When it takes years for a homeowner to learn of a problem, one can expect that when she does, she will be both frustrated and suspicious for the delay.
There are two published newspaper stories, from nearby newspapers, that recount the concerns of a Whitewater resident about environmental contamination from a now-defunct gas station. The Daily Jefferson County Union and the Janesville Gazette both have stories online. See, Whitewater woman worried about property contamination and Whitewater city officials say drinking water is safe.
Quick notes: I have no personal connection to anyone in these stories, and I have no expertise in the kind of environmental contamination described here, in this instance from benzene, a known carcinogen.
The homeowner believes both drinking water and ground contamination are risks in the neighborhood; the City of Whitewater contends that the drinking water tests safe, and the State of Wisconsin contends that there is no risk from ground contamination. (An official from the City of Whitewater points toward ground contamination, not city water, as the potential problem: “It’s not the drinking water that’s the issue, it’s the groundwater,” said Dean Fisher, director of public works.”)
There’s an environmental issue here that matters most, surely, to the homeowner and neighbors nearby. There’s another problem, however: Reassurance – even if wholly sound – from the city or state is harder to provide in any situation where notice of a possible problem is delayed.
No one should be surprised that a homeowner is upset if notice of problem takes years to arrive.
From the Daily Union:
Does Whitewater have lingering health and property value issues due to soil contamination from a gas station that closed more than a decade ago?
At least one city resident believes so, although the state Department of Natural Resources says the matter is closed.
Kathy Channing and her family live on South Clark Street, a few blocks away from the former Five Points One Stop gas station at 503 S. Janesville St. The One Stop went out of business in the late 1990s after owner Stan Meyer became ill. The gas pumps were removed in July 1998 and the gas tanks were removed 18 months later, in January 2000.
Channing’s gravest concern is about the level of benzene, a chemical used in gasoline that is a known carcinogen, or at least the vapors from any potential benzene remnants.
She said the first time she heard of contamination at the site was in a letter dated March 16, 2009, from Meyer’s wife, Elizabeth.
“The letter was dated March 16, but we did not receive it until April 17, by certified mail,” Channing recalled. “That was the first I heard about it. The letter says that I had 30 days to ask any questions, but I did not get it until 31 days after the date on the letter.”
The letter read that groundwater contamination that appeared to have originated on the Five Points One Stop property had “migrated’ onto Channings’ nearby.
“The level of benzene contamination in the groundwater on your property is above the state groundwater enforcement standards (“ES”) found in chapter NR 140, Wis. Adm. Code,” the letter stated. “However, the environmental consultants who have investigated this contamination have informed me that this groundwater contaminant plume is stable and in the process receding and will naturally degrade over time.”
From the Janesville Gazette:
The Channings learned in spring that leaking fuel tanks at the former Five Points One Stop gas station at 503 S. Janesville St. had contaminated groundwater in their neighborhood. The couple was informed the problem was going away and the state needed to close the case.
They were upset that no one had told them the groundwater was contaminated with an unsafe amount of benzene, a carcinogen, for the 10 years since the gas station closed.
Even in a small town like ours, and a Midwestern state like ours, where there’s supposed to be open and accountable government, notice of a problem may take years. It’s the kind of delay that one imagines only happens in crowded cities like Los Angeles or Chicago.
It happens here, in tiny Whitewater, and a smaller state like Wisconsin, too.
For all the self-congratulatory rhetoric one often hears from public officials in these parts about excellent customer service and efficiency, our community has some of the same delays and inefficiencies of much larger places.
I’d guess that if this happened near an official’s house, he’d be just as concerned, and twice as outspoken. The putative reassurance that you have nothing to worry about is easier to offer than to receive, and intervening years only increase that difficulty.