2 More Private Wells Show Contamination

As the Department of Environmental Protection finishes well testing and capping in the Limekiln Pike section of Horsham, the state agency will begin testing private wells about a half-mile away, officials said.

DEP will begin sampling private wells in the area of Midfield Drive and Park Road after a Midfield Drive homeowner tested the property’s well and discovered Dichloroethylene, or DCE, according to Horsham Township Manager Bill Walker.

Consumption of DCE in excess of the maximum contaminant level over “many years” could cause liver problems, according to theEnvironmental Protection Agency. DCE is a mixture commonly used as a solvent for waxes and resins, as a refrigerant, in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and in the extraction of oils and fats from fish and meat, according to EPA.

Since the Midfield Drive homeowner’s discovery, DEP has tested the wells of two other Midfield Road homeowners, as well as a Park Road property owner. Of those, the Park Road well showed contamination, Walker said.

Those with contaminated wells are receiving bottled water from DEP, Horsham Township Council President Mark McCouch said.

“DEP will continue to expand and test more wells in the area,” McCouch said. “We’ll go through the same process that we did with Limekiln Pike.”

But, Walker, noting that the 40 contaminated wells in the Limekiln Pike section of town are still awaiting well capping and connection to public water nearly two years after the contamination was found in June 2011, said he has asked DEP to consider adding water lines to private well owners in the Midfield Drive and Park Road area too.  

Walker said DEP could “shoot right up to these areas and put it in at the same time and get it over. (DEP) said they would consider doing it.”