Are Moorestown Water Contaminants Coming From Cinnaminson Site?

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Moorestown officials say they are speaking with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who are cleaning up a superfund site in Cinnaminson in an effort to determine if it is the origin of the township’s ongoing water issues. The EPA is currently working on the cleanup of a superfund site that covers about 400 acres of land in Cinnaminson and Delran, according to the EPA’s website.

The cleanup focuses on properties bounded by Union Landing Road, U.S. Route 130, River Road, and Taylors Lane, as well as “properties outside these boundaries where contaminants may have migrated or threaten to migrate.”

This is where Moorestown comes into play. The township has been dealing with trichloroethylene (TCE), as well as trichloropropane 123 (1,2,3, TCP) contamination in the drinking water since 2013.

At the Moorestown Council meeting on Sept. 24, Councilman Mike Locatell said the township was looking into the possibility that TCP 123 originated from the site, but township officials have since said that is not the focus of the negotiations. Legislation concerning the investigation may be included on the agenda for the Oct. 15 meeting.

Representatives from the EPA who are involved in the investigation of the site didn’t respond to phone messages from Patch requesting comment. According to the EPA website, contaminants including vinyl chloride, 1, 2- dichloroethane, PCE, TCE, cis-1, 2-dichloroethene (cis-1, 2-DCE), benzene and arsenic were found in the groundwater, soil and soil vapor at the site in the early 1980s.

When Locatell initially mentioned that the township was negotiating with EPA at the council meeting, Councilwoman Lisa Petriello commented that she knew nothing about the negotiations.

“How long have we known about (the investigation)?” Petriello asked.

“About a month,” Locatell said.

“Why wasn’t this information shared?”

“There’s nothing conclusive now. It’s just a conversation,” Locatell said.

Petriello said that the drinking water has been an issue in Moorestown for several years. Resident Mike Babcock has asked council several times during that time to investigate the source of the contamination. He had asked for an RFQ to go out to hire someone to investigate the source of the contamination, saying the RFQ wouldn’t cost township taxpayers anything, but it was important to find those responsible and recover money the township has lost.

Petriello wondered why a development such as this wouldn’t be made public or at least shared with other members of council.

“It’s information that wasn’t going out,” Mayor Stacey Jordan said.

“Just because you tell other council members doesn’t mean the information is going out,” Petriello said. “It doesn’t always work that way,” Jordan said.

Councilwoman Victoria Napolitano said she also wasn’t aware of any negotiations, but that “no actionable information was being withheld.”

“I’ve been asked to communicate better with council and members of the public,” Township Manager Thomas Neff said. “From time to time, maybe legal issues prevent that, but I’ll do the best I can to keep people informed.”

During a follow-up conversation with Patch, Locatell stressed the most important thing to do is to make sure the water is clean. He said there was previously no maximum concentration level (MCL) for TCP 123. Thestate only set an MCL of 30 parts per trillion (PPT) in September of this year.

It would be difficult to hold anyone responsible for the contamination when it was regarded as an unregulated contaminant. Now that there is an MCL, Locatell said it was important to finish the uprades at the North Church Street, Kings Highway and Hartford Road water treatment plants so there’s a solid price tag attached to any recovery efforts once the township does find the responsible party.

“What if we had gone after them and got $4 million and the total cost turns out to be $20 million?” Locatell said.

In addition to upgrades and cleanup, the township has spent more money buying water from New Jersey American Water while its water wells have been shut down and upgrades have been ongoing.

See related:

Moorestown Reaches Deal With New Jersey American To Cap Water Spending, Save About $1 Million
Moorestown Closes Two Water Wells To Evaluate Unregulated Contaminant
Moorestown Takes First Step Toward Permanent Solution For Water Issues
Moorestown Water Upgrade Project 7 Months Behind
NJDEP Approval Puts Moorestown On Path To Water Treatment
Moorestown Council Accepts NJDEP Consent Order; Calls It ‘Path Forward’
Moorestown Enters Into Amended Consent Order For Water Treatment

For more on the cleanup of the Cinnaminson Superfund site, visit epa.gov.

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