Moorestown has closed two water wells on Church Street for precautionary safety reasons and will get its water from two other sources for now.
Council members said last week that the unregulated chemical compound trichloropropane was found in March’s water report. As such, they decided to close the water wells for further evaluation.
According to Scott Carew, township manager, Public Utilities Director Bill Butler was working with the state Department of Environmental Protection prior to the meeting that the result was brought up. He assured citizens that there is no maximum contaminate level that is regulated for TCP 1,2,3 by the federal or state government. It is also not listed as a carcinogenic, though there is concern it could be. At the advice of the DEP, the council decided to close the wells so they could be further evaluated and treated.
“We are doing that with an abundance of caution. We are careful to take all appropriate steps in regard to our drinking water even when TCP is not something regulated. We are going to take immediate action to implement whatever treatment technologies are best to help remove the TCP from the township drinking water. We are not going to wait to take action. That is how we are going to deal with the issue for now,” Anthony T. Drollas, township attorney, said.
For now, Moorestown will get its water from its other two water sources. Carew said Moorestown would do fine with the other sources for now.
Deputy Mayor Stacey Jordan addressed accusations that the council hadn’t been taking any actions in regard to the water. She said the township started testing its water 18 months ago and quarterly, which is more often than the state requires.
“We took proactive measures,” Jordan said.
Mayor Chris Chiacchio agreed and told citizens they are doing all they can. He also wanted to let people know the levels they received of the TCP 1,2,3 are much lower than the guidelines of the only state with regulations.
“Only one state in the country has guidelines for TCP and that’s Hawaii,” Chiacchio said. “We tested 15 times lower than what is set in their guidelines.”
For now, Butler is working with the DEP on continuing to evaluate treatment options. The DEP has agreed to work with Moorestown to deal with the situation and help with funding.
“Our water is safe. We’re going to continue to make sure that it remains safe, and we will make any corrections needed to be sure that it is as safe as possible,” Chiacchio said.
