State wants to test more wells for contamination
State environmental officials said Friday they want to test more drinking wells after two in a neighborhood near east Raleigh were found contaminated with pesticides.
Posted — UpdatedThe state Division of Waste Management plans to use emergency funds to supply clean drinking water to the two homes in an unincorporated area near Bond Street and Trawick Road. The agency is also sending letters to the surrounding homes to ask those with household wells to allow the state to collect water samples. The testing would be done at no cost to homeowners.
The investigation began after a resident requested that Wake County sample his well for pesticides. Tests by the county and the Environmental Protection Agency revealed the presence of dieldrin and chlordane – two chemicals used from the 1940s to the 1980s to control termites.
Of the 30 wells sampled so far, 16 wells exceed the groundwater or drinking water standards for one or more chemicals. The chemicals found include dieldrin and chlordane; heptachlor epoxide, a chemical formed during the environmental breakdown of the pesticide heptachlor; and perchloroethylene, a chemical solvent used in dry cleaning and as a degreasing agent in automotive and metalwork industries.
The state has not yet identified specific sources for the contaminants.
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