Editor's note: This is the third in a continuing series of stories on contamination problems in the Talladega water system.When the Talladega Water and Sewer Board hired Krebs and Associates earlier this year to help alleviate contamination in its Grant Street well, it wasn't the first engineering firm hired to fix the problem.
Records show the board hired engineers in 1996 and 2003 to do the same job design a packed tower aerator to correct the contamination problems. But despite paying two engineering firms for the same remedy, the tower has never been built.
According to state records, the board hired engineers in the mid-1990s to develop designs for the aerator so the Grant Street well could provide safe drinking water to the public.
State documents show that engineers hired by the board knew exactly how to fix the tetrachloroethylene (PCE) contamination problem with the Grant Street well since 1996, shortly after PCE contamination forced the well's closure. Yet those designs were never implemented, and the public has been exposed to water contaminated with excessive levels of PCE on and off since 1988, chemical analysis reports reveal.
Long term exposure to tetrachloroethylene, above maximum contaminant levels (MCL) set by the EPA, could cause liver problems and increase the risk of cancer.
IN THE BEGINNING
Initially in 1995, the board was going to install an air stripper/aerator itself.
According to state records, levels above MCL for tetrachloroethylene were recorded in the Grant Street and Harmon Park wells since 1988. The board was forced to close both wells in 1995 under new state and federal guidelines. But since that time, the Harmon Park well remained closed; the Grant Street well has not.
In 1995, Goodwyn Mills & Cawood Environmental Consultants Inc. were retained by the board to address the elevated PCE concentration in wells. The engineering company was going to help find the source and assist in its elimination if possible, according to records at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
Even with the assistance of ADEM, the source of contamination in ground water around the city of Talladega could not be found.
FIXING THE WELL
In 1996, talks moved forward about the installation of a packed tower aerator, which at the time was projected to cost $119,700, according to one engineering report found in ADEM's files.
In a July 16, 1996, letter to board manager George Montgomery from Keith J. Lowery, chief community systems section of Alabama Department of Environmental Management's water supply branch, he was informed work could not proceed on the Grant Street well, because a licensed engineer was needed for the project.
The letter stated that an engineer for ADEM, Charles Davis, was contacted by then superintendent of the board, Robert O'Neal, and informed of the board's plans to do the work itself.
"At this time, Mr. O'Neal was informed that a licensed engineer was required for the design of a project of this type, and the project must also be permitted by the Department," Lowery wrote. "Since Mr. O'Neal has been a certified operator for many years, I was surprised he was not more familiar with permitting requirements of the Department."
The letter goes on to say, "In a recent telephone conversation with Mr. O'Neal, I suggested he begin attending meetings such as AWWA, AWPCA or ARWA to keep abreast of current and future EPA and Departmental regulations. Those operators that attend these meetings usually are well informed on current water works practices as well as any pending regulatory changes."
ENGINEERING DRAWINGS
Goodwyn Mills & Cawood Environmental Consultants took charge of the project and drew up engineering plans for a packed tower aerator for the Grant Street well.
In the meantime, the board restarted the Grant Street well in 1998, because it developed a pro-active plan to stop further potential contamination to the area's groundwater supply, which involved identifying possible sources of contamination and ensuring they were contained .
The board was also allowed to use the well on the condition that the board was moving forward with the construction of a packed tower aerator, which would treat the well water and render it safe to drink.
ADEM required the board at that time to report any MCL violations which occurred again with the Grant Street well.
"According to your letter, we are going to proceed with the design and taking bids for the aerator for the Grant Street well," George Goodwyn, a private engineer hired by the board for the Grant Street well project, wrote in a July 28, 1998, letter to ADEM. "We understand that you will require a full containment source inventory besides the wellhead delineation which you have already received prior to putting the well into operation."
PAYING FOR THE PROJECT
By 1998, the Grant Street well project cost almost doubled. By that time, it was estimated to cost the board $250,000.
Goodwyn wrote to ADEM that the Talladega Water and Sewer Board put aside $125,000 for the project and planned to finance the balance.
"The first priority for the (Talladega) Water and Sewer Board is Grant Street well," Goodwyn wrote in July 1998 to ADEM.
WHY WASN'T THE WELL FIXED?
Goodwyn was contacted by The Daily Home to find out why the project never materialized.
He said bids on the project came in higher than anticipated. The project was turned over to Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood's engineer, Ronald Windham.
"I don't know what happened after that," Goodwyn said.
Windham said they had talks with the low bidder for the project in an effort to cut costs.
According to state documents, Windham submitted the design of the packed tower aerator for the Grant Street well, and ADEM gave approval for the Grant Street well design project on June 21, 1999, but the project did not move forward.
"It basically got set aside by them (Talladega Water and Sewer Board)," Windham said. "It became a low priority item for them."
Windham referred questions to Montgomery in getting an answer as to why the Grant Street well project became a low priority for the board. But Montgomery refused to make any comments to the newspaper, citing a pending lawsuit filed against the board by water customers over the contaminated Grant Street well.
Numerous attempts to contact O'Neal, the former superintendent for the Talladega Water and Sewer Board, for comment were unsuccessful.
WELL CONTINUES TO RUN
The well continued to operate until the end of 1999, according to records, and in June 2000, ADEM received word that the Grant Street well was taken back off line.
"The Talladega Water and Sewer Board will be conducting more testing on Grant Street well for VOCs (volatile organic contaminants) and SOCs (synthetic organic contaminants)," O'Neal wrote. "During this time Grant Street well will be taken off-line and not used as a public water supply well until (the) aeration system has been completed."
The last correspondence found in ADEM records concerning the Grant Street well project was written on March 26, 2001, shortly after O'Neal retired from the Talladega Water and Sewer Board.
"There has been no progress on the project with the exception of Talladega now looking at constructing the well improvements themselves," Tod Green, with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, wrote to ADEM.
Records available for review by The Daily Home did not reveal how much the Talladega Water and Sewer Board paid the engineering firm for the design, or any other costs associated with the proposed Grant Street well project.
BACK ON LINE
Despite the Talladega Water and Sewer Board's inaction to fix the PCE contamination problem with the Grant Street well, and even though Montgomery knew of the long history of the PCE contamination with the well, the Grant Street well was put back on line in 2002.
The Daily Home specifically requested from Talladega Water and Sewer board attorneys any documents from ADEM authorizing the Talladega Water and Sewer Board to put the Grant Street well back on line for public consumption, but none were provided.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
A packed tower aerator design was completed for the Grant Street well in the 1990s, but the current board to hired yet another engineering firm.
In January 2003, the board hired Krebs and Associates to look at the PCE problem and come up with a design for a packed tower aerator for Grant Street well, apparently for the same reasons engineers were hired back in 1995.
Krebs and Associates was to be paid $20,800 over a certain period of time to perform all basic engineering services in connection with the proposed improvements to the Grant Street well. Under the current contract, the board will also pay construction engineering services to Krebs on a time charge basis.
Records show the Grant Street well pumped water laced with PCE contaminants for about one more year before the board finally shut down the well on May 28, 2003. ADEM gave the board official notice to shut it down in June 2003 and ordered it not to use the well without direct approval from ADEM.
The board recently submitted the newest engineering plans for a packed tower aerator for the Grant Street well to ADEM for approval.
NO COMMENT
ADEM officials refused to make any comments for this series about the board and its well contamination problems because of a pending class action lawsuit filed in July against ADEM, the board, the City of Talladega and other entities in connection with the Grant Street well contamination.
Repeated attempts to reach Montgomery-based attorney Charlanna Spencer, who is representing the board in the lawsuit, have been unsuccessful.
The board's operation is currently under investigation by federal authorities. FBI and EPA agents served search warrants and visited several board properties more than one week ago and have confirmed that a criminal investigation is under way.
