For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008
Public comments accepted through May 5
ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is seeking public comments on their health consultation for the Elm Street Groundwater Contamination Site in Terre Haute. The health consultation found that the contaminated water from the site poses no apparent public health hazard since the blending and treatment of drinking water by the Indiana American Water Company (IAWC) has lessened the contamination to levels below a health concern.
The groundwater near the site contains low concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The vertical wells that provide groundwater to the municipal water supply are contaminated with chlorinated solvents tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), and 1, 1, 1-trichloroethane (1, 1, 1-TCA). Three industrial sites that are located to the east of the IAWC facility are possible sources of the groundwater contamination. Currently, most of the municipal water is being supplied by the radial collector, which, except on rare occasions, contains no detectable levels of contamination.
The health consultation contains the following recommendations:
- All known sources or work practices resulting in contamination to groundwater at the site should be remediated, if possible.
- The extent of groundwater contamination on the eastern boundary should be determined.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies should sample private wells and Wabash River water near the radial collector for VOCs and pesticides to determine the water quality.
- EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management should consider placing monitoring wells north of the radial collector well to help identify contaminants from any sources besides the Elm Street Groundwater Contamination Site.
- If water contamination levels change, IAWC should take measures to reduce the contamination based on the EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
Residents are encouraged to read the health consultation and make comments during the month-long public comment period. A copy of the health consultation is located at:
Vigo County Public Library
One Library Square
Terre Haute, IN 47807
ATSDR will accept comments on the health consultation through May 5. Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to the ATSDR administrative record for this Health consultation. Comments received, and ATSDR's responses to the comments, will appear in the final health consultation. Comments on the health consultation must be made in writing. Mail comments to:
Records Center, ATSDR
ATTN: Elm Street Groundwater Contamination Site
1600 Clifton Road, N.E. MS F-09
Atlanta, GA 30333
Community members who need additional information about the health consultation can contact Laura Frazier, Health Assessor, at 770-488-0721 or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.
ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances.
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Members of the news media can request an interview by calling the NCEH/ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.
Release Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2019
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released its final public health assessment for the Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil Contamination (JNSC) site in Evansville, Indiana. The report evaluates whether exposure to lead and arsenic in soil, sediment, surface and groundwater could harm people's health.
Release Date: Tuesday, March 05, 2019
ATLANTA, GA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released its health investigation report, “Analysis of Contaminants in Drinking Water and Indoor Air,” for the Pike and Mulberry Street PCE Plume in Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana, for comment. ATSDR will
accept comments from the public until April 3, 2019.
Release Date: Thursday, August 16, 2018
(ATLANTA, GA) –The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released its final health consultation report entitled, “Historical Blood Lead Levels in East Chicago, Indiana Neighborhoods Impacted by Lead Smelters,” in relation to the USS Lead Superfund Site.
Release Date: Friday, September 29, 2017
(ATLANTA, GA) – The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released its final report for the North Shore Drive Groundwater Contamination Site in unincorporated Elkhart County, Indiana.
Release Date: Thursday, April 06, 2017
ATLANTA, GA – The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released a new report for public comment for the North Shore Drive Groundwater Contamination Superfund site. ATSDR will accept comments from the public until May, 18, 2017.
Release Date: Monday, February 22, 2016
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) will hold a public meeting on March 8, 2016 to discuss the results of its Exposure Investigation of private water wells in Posey County.
Release Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015
ATLANTA— The Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil Contamination (JNSC) site in Evansville, Indiana posed a public health threat in the past due to lead and arsenic levels detected in surface soils and continues to pose a public health threat for residential properties that have not yet been remediated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), concluded the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on its public health assessment released today.
Release Date: Wednesday, July 17, 2013
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released its final public health assessment for the Lane Street Ground Water Contamination site in Elkhart, Indiana.
Release Date: Thursday, March 14, 2013
Groundwater beneath some properties along Lane Street in Elkhart, Indiana, is contaminated with volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene (TCE), says the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in its revised draft public health assessment. The report is available for public comment until April 29, 2013.
Release Date: Monday, August 08, 2011
Groundwater beneath some properties along Lane Street in Elkhart, Indiana is contaminated with volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene (TCE), the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)concludes in its draft public health assessment.
Release Date: Friday, February 19, 2010
Neighbors of the Rumpke-Medora Landfill are not in danger from chemical groundwater contamination from the landfill, concluded a federal report.
Release Date: Friday, July 24, 2009
About 200 people were exposed to chemicals in drinking water wells near Lusher Avenue in Elkhart, IN, in the late 1980s, including an estimated 53 who were exposed to levels that may put them at greater risk for adverse health effects, concludes the final public health assessment (PHA) on the site from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
Release Date: Monday, March 02, 2009
Two decades after contamination was first found in Elkhart groundwater, federal officials continue to advise people who live in affected areas and use private wells to take precautions. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released its public health assessment of the site March 2 and is welcoming public comment on the assessment until March 31.
Release Date: Friday, October 31, 2008
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will hold an Open House in Elkhart, Indiana to gather community health concerns from residents of neighborhoods near the Lusher Avenue Groundwater Contamination Site.
Release Date: Monday, February 05, 2007
Metals in soil and water on most local properties that were sampled pose no apparent public health hazard concludes the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in their Exposure Investigation (EI) released today. However, the agency found that certain locations sampled pose an indeterminate public health hazard. ATSDR recommends further evaluation of these locations to identify unknown materials and to determine the specific compounds of copper, nickel, sodium and calcium.
Release Date: Friday, June 03, 2005
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) will
hold a community meeting and public availability session on Thursday, June
16, 2005, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Medora Junior/Senior High School
gym, 82 South George Street, to hear community members’ health concerns that
may be related to the Rumpke Landfill site in Medora, IN.
Release Date: Thursday, July 29, 2004
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will hold a public availability session followed by a public meeting Aug. 3, 2004, about the Conrail Rail Yard Superfund Site in Elkhart, Ind.
The agency recently issued the public comment version of its public health assessment for the site.
At the public availability session from 4:30-6:30 p.m., ATSDR representatives will be available to talk one-to-one with community members about health concerns they believe are related to possible exposure to contaminants from the Conrail site.
Release Date: Thursday, July 01, 2004
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today released for public review and comment a public health assessment for the Conrail Rail Yard Superfund Site in Elkhart, Ind.
The report was done at the request of community members and to update a preliminary public health assessment completed in 1989.