For Immediate Release: April 4, 2008

Public comments accepted through May 7, 2008

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is seeking public comments on the public health assessment of the Parkview Well Groundwater Contamination Site. The public health assessment found that there is no apparent health hazard from the groundwater for businesses and residence users receiving water from a municipal water supply or using a proper filtration system.

The purpose of the public health assessment was to find out if people have been or are being exposed to hazardous substances from the groundwater at the Parkview Well Site and if the exposure might affect their health.

The report reaches three conclusions:

• Past exposures to potentially contaminated drinking water do not appear to be a public health hazard. Chemicals in the water supply sometimes occurred in amounts greater than EPA drinking water standards. However, it is unlikely that people would become sick from the amount of water that they would drink over the period of time that was assessed.
• Exposure to potentially contaminated drinking water at this time does not appear to be a public health hazard. Private wells in the affected area are periodically monitored and if contaminant levels are high enough to be of public health concern, the residence is provided with a whole house filtration system or is connected to municipal water.
• Future exposure to high levels of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) while performing excavation-type activities could potentially be a public health hazard. PCE in areas where the contaminated groundwater plume is near the surface could escape into the air at concentrations high enough to cause health problems if inhaled over an extended period of time.

Until the contaminated groundwater plume is cleaned up, ATSDR recommends that the following activities be continued:

• placing restrictions on how groundwater is used
• monitoring of groundwater conditions
• educating the community about the potential danger of using contaminated groundwater supplies.

Residents are encouraged to read the public health assessment and make comments during the month-long public comment period. A copy of the public health assessment is located at:

Edith Abbott Memorial Library
211 North Washington Street
Grand Island, Nebraska 68801

ATSDR will accept comments on the public health assessment through May 7, 2008. Comments received and ATSDR's responses to the comments will appear in the final public health assessment. Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Mail comments to:

Records Center, ATSDR
ATTN: Parkview Well Groundwater Contamination Site
1600 Clifton Road, N.E. MS F-09
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged into ATSDR's administrative record for the public health assessment. Comments received without the names of individuals who submitted them and ATSDR's responses to these comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release in answer to requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). For more information about the public health assessment, call 1-800-CDC-INFO and request information on the Parkview Well Groundwater Contamination site.

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.