Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008
Magnitude of TCE dumping eludes MB, agency says
Tests for toxin weren’t required
By David Wren – The Sun News
Myrtle Beach officials probably will never know how much trichloroethylene AVX Corp. dumped into the city’s sewer system because regulators did not require testing for the toxic chemical until after the dumping had occurred, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“It is possible that Myrtle Beach’s wastewater treatment plant would not have noticed any TCE [trichloroethylene] coming into the system,” DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said last week.
“TCE and [similar] volatile organic compounds were not required tests for wastewater systems by federal or state regulations in the mid-1990s,” he said.
The health risks associated with TCE have become better known over the past decade, and the EPA says exposure to the chemical has been linked with cancer and other illnesses.
State and federal regulators now require testing for TCE and similar chemicals at wastewater treatment plants.
AVX executives have not responded to requests for comment by The Sun News and have not discussed the issue with city officials.
Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea said last week the city does not know if any TCE made its way into the sewer system. The city still is looking for any records that would indicate whether contamination occurred, he said.
Electronics manufacturer AVX illegally dumped groundwater laced with TCE, an industrial degreaser, into the sewer at its 17th Avenue South facility from at least 1985 to 1996, according to a consent order the company signed with DHEC in 1996.
The earliest test for TCE that the city can find is from May 2000 – at least 15 years after AVX started dumping the water into the sewer.
That test, and subsequent tests, have not shown any contamination beyond what the Environmental Protection Agency considers a safe level.
TCE evaporates quickly, and Berry said it is possible that any contamination that discharged into the city’s wastewater treatment plant would have broken down during an aeration process at the facility.
The fact that no tests were done, however, means little can be known for certain about TCE in the city’s sewer system during the 1980s and 90s, state and city officials say.
Kruea said the city plans to test groundwater at property it owns near AVX to see if there is any TCE contamination there. Those tests will be done in the coming weeks.
DHEC also ordered AVX to conduct air-sampling tests at some sites where TCE has been found in groundwater. Results of those tests could be known as early as this week, Berry said.
DHEC also has ordered tests for several parts of Withers Swash, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, to determine TCE levels there.
While any past contamination probably would be limited to the city’s sewer system, environmental experts say it is possible – although unlikely – that TCE could have made its way into drinking water in the early to mid-1980s.
The city used deep-water wells for its drinking water supply until a municipal water treatment plant went online in 1987. One of those wells is on land adjacent to AVX’s facility on 17th Avenue South. Another is on 13th Avenue South, where TCE contamination was found in shallow groundwater.
TCE, which is heavier than water, sinks to the bottom of aquifers and forms large pools called plumes. It can take decades to treat and clean contaminated groundwater.
Depending on an area’s geography and well construction, TCE in shallow groundwater can migrate to deeper wells used for drinking water, according to Lenny Siegel, an EPA consultant and TCE expert.
The drinking water wells in Myrtle Beach are located between 400 feet and 600 feet below the ground’s surface. That is far deeper than the contaminated groundwater, which is located about 40 feet below the surface.
In between those two depths is the Pee Dee formation, which is a muddy aquitard that keeps TCE from sinking.
Geologists say the only way TCE could have gotten into the city’s drinking water is if one of the deep-water wells located near shallow contamination was poorly grouted, and the toxic chemical went down the annular space between the well’s casing and borehole wall.
Kruea said the city has not had any problems with the wells or the piping and called TCE intrusion “highly unlikely.”
Myrtle Beach has capped most of the 31 deep-water wells it previously used, including the one at 13th Avenue South. The city still has nine deep-water wells available for emergencies. One of those emergency wells is near AVX at 17th Avenue South.
“Obviously, given the current information, we would not use water from that well in an emergency situation,” Kruea said.
AVX learned it had high levels of TCE contamination in groundwater at its property as early as 1991, but did not tell state regulators or city officials about the problem until 14 years later.
TCE contamination now has migrated from AVX to groundwater in a 10-block section of Myrtle Beach, environmental tests show. The contamination is not in the city’s drinking water.
Myrtle Beach officials did not learn about the sewer dumping and contamination problems until recently, when the issues were brought to the public’s attention through a series of reports in The Sun News.
DHEC last month narrowed the area where TCE contamination exists to a 10-block parcel north of AVX, sandwiched between Beaver Road and Kings Highway.
Environmental tests last year showed TCE levels as high as 19,200 parts per billion on land near AVX. The EPA has set the safe level at five parts per billion.
A part per billion is a measurement that would be equal to about one penny in $10 million or one minute in 2,000 years.
Environmental tests on AVX property in the 1990s showed very high levels of TCE and similar chemicals in the groundwater – as much as 711,000 parts per billion.
AVX tried to secretly clean up the TCE by installing nine wells on its property between 1985 to 1987, according to the consent order. Those wells pumped contaminated groundwater into non-contact cooling towers. Such towers usually are used by manufacturers to cool equipment, but they also can be a low-cost way to treat contaminated groundwater.
AVX installed additional wells in 1991 and 1992 for those purposes, according to the consent order.
After the water left the cooling towers, it was discharged into the city’s sewer system, according to the consent order.
DHEC officials said last month that AVX’s treatment plan was only marginally effective.
The agency worked with the manufacturer to improve cleanup efforts after AVX signed the consent order.
That consent order said AVX violated the state’s pollution control and water quality laws. The manufacturer did not admit to any wrongdoing. AVX paid a $7,000 fine as part of the consent order.
The consent order says AVX also secretly excavated and removed contaminated soil from its property between 1981 and 1995. Some of that soil was spread out on the AVX site so the TCE would evaporate.
The trenches that were created by soil excavation also were left exposed on AVX property so TCE and other chemicals would evaporate, according to the consent order.
An adjacent property owner, Horry Land Co., accused AVX in a lawsuit filed late last year of dumping some of the contaminated soil on its property. AVX denies the allegation in court filings.
Horry Land wants AVX to pay $5.4 million for the damaged property. A tentative trial date has been set for late this year.
AVX also is facing a class-action suit filed by Surfside Beach lawyer Gene Connell on behalf of people who own property near the manufacturing facility.
Connell says the contamination has ruined property values, and he wants AVX to pay the fair-market value for all of the land where TCE exists in groundwater.
AVX denies the allegations and has asked a judge to dismiss the case.
No court date has been set in that case.
