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Published: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 01:25 PM

Public water for Foxwood explored

FORT MILL TOWNSHIP -- 

Brown water, crusted water faucets and toilets that can only be cleaned using a pumice stone or paint scraper – those were just a few of the concerns residents of the Foxwood neighborhood in Fort Mill raised at a public meeting Monday night.

The meeting, held at Fort Mill Elementary School, gave officials from the Department of Health and Environmental Control and residents of the community a forum to discuss two water issues in the neighborhood – contaminants found in the neighborhood's water supply and frequent complaints about the discoloration, bad odor and chemical taste of the water.

The two concerns are unrelated, DHEC officials said, because the contaminants found in the water are odorless, colorless and tasteless. That means little to residents who say they are fed up with the quality of their water.

“I'm sitting in the bathtub and it's like ‘Carrie,' the movie, when all the water just turns brown around me,” said resident Tammy League.

Many of the nearly 200 people who came to the meeting brought samples of their brown water. Others brought photos showing rings and deposits that have formed around their toilet bowls. The brown water and deposits on faucets and toilet bowls could be caused by corrosion in the water lines, build-up in the pipes, or an abundance of iron or manganese in the water, according to DHEC official Doug Kinard, who said it isn't harmful to drink or bathe in.

“That's not to say it's acceptable; it's just the facts of an older system,” Kinard said.

The wells in Foxwood, which supply approximately 250 homes, are owned by Wikoff Color Corporation, which pumps water as part of its operation. Wikoff provides the water at no charge to Utility Service of South Carolina, which services the subdivision.

Bruce Haas, a representative for Utility Service of South Carolina, said he has no idea why the water is discolored and leaves deposits on residents' fixtures.

“Why is it always brown?” a resident asked. “It's too brown to even feed the dog.”

“I just don't know,” Haas said.

DHEC offered suggestions for solving the water issue, including working with York County to bring water service to the community. DHEC plans to work with the county and a small panel of residents to determine the cost and feasibility of all options.

Another community-wide meeting will be held to discuss those options, they said, though no date has been set.

On the issue of the contaminants in the water, DHEC officials said the problem is being resolved. Although early reports from DHEC indicated that the contaminants trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethene (PCE), also called tetrachloroethelene, have only been present in the water since 2002, DHEC and Wikoff officials revealed Monday night that the contaminants have been present since 1992.

Wikoff owns five wells in the neighborhood, but only two of the wells, labeled Well #4 and Well #5, are currently used to supply water to Foxwood homes. Well #4 first showed traces of TCE in 1992, soon after DHEC began sampling water for “volatile organic compounds” under the Safe Water Drinking Act. An air stripper was installed on the well, which removed all traces of the contaminant, DHEC officials said.

At the same time another well, Well #1, was found to have PCE levels of 863 parts per billion and 141 parts per billion of TCE. The EPA sets the maximum allowable amount of TCE and PCE in water at five parts per billion. The well was taken off line, but DHEC officials said they have no idea how long the well was feeding water into the community at those levels.

Between 1992 and 1999, Wikoff worked with DHEC to clean up their wells and remove all traces of the contaminants from the water system. Recently, samples of water taken from Well #5 showed a reading of 4.5 parts per billion of TCE, just under the EPA standard, but not technically out of compliance.

In order to be considered out of compliance with DHEC and EPA standards, the water must show levels of the contaminants in samples taken over four quarters. There have been individual samples exceeding the EPA recommendation.

“We're still below the [maximum level allowed]. At this point, you're water is safe to drink,” DHEC official Donna Rowe said.

Wikoff CEO Phil Lambert said the company will likely install an air stripper on the well to bring the levels of TCE and PCE down. Lambert also said that the company has done a thorough investigation into whether Wikoff has ever used TCE or PCE in its processes and determined the contaminants did not come from Wikoff.

“We do not use TCE or PCE in our process,” Lambert said.

The company searched records dating back to the company's opening in 1974 and has only one record of even having the chemicals in the building, he added.

“It might have been in one drum of a floor cleaner we purchased,” he said.

Lambert points to a now unused dump site near Wikoff at one end of the Foxwood subdivision as a possible point of entry for the chemicals.

“We used to have a problem with people dumping at night. We think it could have come from someone dumping as little as three drums [of chemicals],” Lambert said.

According to the EPA, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethelene are organic liquids. Long-term exposure can cause liver problems and an increased risk of cancer.

Trichloroethylene is used to remove grease from machinery and textiles. It also is a solvent and is used in paint removers, rug cleaners and adhesives. Tetrachloroethelene is a discharge from factories and dry cleaners, the EPA reports.