Wells may have contaminated subdivision’s water

Residents of the Bishops Landing subdivision off Route 139 can see the tombstones from their back porches.

From some of the townhouses in the complex, the cemetery cant be more than 40 or 50 feet away.

So when bacterial contamination started to show up in the developments wells, people started to, as one town official put it, put two and two together.

The implication is gruesome, but state and local officials wont say directly that the cemetery is responsible for the contamination.

But whats certain is that the water in the wells is no good, and Bishops Landing residents will be footing the bill for the fix.

The 23-unit complex had been using a four-well water system for more than 20 years that was never registered with the state, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said last week.

The system is too close to, in addition to the graveyard, Route 139 and the paved access road to the cemetery all sources of potential groundwater contamination, officials say.

Health Agent Sandra Gabriel said she got a call from state Department of Environmental Protection in July of 2010 saying that E.coli bacteria had been found in the water.

There have been quite a number (of tests) with total coliform bacteria in the water, said Ed Coletta of the DEP.

Gabriel went to the development to advise residents to boil water before drinking it. She said the Board of Health has been working closely with the neighbors.

Link:
Wells may have contaminated subdivision’s water