GAINESVILLE - Trace levels of contamination from a federally regulated waste site have been detected in the Floridan Aquifer, 2 miles from the well field that draws drinking water for 135,000 residents.
Most groundwater experts, environmental health officials and Gainesville's publicly owned utility agree an immediate health threat does not exist. But they say more testing is needed to determine the extent of the pollution at the Cabot Carbon-Koppers site, and additional steps might be required to remove the contamination from the aquifer.
A wood treatment center has been at the site since 1916. A two-month investigation of soils and groundwater beneath the Superfund cleanup site concluded that chemicals used in wood preservation - including arsenic, naphthalene, acetone and benzene - had migrated into the aquifer 156 feet below. Prolonged exposure to those chemicals can lead to bone marrow damage, anemia and cancer. The field investigation was completed in June by TRC, a national environmental engineering firm. It was prepared for Beazer East, a Pittsburgh-based company that briefly owned the site and is responsible for its cleanup.
The chemicals detected were found in low concentrations - arsenic, for example, was measured as high as 30 parts per billion. Federal drinking water standards limit arsenic to 50 parts per billion, although public water systems will need to comply with a 10 ppb standard starting January 2006.
Still, the discovery of harmful pollutants so close to Gainesville's drinking water source is alarming, officials said.
The site lies within the "capture zone" for the Murphree Wellfield, where 15 wells take water from the Floridan 2 miles northeast of the Superfund site, said Brett Goodman, the utility's senior environmental engineer for water and wastewater.
