THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406170237
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUDY PARKER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Medium
Speaking by telephone from his office in Omaha, Neb., environmental project manager Marvin Taylor said however, ``I believe the college's drinking water wells are entirely clean at this time.''
{REST} Since the summer of 1990, the corps has tested the four drinking water and 12 monitoring wells at the college three times. During the most recent test in September 1992, trace levels of TNT were found in one of the wells supplying drinking water to the approximately 3,000 TCC students.
``Although there was a trace of TNT found in the most recent test,'' Taylor said, ``it was just above detection levels and is not a health risk.''
Testing for lead concentrations have been simultaneously conducted with TNT testing and have been found to be within acceptable limits, Taylor added.
Trinitrotoluene is a carcinogen that can contaminate drinking water by seeping into shallow aquifers.
Before 1960, the Portsmouth campus was the location for the Nansemond Ordnance Depot, which stored, shipped and processed ammunition.
According to a November 1993 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the depot steamed TNT out of projectiles or ordnance casings in a trench near the school's primary academic building. Once the TNT cooled, it was buried in a disposal site near the school's present soccer field.
Not until 1987 did anyone know or recall the location of the disposed TNT.
A youngster playing on the campus in April 1987 took home some crystals he'd found in the soil and set them afire. The boy's father notified the state Department of Emergency Services. Within two weeks of the youngster's discovery, a site assessment determined that a two- to three-acre campus site was ``an immediate and significant risk of harm to human health and the environment posed by the presence of TNT and Army ordnance materials.''
A debate over the safety of the college's water and soil has flared since.
The most recent disagreement over the quality of the drinking water boiled over last summer when TCC officials told the students that bottled water coolers and filters would be installed, first in the administrative offices and then throughout the campus. Some students questioned, if the well water was safe, why bottled water was being purchased.
``We have some faculty and staff who are on campus eight or more hours a day and who drink a lot of water,'' said acting provost, Dr. Terry Jones. ``Apparently, they assumed the water would be more tasteful and requested bottled water be installed.''
Concurrently, when signs were posted in September warning of contaminants in the well water, some students began insisting that bottled water be made available to everyone on campus.
During the previous 18 months, state inspectors tested the campus' drinking water more than 100 times and cited the school three times for violating water quality standards.
``The bottled water was installed more to get people through their fear, which has not been substantiated,'' Jones said.
Bottled water and water purifying filters are now installed throughout the campus.
In August, the corps will return to the campus to perform additional testing for TNT and lead in the drinking and monitoring wells.
``We have planned two more rounds of testing, in the late summer and early winter, to determine if there is anything left in the ground that is a hazard,'' corps engineer Taylor said.
``We'll also examine the down gradient to see if there have been any residual effects from the TNT or the lead. That will help us determine where the ground water is flushing out, and decide whether any additional monitoring wells need to be installed.
The most recent sampling of all monitoring wells in 1992 shows that concentrations of explosives and metals in the shallow aquifer have been decreasing with time, Taylor said.
While that might be considered good news, the corps has determined that several of the monitoring wells need replacing, and they will begin that work in August.
``Two of the wells have become less effective, and a third well has become entirely ineffective and will be replaced,'' Taylor said.
Although the corps does not think there's a need for a major remediation program for the campus at this time, an undertaking that would include massive soil removal and a complete replacement of the school's water system, Taylor left the door open for continued water monitoring as long as the slimmest chance of contamination from TNT or lead remains.
``Right now, to me, there is no reason for worry, as far as the levels of TNT or lead are concerned,'' Taylor said. ``However, we don't have enough evidence at the present time to say its completely clear.''
{KEYWORDS} WATER CONTAMINATION TNT
by CNB