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Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company

The Boston Globe

Residents cite new fears over Woburn water; Officials work to allay concerns

By Caroline Louise Cole, Globe Correspondent

WOBURN - Twenty years after a cluster of leukemia deaths here that residents blamed on contaminated drinking water, Woburn officials are trying anew to allay fears about the city's water supply.

This time a neighborhood on the city's south side is complaining that the tap water, with its yellowish color and swampy odor, is unsafe to drink or use for showering or washing clothes. The residents live several miles from the location of water wells and chemical companies depicted in the book and recent movie, "A Civil Action."

The South End residents say they fear the city's well field next to Horn Pond, near the Winchester line, has been contaminated by the same type of toxic waste suspected in the deaths of 11 children in the late 1970s and early '80s.

The residents have proposed that the city abandon its seven wells altogether and convert its system to use water supplied by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

Currently, the city buys 20 percent of its water from the MWRA at a cost of $1.3 million, twice the cost of the city-produced water.

"I don't know what is going on, but given the city's reputation, there are a lot of us that don't want to take any chances," said Lisa Hennelly, who says she has organized several dozen of her neighbors into the South End Task Force. "What they are telling us just doesn't inspire confidence."

More than 50 people appeared at a City Council meeting Monday night and pressed Woburn officials to take their complaints about broken hot-water heaters, ruined T-shirts and underwear, and discolored toilet bowls more seriously.

Additionally, the Parent Teachers Organization at Shamrock Elementary School in the neighborhood voted last week to spend $346 to test the water in the school's fountains.

"We wanted an independent test because whatever results we get will say something for all the neighborhood," said PTO co-president Lisa Santiago. "We just can't trust the city."

Woburn officials say that just because tap water isn't clear, that it causes rust and gray spots on freshly laundered clothes and that it has an off-putting odor, doesn't mean it is unsafe to use.

But they say the "A Civil Action" publicity isn't helping them persuade residents their fears are unfounded.

"There is a panic mentality when it comes to talking about the city's water which is hard to overcome," said Woburn Mayor Robert Devers. "Lots of communities have periodic problems with discolored water. Even though we have undertaken one of the most conservative and careful water testing programs in the nation, no matter what we do, if we have one little problem, people say, 'Aha, we told you so.' "

Devers blames the recent water quality problems on an aging underground piping system that has an accumulation of gunk inside, a problem that plagues many older cities.

"We haven't flushed the system for more than 10 years, which is what would correct this problem," Devers said. "It is a maintenance item we've overlooked for too long."

The city is preparing to do a thorough flushing but must first install or repair fire hydrants at locations where pipes now dead end. Devers said that work is under way.

Additionally, the city is prepared to construct a $10 million water filtration plant in the next two years, a step mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The well water would be injected with chemicals to change its alkalinity and cut down on corrosion problems, including the leaching of lead and copper into the water, he said.

"This is a national problem," Devers said. "Lots of cities and towns are under agreements with the state to do the same things."

Fred Russell, public works director, said state regulations make it difficult for the city to purchase all of its water from the MWRA.

"The state wants cities and towns to use their own supplies before turning to the MWRA," he said.

Hennelly and other activists said the city plans sound good but confidence levels are so low that many residents don't believe flushing pipes or adding a filtration plant will correct the problem.

"Woburn just didn't have one tannery, it had a lot of industries that were using the same type of chemicals as W.R. Grace," Hennelly said, referring to one of the companies sued after the leukemia deaths on Woburn's east side.

She said city officials fueled the long-running concerns by brushing off complaints when residents began calling the Public Works Department six months ago.

"When I first started calling, they implied it was a problem with sediment in my hot water heater," Hennelly said. "After I replaced my hot water heater, then they said I needed to replace my tenant's hot water heater as well."

The final straw came, she said, when she recently discovered the city failed to notify residents a year ago when trace amounts of trichloroethylene were detected in one city well. TCE, as it is known for short, was suspected in the 1980 deaths.

"When I did some more checking and I discovered the problem with TCE's, that's when I started organizing the neighborhood." she said. "It started sounding very fishy.".

Devers acknowledges well A2 was shut down over TCE in November 1997 without public notice.

"The amount was so small we could have mixed it in from water from the other wells and never had to report it," he said. "But we didn't do that. Instead we have traced the source to an industrial site in Winchester and right now are trying to figure a way to stop the plume from getting into the well water."

For her part, Hennelly is now surveying the 300-plus homeowners in her neighborhood to document the extent of the discoloration problem. She has also requested information about health concerns, but hasn't raised those issues with city officials to limit the controversy for now. In the meantime, she and others are using bottled water.

"I think they're trying to keep it quiet because they're afraid of exposure because of the city's past," Hennelly said. "The question we all have to ask is who is making the decision it is safe to drink any amount of TCE or chemicals like that."