City Council to address contaminated water issue

By Austin Arceo
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE January 29, 2008 01:01 am

— The public will have an opportunity to learn more about the contaminated wells found in the city’s north end during an upcoming public meeting.
City Council members will be among those on hand during an informational meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in Terre Haute North Vigo High School, where people can learn about the ive wells that are contaminated with perchloroethylene, a solvent.
Several council members met Thursday afternoon with representatives from the Vigo County Health Department, the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Standard Register to learn more about the situation.
Council “members, I think, left with a better understanding of what the reality of the situation is,” said council president Todd Nation, D-4th, who attended the meeting, “and what Standard Register has proposed to date to rectify that situation.”
The company is offering to connect up to 25 properties to Indiana-American Water Co. Also, it will provide a lump sum payment of $3,400 to 12 of those property owners to offset future water bills.
Affected homes are southwest of Terre Haute North.
Standard Register does not acknowledge that it caused the contamination problems, although it formerly owned property at 1251 N. Fruitridge Ave., where it printed labels before closing in spring 2006.
A company buying the property found the contamination, and before the sale was to close, Standard Register agreed to investigate and clean up any contamination.
For those who want to connect to Indiana-American, the company is asking residents to sign an “acknowledgment and release form.”
The release is limited to property damages associated with switching a property from a private well to Indiana-American water services, a letter from Standard Register states.
The release does not extend to, or release the company from, any claims for personal injury that an individual may feel they have against Standard Register, the letter to affected residents states.
But Nation didn’t think that people should have to sign the release to be hooked up to Indiana-American.
During a council meeting earlier this month, vice president Norm Loudermilk, D-3rd, called for the council to create a committee to look into the situation.
He said Monday night that the city could also be affected by the loss of property value or relocation of people.
“So it’s important we try to look at this as … in-depth as possible,” Loudermilk said.
He also said that he wants the city to have a copy of the water testing results.
“I want those folks out there to know what those results are,” he said.
Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.