Red Bank residents happy end to well pollution in sight

Red Bank residents are happy with a plan outlined Tuesday to end contamination of wells even though it could be six years before water is drinkable.

“It’s wonderful even though it’s way overdue,” Lisa Tyson said after state environmental officials told 75 homeowners at Red Bank Elementary School that a long-awaited cleanup should start as soon as mid-summer.

The $2 million cleanup involves injecting an iron solution into groundwater tainted with industrial solvents, a step tested after other ideas failed. It seems “a perfect fix,” said Carol Crooks, who is overseeing the project for the State Department of Health and Environmental Control.

If the solution works, it will be used in two other neighborhoods along Interstate 20 in central Lexington County with similar pollution, officials said.

Water quality will be checked for 30 years as a precaution after wells are declared safe.

About 300 families are at risk since the pollution was discovered in 1997.

Fingers of contamination are a mile long and 120 feet deep, officials say.

Groundwater in the area contains cleaning solvents used by manufacturers before Red Bank became a residential hub.

The problem developed over 50 years as chemicals leaked from underground tanks not inspected closely and sometimes abandoned, officials said.

It can’t happen today because disposal of those substances is “highly regulated,” Crooks said.

The chemicals, such as trichloroethene, are linked to a variety of health problems, including kidney and liver damage as well as childhood leukemia.

About 50 wells have unsafe levels of the pollution. While threatened, other wells nearby were not tainted.

After the pollution was discovered, about half of the homes affected switched to water from the town of Lexington and Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission.