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Chevron to pay for water hookups in tainted areaBy JAMES THORNER
© St. Petersburg Times, HOLIDAY -- More than a decade after a gasoline spill contaminated their well water, residents of Adell Gardens will hook up to municipal water, courtesy of the oil company blamed for the accident. Chevron Corp., owner of the former gas station that environmental regulators said tainted wells in the Holiday neighborhood, will pitch in $200,000 to help cover the cost of laying water lines to the homes. Pasco utilities chief Doug Bramlett announced the contribution at Tuesday's County Commission meeting, calling it an attempt by Chevron to please neighbors who are suing the oil company over the contamination. "I think they wanted to do this before the lawsuit reached a jury," Bramlett said. The 1999 lawsuit also names the Pasco County Health Department, whom neighbors accuse of keeping Adell Gardens in the dark about chemicals in their wells. "As far as I know, we are still named in the lawsuit," Health Department director Dr. Marc Yacht said Tuesday. Environmental tests confirmed that neighborhood wells, west of Alt. U.S. 19 near the Pinellas County line, are polluted with low levels of methyl tertiary butyl ether, which can leave an oily film in the water. The compound, added to gas to make it burn cleaner, has caused cancer in rodents and is a suspected human carcinogen. Bramlett promised speedy construction of the water lines for about 54 property owners in Adell Gardens, most of whom rely on bottled drinking water. "Probably six to nine months would be a quick schedule," he said. For Adell Gardens resident Gary Clayton, that schedule is just too slow. "They got the pipes sitting out here in our front yard," Clayton said. "All you have to do is hook up."
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