Kansans drank contaminated water for years. The state didn't tell them. [View all]

Don't know how to approach this article..reprehensible,
and irresponsible non-action? Criminal non-action?
This will keep people from coming to kansaas..Whether
just visiting or relocating for a job..If the safety of
water is questionable..?
--------------

August 26, 2018 05:50 AM

Updated August 28, 2018 03:21 PM

Editor’s note: The Hufmans’ well was contaminated with two chemicals that can form as dry cleaning fluid breaks down. An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated the type and level of the contamination.

The state allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink contaminated water for years without telling them, despite warning signs of contamination close to water wells used for drinking, washing and bathing.

In 2011, while investigating the possible expansion of a Kwik Shop, the state discovered dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater at 412 W. Grand in Haysville.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment didn’t act for more than six years.

It didn’t test private wells less than a mile away. Nor did it notify residents that their drinking wells could be contaminated with dry cleaning chemicals, known as perchloroethylene, so they could test the water themselves.

“We didn’t find out for 7 years,” said Joe Hufman, whose well was contaminated by a Haysville dry cleaner. “Haysville knew it. KDHE knew it. Kwik Shop knew it.”

Leo Henning, who is the director of environment for the KDHE, said the state acted as soon as it found out that the contamination had reached the drinking water wells.

“The Kansas Department of Health and Environment takes seriously its obligation to protect Kansans from environmental contamination. It’s important to note that as soon as the agency learned that water contamination found in the Haysville area was in the path of privately-used water wells, on July 17, 2017, affected residents were immediately notified, and alternate water supplies were offered,” he said in a written statement. “We want residents to feel confident in the safety of the water they drink but should those who utilize well water question their supply, we encourage them to have their wells tested. And if contamination is detected, please notify us right away, so that we can address the issue.”

A similar delay had happened at least once before, at a dry cleaning site near Central and Tyler in Wichita, where the state waited more than four years between discovering contamination nearby and notifying residents of more than 200 homes.

Some fear it could happen again at 22 contaminated sites where the state has not checked for people on well water — or that it could happen at a yet unknown site of contamination.

Kansans aren’t required to use city water if they already have a well, and some Wichita neighborhoods still rely on private well water.

The delays stem from a 1995 state law that places more emphasis on protecting the dry cleaning industry than protecting public health.

The Kansas Drycleaner Environmental Response Act was passed at the request of the dry cleaning industry to protect the small businesses from the potentially crippling cost of federal involvement. The Environmental Protection Agency, through its Superfund program, can pay to clean up water pollution and then bill any and all companies ever associated with the property to recover its money. Cleaning up pollution can easily cost millions of dollars; state law limits the liability of a dry cleaning shop to $5,000.

To raise money to investigate and clean up pollution, the state passed a tax on dry cleaning chemicals. While the KDHE supported the bill, one KDHE official warned the Legislature that a tax on cleaning solvent “would not be sufficient funding.”

The Legislature passed the law, including a line that directed the KDHE not to look for contamination from dry cleaners. The Legislature also directed the KDHE to “make every reasonable effort” to keep sites off the federal Superfund list.

It was a 2011 investigation in Haysville for Kwik Shop that discovered the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene (usually abbreviated PCE and also known as tetrachloroethylene) in groundwater higher than the level the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems safe to drink.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says it initially gave the Haysville site a low priority, assuming the contaminated groundwater was traveling southwest — away from private wells and in a different direction than Cowskin Creek.

It wasn’t until 2017 that KDHE realized groundwater was actually flowing to the southeast: directly along the creek and directly toward a cluster of private drinking wells. For the most part, the underground contamination follows Cowskin Creek, trailing down from a former dry cleaner on West Grand Avenue until past 83rd Street and into the cul-de-sac that Hufman calls home.

For the 25 years they lived in that house, Hufman, his wife and daughter drank the well water. They don’t know when the contamination reached them.

The Hufmans’ well was found to be contaminated with two chemicals formed when dry cleaning fluid breaks down.

When consumed, PCE can build up over time, potentially harming a person’s nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system.

Exposure for long periods may cause changes in mood, memory, attention, reaction time and vision. Studies have suggested that the chemical might lead to a higher risk of bladder cancer, multiple myeloma or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The City of Haysville completed hooking up around 200 homes to city water in July.

Hufman says he doesn’t know why people on his cul-de-sac outside of Haysville weren’t notified about the contamination years ago, even if officials thought it was moving in a different direction. They now know their street was hit the worst of any — at least three of the street’s wells are contaminated over the EPA limit.

“You think they would have notified everybody, taken some precautions until something was done,” Hufman said. “Instead, they all kept quiet. They didn’t let anybody know about the contamination, so we all continued to drink the water.”

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article216625720.html#storylink=cpy