Letter to the Editor: The costs of water treatment are rising

Mullin questions the township’s water spending.

An article in the Sun’s Nov. 7–13 issue, “Plans for water treatment plants approved” says the cost of repairs and new construction at our three water treatment plants will be $37.1 million.

The original estimate, quoted in the Sun’s “Water Solution Nears” (Feb. 17–23–16) was $21 million. The price went up $16 million in two years, so the final price tag could well be over $40 million.

Supposedly, this outlay will enable the township to remove two industrial solvents from our water: trichloroethylene, (TCE) and trichloropropane. (TCP).

These two chemicals are man-made, so how did they come to be in our well water?

In January 2013, Lockheed Martin published a report: “Notification of Environmental Investigation and Cleanup.” It said, in part: “During its history, the Borton Landing Road site used chlorine-based solvent chemicals in metal parts cleaning operations… The principal constituent (contaminant) found in groundwater associated with former site operations is trichloroethylene.”

Traces of TCE and other solvents were found on-site in 1987, but it wasn’t until 1994 that Lockheed installed a monitoring system along Borton Landing Road to prevent further migration of contaminants in groundwater across the property boundary.

Lockheed says it “has been actively removing TCE and other constituents (contaminants) from shallow groundwater since 1995.”

Despite its mastery of advanced technologies, Lockheed Martin is still unable to remove TCE from the water and soil at its Borton Landing Road facility.

Can our Township leaders and their contractors and consultants take our $37 plus million and do a better job than Lockheed? Probably not. Instead, we may end up with TCP and TCE in our water at levels that exceed the maximum contaminant level allowed by law.

James Mullin