results received March 28 "require further investigation" regarding possible transmission of chemicals into groundwater.

"The question is who is responsible," Malott said. "Because land ownership changes over time, the question is when did it occur."

Since the East 67th Street Plume is listed as a National Priorities Listing site with the EPA, qualifying it for federal cleanup funding, Malott said fining the company or companies responsible for the contamination wouldn't be considered. If the EPA determines fault with any party, Malott said the agency would attempt to recoup its costs for cleaning up the plume.

If the EPA can't determine liability without a doubt, or if the contaminator can't afford to pay for cleanup, Malott said the feds will pay for 90 percent of cleanup costs with a 10 percent match from state funds.

THE HISTORY

Industry pollution of groundwater isn't new in Odessa.

Chromium contamination in the Sprague Road area immediately north of the city limits is attributed to three inactive chromium-plating facilities.

The EPA listed the 180-acre contamination zone as a National Priorities Listing in 1997. The Sprague Road site includes three separate groundwater contamination plumes that originate from Leigh Metal Plating Inc., the National Chromium Corporation and Machine and Casting Inc.

According to The Department of Health and Human Services, some chromium compounds have been known to cause cancer in humans, and birth defects have been recorded in animals exposed to it.

City water service has been extended to residences around the old Leigh Metals facility, responsible for the Sprague Road site's biggest plume, but homeowners around the National Chromium and Machine and Casting sites still depend on well water.

The Odessa Chromium No. 1 site sits along 44th Street and Brazos Avenue. It was listed as a national priority with the EPA in 1986. About 200 water wells sit within a half-mile of the site, and a municipal well is within 1,250 feet of it.

The EPA attributes groundwater contamination in this 20-acre plume to several chrome-plating businesses in the '60s and '70s.

A city water service extension agreement was signed in 1986 for that area.

The Odessa Chromium No. 2 site, around Andrews Highway between West 52nd and West 57th streets, also made the EPA's National Priorities List in 1986. About 400 water wells and several municipal supply wells sit within a half-mile of the area. Chromium contamination at No. 2 spreads across 40 acres and, like the No. 1 site, it's attributed to decades-old chrome-plating businesses.

A series of years-long cleanup efforts has provided safe drinking water alternatives to about 3,500 people in the affected area, including extending city water lines.

WHAT'S NEXT

The EPA plans to continue monitoring soil gas samples to see if a pattern of contamination can be found.

They'll also continue checking water from several monitoring wells within the East 67th Street Plume to track chemical levels.

Malott said if the plume's contamination continues to spread to areas that aren't covered by the current city water service agreement, the EPA would approach the city again for further extension of municipal water lines.

"We're proceeding ahead with the investigation," he said.

WATER SERVICE

>> What: Extension of city water service.

>> Where: To residents along East 67th Street, Stevenson Avenue and VFW Lane.

>> Why: Part of EPA cleanup effort to remedy groundwater contamination.

>> When: Construction on water lines should begin in late May or early June.

>> How much: Residents eligible for city water will pay 1.5 times the normal rate charged.