Public Comment -- April 2, 2004
In 2003, The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry completed a New Jersey study and released a final report, Case-Control Study of Childhood Cancers in Dover Township (Ocean County), New Jersey (4). The overall objective of the study was to identify possible disease risk factors that might explain why leukemia and brain and nervous system cancers were elevated among children in Dover Township, New Jersey. This exploratory epidemiological study examined several specific questions about the relationship between these childhood cancers and certain environmental exposure pathways identified in the community, including: exposures to specific public drinking water supply sources; exposure to contaminated private wells; and potential exposure to major air pollution sources.
The results of the study showed an association between several environmental exposures and leukemia in female children, specifically for the prenatal period, based on a combination of evaluation criteria for the risk factors and their association with cancers. The associations between environmental exposures and leukemia were not found in male
children. Among the specific associations cited in the report was one between prenatal exposure to a specific drinking water well field serving the water system in the area and leukemia in female children.
A report on the water quality assessment conducted in the area can be retrieved at the DHSS website,
http://www.state.nj.us/health/eoh/assess/trdwhcfin.pdf
(Click on the above link to go to that document)
In summary, samples from certain wells at the Parkway well field and parts of the United Water-Toms River distribution system, taken in March and April 1996, were found to contain low levels of trichloroethylene and a previously unidentified substance later determined to be styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) trimer. The SAN trimer had been reported as a tentatively identified compound in earlier analytical tests. These contaminants are attributable to the Reich Farm hazardous waste site (CERCLIS #NJD980529713). Two of the Parkway wells (#26 and #28) had been treated by packed tower aeration since 1988 to remove trichloroethylene, but a third well (#29) showed sporadic contamination with trichloroethylene during this testing period. In response to the discovery of SAN trimer in November 1996, the United Water-Toms River Water Company voluntarily shut
down the Parkway well field. By May 1997, activated carbon treatment to remove SAN trimer had been installed on wells #26 and #28, and the treated water was discharged to the ground (although this treated water could be pumped into the distribution system at times of high water demand). In June 1999, activated carbon treatment was installed for wells #29 and #22 at the Parkway well field, to protect against sporadic or potential contamination, and a new well (#26B) was installed to assist in the control of the contaminated ground water plume.
Though the results from the epidemiological report are considered to be inconclusive, the study illustrates the significance of uncertainty on public perception. Due to public pressure, water from the contaminated well is not being used by the water system despite being treated with both air-stripping and granulated carbon filter technologies. Even after extensive treatment has been installed to remove organic contamination to undetectable levels, some members of the public are still clearly not willing to accept the water.
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