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Well water was not affected by Vienna oil spill, Trumbull health department says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Tests done on six “representative” water wells within a half-mile of the oil spill at the Kleese Development injection facility in Vienna showed that they were not affected by the spill.
Frank Migliozzi, Trumbull County Health Department director of environmental health, said Thursday the six wells were selected for testing so that they could represent all 25 wells that are within the half-mile area.
The six well samples were negative for volatile organic compounds and semivolatile organic compounds, the type of compounds that would expected if benzene from gasoline, for example, were present.
The testing found inorganic compounds were present in some people’s water from iron and manganese, for example, but that would not have come from the spill. Those can be cleaned up with an ordinary water softener, Migliozzi said.
Iron and manganese are common among older, deteriorating wells, he noted.
The people in the affected area were provided a fact sheet to help them understand issues related the compounds in water.
The county health department participated in the water-testing along with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, he said. The lab where the testing was done is run by the Ohio EPA.
Residents were advised at a meeting Monday at Mathews High School to consume bottled water until test results from the wells were complete, but the spill did not impact water wells so no special precaution is warranted now, Migliozzi said.
People from about 12 properties near the spill asked the health department to test their wells. None of those tests have been done, as officials continue to evaluate whether further testing of wells will be needed, Migliozzi said.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd, said Thursday it appears investigators are focusing their efforts on brine holding tanks — some of them below ground — at the Kleese site as the possible source of the roughly 2,000 gallons of oil that leaked into storm tile and then into nearby wetlands and ponds.
All of the holding tanks have been emptied, and there is no more oil leaking from the site, O’Brien said, adding that the last of the brine in the tanks was injected to get rid of it. That injection is finished, and all injection activity is halted now, he said.
Completing the investigation involves more digging around the tanks, O’Brien said, adding that the cleanup is also continuing.