More wells found tainted

Most of the wells tested since June in the Deep Creek area on the West Plains were found to be contaminated with chemicals typically found in rocket fuel, an Environmental Protection Agency official said Wednesday.

About 60 wells were sampled inside or within a quarter of a mile of a study area surrounding two former Nike missile sites just east of Deep Creek and just north of U.S. Highway 2, EPA project manager Calvin Terada said.

“A majority of the wells had perchlorate, and 50 percent had NDMA,” Terada said, adding that at least 40 of the wells had not previously been tested.

The chemicals were found at low levels and did not pose an immediate health risk, Terada said. Property owners, who have been told of the latest test results, were not advised to stop drinking water from their wells.

“It doesn’t look like it is expanding,” Terada said of the contamination plume. “We haven’t gone too far outside the box we drew back in June.”

Two months ago, the EPA said it had discovered chemicals in 19 wells after a well on Euclid Road near the Fairchild Defense Area Nike Battery 87 sites tested positive for trichloroethylene during a routine EPA review of former Defense Department sites in 2004.

The EPA began testing nearby wells, finding TCE at levels exceeding what is considered safe in three wells in the area and a trace amount in a fourth. TCE has been linked to nerve, kidney and liver damage and impaired heart function. The solvent was not found in the new wells tested since June.

“The TCE appears to be isolated,” Terada said.

But the EPA has found low levels of perchlorate, a salt used in explosives and rocket motor fuel and N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, a rocket fuel igniter, in numerous other wells within the study area.

So far, the agency has not been able to determine how long the groundwater in the area has been contaminated, leaving property owners to wonder what the health effects of the chemicals might be.

Spokane Regional Health District officials have advised them that the short-term health risks are minimal and have asked a University of Washington physician and expert in toxic chemical contamination to speak to families about the long-term risks at an Aug. 24 meeting. State Department of Health officials also will be present.

“The meeting should help family doctors with useful medical information in terms of long-term monitoring,” said Dr. Kim Thorburn, the district’s health officer.

In addition, the EPA will bring affected property owners up to date on its review of what it calls the “Euclid Road site” at a Sept. 14 meeting.

In June, EPA remedial project manager Harry Craig, of Portland, said he had only seen perchlorate and NDMA together at rocket motor facilities. Nike Battery 87 was actually two sites – the underground missile magazine site and the control area, including barracks, on a hill about 31/2 miles northwest.

It is one of 40 such former defense sites under review in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The Nike sites were built in the late 1950s and abandoned by the military after they became obsolete in the early 1960s.

The Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for cleaning up former defense sites, has not yet determined whether it is responsible for Battery 87.

However, Terada said Wednesday that the corps has cooperated with the EPA review, offering the benefit of its experience dealing with such contaminants nationally.

The EPA also has sought the expertise of an Eastern Washington University hydrogeologist familiar with the Deep Creek area, Terada said.

“We are doing everything we can to get them information,” Terada said of the property owners. “It’s a scary subject, and we are pulling every resource we can. It’s all we can do until we can paint a better picture of what actually happened to cause this issue.”