Clean Water in the News

By: Don Worthington

Installing public water lines is the only solution to underground benzene contamination near homes off Rim Road, state environmental officials said Tuesday.

Local officials acknowledge the seriousness of the public health problem, but they say it could take as long as a year before the residents in the West Fayetteville neighborhood get hooked up to Public Works Commission water lines.

Benzene escaped from underground gasoline tanks at the intersection of Rim and Raeford roads, where a gas station once stood.

Another source of the chemical near the site is the former Lake Rim Electric Membership Corp. That site is now the Lumbee River Electric Membership Cooperative.

The levels of benzene in the wells of some residents exceed state health standards.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has labeled the site a high risk. Between five and 11 residential properties are within the contaminated area.

The pollution problem came to light Monday during a Town Hall meeting held by the City Council, though officials and residents have known about the contamination for years.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources spent $130,376 to remove the gasoline tanks and 460 tons of contaminated soil a few years ago. The department also installed 31 wells to monitor the problem.

Cleaning up the groundwater is too expensive, said Gordon Nicholson, the department’s section chief who deals with underground storage tanks.

“We probably can’t clean it up,” Gordon said. “The solution is extending water lines.”

Gordon and Hassan Osman, a hydrogeologist working on the problem, said residents have been notified. Some have been told not to use well water.

“No one is drinking contaminated water,” Gordon said.

Most of the affected properties are along Sandra Street, a short dirt street that still had large puddles Tuesday from recent rains.

Eric Hendricks, who owns a rental house on Rim Road, presented the problem at Monday’s Town Hall meeting. Hendricks wants clean drinking water for his neighbors. He also is concerned about the health risks of long-term exposure to benzene.

Benzene can cause cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hendricks said the pollution problem is decades old. Officials with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources say they started working on it in the 1980s.

State officials recently gave their findings about the pollution to the Public Works Commission and the Cumberland County Department of Health. The city and the PWC are discussing how to solve the problem.

“We want to find a solution as fast as possible,” said PWC spokeswoman Carolyn Justice-Hinson.

She said installing lines could take between nine months and a year. It takes that long to go through the process of designing the system, getting bids, hiring a contractor and installing the lines, she said.

Preliminary cost estimates for 17,000 feet of pipe that would stretch from the intersection of Rim and Raeford roads to Debbie Drive is $175,000. The line could serve between 17 to 20 customers.

The pipes would be made of ductile iron with bitrate gaskets, so the benzene would not penetrate into the water system.

City Manager Dale Iman said he will have a recommendation for the City Council at Monday’s work session. A decision could come at the Aug. 13 meeting.

Justice-Hinson said the PWC is willing to share the cost with the city, residents and the state.

Residents have said they don’t have the money to pay for the pipes.