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DAYTON — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is installing 12 groundwater monitoring wells in the vicinity of Ohio 4 and Keowee Street after the city detected hazardous pollution at dewatering wells located there, the agency said Thursday, Oct. 16.

One possibility is that the contamination from trychloroethylene, or TCE, originates from the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant, 1600 Webster St., and possibly other industries in the area.

Dewatering wells — used to prevent flooding on Keowee — are on the edge of an area being tested by the U.S. EPA in connection with its Behr cleanup project.

Last week, the federal agency said it could begin sampling groundwater this year as it goes forward with developing a cleanup plan. Clean-up could take decades.

The plume from the Behr contamination is flowing in a southwesterly direction.

Monitoring well drilling by the OEPA should wrap up early next week.

The level of contamination at the well is 61 parts per billion, said Donna Winchester, environmental manager for the city.

The pollution is not threatening the city's drinking water supply, which is drawn from wells north and east of the area.

Water pumped from the two dewatering wells is conveyed by the city's storm sewer system to the Great Miami and Mad rivers, Winchester said.

The pollution has only been detected at the Herman Street outfall — a place where the water leaves a pipe and goes into the Great Miami River. At the end of the pipe, the intensity is 24.2 parts per billion.

In the river itself, where the stream is diluted by the volume of water, the pollution is 1.47 parts per billion.

The levels are not considered hazardous to wildlife.

The Great Miami River is already under fish advisories because of mercury and PCB contamination.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7407

or sbennish@DaytonDailyNews.com.