Moorestown Bringing in Scientist, New Engineer for Water Quality Issues

The Township has hired a new engineer and is looking to bring in a scientist to evaluate Moorestown’s drinking water, Township Manager Scott Carew said after the issue was raised once more at Monday night’s Moorestown Council meeting.

Scientist and Moorestown resident Adam Procopio asked for an update on the status of two wells closed last October after residents raised complaints about Trichloropropane (TCP 1,2,3) that has been found in the Township’s drinking water.

Council said Wells 7 and 9 on Church Street are closed and will remain closed while the water is evaluated. It didn’t say when the wells would reopen, but said they could reopen while the issue is being fixed, as long as the water is legally safe to drink under Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulations.

Procopio was concerned with TCP 1,2,3, as well as other contaminants he said have been found in the drinking water.

Carew said he was unaware of contaminants that exceeded regulations in Moorestown drinking water.

TCP is a completely man made element likely to act as a carcinogenic in humans, according to epa.gov.

However, it is not considered a contaminant because there are no federal standards in place.

“I know you’re doing everything right from a legal perspective,” Procopio said, adding that the whole issue is an unknown.

Carew and Council maintain a resident would have to drink a large amount of drinking water before they get sick, but Procopio said it isn’t clear how much water a person would have to drink.

“They have to do experiments on animals because no person would ever volunteer for that,” Procopio said. “They have to project that onto a human, so it’s not exactly clear how much a person would have to drink.”

Moorestown Council said it is meeting its legal and ethical obligations.

“We will open the wells when the safeguards are in place,” Mayor Victoria Napolitano said. “We are doing everything legally and responsibly required of us.”

Moorestown is still in the evaluation process, and couldn’t say when the wells would be open.

“We don’t have the plan in place yet, but we won’t just turn the wells on without a plan from the engineer,” Napolitano said. “No one is lobbying to have contaminants in our water.”

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