EPA continuing probe of Franklin water well contamination

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is continuing its investigation to determine the source of a volatile organic chemical that forced one of Franklin’s water production wells to be shut down on June 9.

Dina Pierce, an OEPA spokeswoman, said late Friday the investigation is continuing and the source of the contamination is being narrowed down. She said Franklin is producing safe drinking water.

“Ohio EPA and its contractor (Tetra Tech) collected samples at more than a dozen locations in August,” Pierce said in an email response. “We plan to conduct further sampling by the end of October.”

Pierce said three shallow monitoring wells were installed in August to determine direction of ground water flow. Borings will be made to collect ground water samples from depths of approximately 25 to 65 feet below ground in October, she said. However, Pierce said no permanent monitoring wells will be installed.

A high level of trichloroethene was discovered that was four times above federal clean water levels prompting the shut down No. 5 well in the 500 block of Oxford Road.

“Our testing in our wells has been ‘non-detect’ (of any volatile organic chemicals),” said City Manager Sonny Lewis said. “We’re testing once a week and we’d like to get it to once a month testing or once every six months.”

Lewis said that city Public Works Director Steve Inman has requested to change the testing cycle of water wells to once a month but has not received a response. He also said he did not know if OEPA is also testing the water.

Lewis also said the city will not be using the No. 5 well again. The city’s four other water wells have the capacity to produce 7 million gallons of water a day, and its plant can treat up to 5 million gallons a day, he said.

In the city’s latest Drinking Water Consumer Confidence Report covering calendar year 2015, there were no violations recorded.

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