Jamaica Spill Contaminated Soil, Wells

By RICHARD SCHACK

In the center of Jamaica, directly under a parking lot for school buses, is one of the most dangerously contaminated areas in the state. Closely surrounded by a number of residential homes and commercial businesses, the two-acre site has been labeled a "severe danger" to local residents and may have contaminated a water supply that serves nearly 380,000 people.

The site, currently used as a bus
depot, is located at 107-10
180th Street in Jamaica Corporate Park. For nearly 20 years, the site had been used to store and distribute dry-cleaning chemicals, which were eventually mishandled and spilled into nearby soil and water wells.

Soil and groundwater tests of the 4.5 acres found a number of toxic chemicals, including high concentrations of perchloroethylene (PERC). Longtime exposure to PERC has been found to cause liver and kidney damage, and may cause cancer.

The contamination was discovered in 1995, but the local water supply is believed to have been a danger to nearby residents for at least a decade. The original contamination of the Jamaica Water Supply Company’s water wells occurred sometime before 1990, and has continued as the water supply serving southeast Queens has become increasingly toxic. Repairing the problem will cost an estimated $4 million and may take as long as three years, due to a lack of funding for the project and a refusal by the owners to cooperate.

The PRESS has obtained a copy of an in-depth study of the site, completed in March of this year by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The study found the site to be a significant threat to human health, one that has been long ignored and could have been avoided.

Before 1969, the building and surrounding land in question was used by the Empire Shoe Polish Company and later for the manufacture and distribution of ceramic pipefittings. From 1969 to 1992 the site was owned and operated by the West Side Corporation, which was also the name of the building. The West Side Corporation was a dry-cleaning company, and used the building to store and distribute laundry supplies.

For decades, the building housed assorted supplies associated with dry-cleaning, including hangers, plastic garment bags, and large quantities of dry cleaning chemicals. West Side went out of business in 1992.

The contaminated site, located at 107-10 180th St., is currently a bus depot. PRESS Photo By Ira Cohen

Even as West Side had left the building and the site, its presence would be felt long after. While still in business, the company stored PERC above ground in five 10,000-gallon. When the land was to be sold in 1997, an in-depth study of the grounds found that due to improper handling of the chemicals by West Side, a spill had occurred under the tanks, releasing toxic chemicals, which contaminated the surrounding soil and groundwater.

While most of Queens gets its water from reservoirs upstate, parts of Jamaica still rely on groundwater wells. When the chemicals were spilled by West Side, the groundwater Jamaica utilizes was contaminated.

Seeping through the soil, the dangerous chemicals leaked approximately 12 feet below ground into the aquifer serving groundwater to nearly all of Southeast Queens, almost 380,000 people.

When informed of the contamination by the PRESS, nearby residents were not surprised. "You would have to be crazy in the first place to drink the tap water here, even if you boil it or use an aquifer," said one longtime resident who lives less than 300 feet away from the site. "When [the water] first runs, it comes out an almost black, tarrish color. It doesn’t even smell right. I only drink it when I get desperate, because you can tell there’s something wrong with it."

The West Side Corporation is believed to have contaminated the area’s water supply long before the spillage from the tanks. Now run by the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the building next door had previously been owned by the Jamaica Water Supply Company.

According to the DEC and Senator Malcolm Smith, the Jamaica Water Supply Company had used four wells surrounding the property for emergency water needs. During routine monitoring of the wells sometime during the 1980s, contaminated water was found in the wells. The four wells were eventually taken out of service; one in 1975, two in 1982, and the last in 1989. The emergency wells were sealed for good in 1990.

According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, PERC can enter the body when breathed in from contaminated air or when consumed with contaminated food or water. Once in the body, PERC can remain stored in fat tissue. The National Institute has found that long-term exposure causes cancer in laboratory animals, as well as liver and kidney damage.

The DEC study tested the site and the surrounding area to examine contamination levels on and off the grounds. The highest levels of contamination were found 35 feet below ground in the center of the site, significantly higher than levels of contamination in the water supply. Surface soil is not considered a significant threat. Current contamination was also found off-site, near the former Jamaica Water Supply wells.

There are a number of ways to be exposed to the chemicals, including ingestion, inhalation of vapors, or skin contact with contaminated groundwater or subsurface/drainage soil.

The site remains in use, even though the 1997 study found the grounds to be potentially dangerous. For the last two years, the site has been leased to Atlantic Express Transportation, which uses it to dispatch, maintain, and restore school buses. According to the DEC, workers at the site are in no immediate danger.

The great majority of workers at the site were not aware they were working on contaminated grounds. "I had heard something about it," said one Atlantic Express worker, "but I didn’t know for sure."

Workers claim the site smells peculiar, but said it is difficult to tell over the exhaust fumes from the buses. One worker said he is wary of the local water, drinks the bottled variety instead. Two blocks away from the site are rows and rows of one-story houses leading up to Liberty Avenue. "This is really upsetting. If this was Whitestone or another wealthy neighborhood, it would have been cleaned up by now," said nearby resident Keisha Smith, who lives in one of the many one-story homes.

Recently appointed State Senator Malcolm Smith has been extremely active in attempting to clean up the site, and has met with the governor regarding the issue in an attempt to secure emergency funding.

"We need to know all the facts so we can remedy this situation in a timely manner," he said. "Residents have reported an excessive number of cancer deaths in recent years, and I intend to work with the community to make sure the area is cleaned up. The polluters must be held accountable for harm they have done to the environment and the neighborhood."

The DEC had previously announced a plan to clean the grounds.

The DEC will be doing further testing during the summer, including ground testing in an effort to determine whether the contamination from the site has expanded beyond the original location. Smith has requested the City’s Department of Health initiate a study to find out the correlation between contamination and a large number of reported cancer cases in the surrounding area. Both studies should be completed by end of 2000.

Senator Smith has advised all concerned residents to contact his district office at 291-9097. According to Community Board 12 District Manager Yvonne Reddick, more information will be made available in coming weeks.