News

West Windsor environment assessment goes forward, issues water quality report

By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
WEST WINDSOR, Vt. — As expected, West Windsor has moved ahead with a “Phase II Light”  environmental assessment of the Burke property it proposes to buy. The purpose of the tests is to determine whether the ground at the site has a contamination hazard that could present a liability for the town.

The select board voted April 22 to extend its purchase and sales contract along with its contingency provision to June 15. By that time, the town expects that the testing will be completed and the results known. The town could cancel the deal if the environmental results are unfavorable for the town.

After June 15, “we have basically six days after that to decide whether we are going to go ahead and close or not,” said chair Win Johnson.

The town will pay for the environmental tests, expected to cost $6,550. The town’s environmental consultant, LE Environmental, will conduct the tests. However, the town wants to provide its own excavator and operator as a cost-saving measure.

Meanwhile, in a separate environmental matter not directly related to the Burke property, the West Windsor Mountain Water Company published a “consumer confidence report” which is a general water quality report of all testing of municipal groundwater wells between Jan. 1 – and Dec. 31, 2018.

The introduction states that report provides “details about where your water comes from, what it contains, and how it compares to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state standards over the years.” 

The report shows the extent of West Windsor’s watershed and the locations of three active and one inactive public water sources. The tests found copper and lead in West Windsor’s water, but both were in tiny amounts far less that the federal action levels.

Specifically, the tests found between zero and 0.12 parts per million (ppm) of copper, where the action level is 1.3 ppm. The reported level of lead was between zero and 4.5 parts per billion (ppb), where the action level is 15 ppb. Therefore, the testing found no general hazard.

Although the tests were done last year, this report happens to come at a time when the Vermont legislature is considering a bill to require schools to test drinking water against a much tougher lead standard, 5 parts per billion (ppb). The reported level, less than 4.5 ppb, is less than that. In the case of schools and other facilities, however, lead levels at water fountains could be affected by local conditions (lead in plumbing, for example).

“Groundwater as a drinking water supply source is generally of high quality,” said Water System Operator Patricia Beavers in a cover letter to the report. “However, it is vulnerable to contamination from a wide range of activities which take place on the ground surface. Once the groundwater is contaminated, it is difficult and expensive to clean to a level which is suitable for drinking.”

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