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.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Elkhart County Health Department found the contamination in 2007, and most homes switched to municipal water in 2008. No residents are using contaminated wells for drinking water at this time.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has listed the Lane Street Ground Water Contamination site on the National Priorities List of contaminated sites. Thus, ATSDR evaluated whether past exposure to chemicals in the groundwater could have caused harm. EPA published new toxicological information on TCE after the release of ATSDR’s August 2011 public health assessment, so ATSDR updated its evaluation using the new information. The updates did not change ATSDR’s overall findings.
ATSDR found that:
- Some wells had TCE levels high enough to cause harmful effects in children and adults who drank and showered in the water.
- Most of the private wells did not have harmful levels of TCE.
- Contaminants in well water are not expected to cause harm because almost all private wells in the area have been replaced with municipal water. The one or two wells still in use did not have harmful levels of TCE.
- Not enough information exists to evaluate whether chemical vapors from contaminated water underground may be entering and building up in homes (vapor intrusion).
ATSDR recommends that:
- Residents still using private wells have their water tested regularly to ensure contaminant levels remain low.
- EPA conduct further tests to assess the potential for vapor intrusion.
ATSDR’s report on the Lane Street Ground Water Contamination site is available for review at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/HCPHA.asp?State=IN. A copy of the report has also been placed at the main branch of the Elkhart Public Library, 300 South Second Street in Elkhart.
ATSDR welcomes public comments on the revised draft Lane Street Ground Water Contamination Public Health Assessment through April 29, 2013.
Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Comments received during the public comment period will be kept in the ATSDR administrative record for the public health assessment. Comments received (without the names of those 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).
Send comments to: ATSDRRecordsCenter@cdc.gov, or mail to:
Attention: Rolanda Morrison
RE: Lane Street Ground Water Contamination
ATSDR Records Center
4770 Buford Highway, NE (MS F-09)
Atlanta, GA 30341-3717
For more information about the public health assessment, community members can contact Jill Dyken, Environmental Health Scientist, in Atlanta at JDyken@cdc.gov or 770-488-0768. Community members can also contact Mark Johnson, Senior Regional Representative, in ATSDR’s Chicago Office at 312-886-0840 or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.
Updated information about EPA’s investigation of the Lane Street site can be found on EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/region5/cleanup/lanestreet/index.html 
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ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the potential for adverse human health effects due to exposure to hazardous substances in the environment.