Document b5aNeBvj8zpOLM79Vo63mgYJo

8L00MINGTGN. IND. MttALfl-IfliPifcNE MAR 9 1976 PCBs found M[l By DON JORDAN ( `-----------------' B-T QUMHWU WrtWr p>ly chlorinated Mphenyls (PCBs) dumped and discharged by Btoomingtoo's WesfinghoiSfplant have been identified to two area watersheds by the U S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). CURTIS ROSS, DIRECTOR of EPA's Evansville district office, said in an interview Monday that the EPA found PCBs in quantities of up to 6.2 parts per billioo (ppb) to leachate (polluted drainage water) draining into Richland Creek, and that PCBs woe entering Gear Creek via the city sewage system. Testing of samples gathered Jan. 21-22 also revealed PCBs at a level of .4 ppb in Sinking Creek with the source being drainage run off from Westinghouse. EPA's results found .1 ppb of PCBs at the cooflueoce of Leonard and Shirley Springs, which forms a tributary to Clear Creek. PCBs were also found to leachate draining from Neal's Landfill in Owen Coimty. Ross said those PCBs head tor the West Fork of White River. The PCBs to the Richland Creek watershed are leaching from Neal's Dump on Ind. 48 in western Monroe County. TESTING OP SAMPLES from the current Monroe County Landfill site on Anderson Road to the Bean Blossom Creek watershed showed PCBs to a ditch designed to catch leachates from the landfill. Soil samples at all the landfill sites showed PCBs, with the current Monroe County Landfill having the highest soil coocentra- ttos of PCBs at 26parts per million (ppm). Westinghouse manufacturing superintendent Bob Sawyer said this morning that his company received the EPA report Monday. Sawyer said a copy of the report has been sent to company offkua^dom and that Westinghouse is reviewing the EPA findings. We need time to evaluate the numbers,'' said Sawyer. He said after review of the report, the company will "decide what course of action to take, if any action is neccessary." White the EPA foundhigh levels of PCBs at the city sewage ptani, three figur. . hare been questioned by both the EPA and city chemist Rut Peoples. Sewage plant effluent contained if ppb of theuuric compound with 47ppb in raw sewage. PEOPLES AMI pointed out the samples were gathered during a recycling of the plant's togestors and the levels found would be higher than normal. in two area watersheds Samples of dried and wet city sewage sludge that were to have been tested by the EPA were "lost." That sludge was, until last fall, given to local fanners tor use as a soil conditioner and fertilizer. Intencn city utility director Mike Phillips said that practice has been baited pending something "conclusive" on the PCB situation. The PCSs leaching from the chimps come from Westinghouse refusedisposed in area dumps until the early 1970's. The EPA identified both Arodor 1016 and 1248 to the landfills. These compounds are PCBs manufactured by Monsanto for use to "dosed systems." Westinghouse uses tte compounds as a dielectric insulating compound in the manufactio*of capacitors. ROSS WOULD MOT COMMENT on the possible health hazards Involved with this level of PCB pollution. He said the EPA, the state and Westinghouse officials would get together and try to figure out a way to eliminate the PCBs being discharged tote the city sewage system. Boss said there mi^it be some steps to deal with teaching at the landfills. Ross is to forward his report to the EPA's enforcement branch for action. He said that branch would decide upon futureactions. While Boss was unaware of livestock drinking water from the creeks contaminated with PCBs, be said if public concern was demonstrated there would probably be testing tor PCBs in the area food chain. The Indiana State Boardof Health said they would test fish in Salt Creek earlier this year. THE EPA IS CURRENTLY preparing another report on testing tor PCBs to both Bloomington's and Bedford's drinking water. Diat report is to be ready to a week according to the EPA. PCBs are so resistant to heat that they are indestructible in the natural environment. They are also stored in fatty tjtmin and liver tissues of animals (including fish) and amimiiiaf (biomagnify) with thne. PCBs have been passed along to offspring of fish to the Hudson River. Human experience with PCBs is traced to Japan, where residents of a small town suffered Yusbo disease from eating nee oil contaminated with the compounds. Test animals have shown reproductive <tisfunctions when fed small amounts of the com- ( HONS 037159