County health officials are laying the groundwork to begin taking water samples from homes and businesses within a half-mile of a former asphalt test site on Jake Alexander Boulevard.
While focusing on the concerns in Rowan, County Health Director Leonard Wood also will talk with other county health directors in Raleigh this week to make them aware of the asphalt test sites and a possible statewide public health issue.
Earlier this month, Raleigh psychiatrist Dr. Rick Weisler raised concerns with local and state officials over the seemingly high incidence of cancer in the nearby Milford Hills subdivision.
Weisler’s mother, Rita, is among 10 cancer victims in the Milford Hills neighborhood across Jake Alexander Boulevard from the asphalt plant sites. The N.C. Department of Transportation opted to switch two residents to city water after tests showed chemical contamination in their wells in 1992.
Rick Weisler, who has worked for several weeks to raise the health issue with local and state officials, is continuing to call for speedy state action.
Weisler noted that when the Department of Transportation completed the comprehensive assessments of the Jake Alexander Boulevard site, officials promised to clean up the groundwater contamination.
“They have done nothing,” he said.
“Clearly the state was not the only one doing the pollution,” said Weisler on Wednesday. He is continuing his research and consulting various experts.
While criticizing the lack of action by the state, Weisler acknowledged that there is not a certain connection between groundwater contamination and the cancer incidents.
The county Health Department staff is working with the city of Salisbury to identify residences and businesses in the area already connected to city water. Checking that list against addresses, they are trying to determine which residences or businesses still depend on wells.
First priority will be to test the active wells within one-half mile of the site. State officials have provided sample kits and will do the testing.
Samples will be tested for the chlorinated solvents found around the lab site on the former Rea Construction site and for byproducts of petroleum. A large Exxon tank farm also operated nearby for several decades.
In Raleigh on Friday, Wood will share concerns about contaminated groundwater and a possible cancer link with other health directors.
The Jake Alexander Boulevard site is one of 72 former lab sites the Department of Transportation has identified as having groundwater contamination from solvents used in the labs and at the facilities.
The Jake Alexander site is one of 27 identified in 1997 for cleanup. Thus far, no corrective action has been taken.
The chemicals identified as contaminants and linked to cancer are trichloroethylene, trichloroethane and carbon tetrachloride. Department of Transportation officials have said the chemicals were used for decades before the federal Environmental Protection Agency determined the cancer link in the early 1980s.
Wood renewed his request for state assistance during a conference call Tuesday morning with top state officials from the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
A half-dozen state officials met at Weisler’s Raleigh office and conducted the conference call with Wood and other Rowan health staffers.
“We need assistance from the state,” said Wood, repeating the request he first made at a meeting with state officials last Friday.
“We need help, an action plan, spelling out what we need to do, what the state needs to do,” said Wood. He has asked for a written plan, showing what steps need to be taken and the involvement of the state agencies, including the groundwater and air quality divisions.
Wood said that while the Health Department is “absolutely committed” to dealing with the public health issue, the major work must come from the state. “The state folks are the ones who will have to do the work. We don’t have the expertise.”
In addition to the water testing, Wood and Weisler have called for an exhaustive study of air contaminants from the existing asphalt operations on Jake Alexander. These include Associated Asphalt, owned by Inman Asphalt Co., a liquid asphalt business, and APAC, a paving asphalt operation. The APAC site is the property where the Department of Transportation conducted tests for two decades. Rea Construction opened the asphalt operation on Jake Alexander in 1965, selling it to PAPCO in the 1980s. PAPCO in turn sold the facility to APAC.
The Health Department and Weisler have received several phone calls from people concerned about the possible cancer risk.
“We’re developing a bit of a data base. We’re certainly trying to respond to their concerns,” said Wood.
Health officials are drawing the line at testing active wells. They have had several calls from homeowners wanting their city water tested. The Health Department will not test city water.
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