Volatile Solvent Found At Alarming Levels In Kings Point Well

By Peter Neely

Cones flank a town storm drain along Kings Point Road in Springs, which, besides controlling flooding in the low-lying area next to the bay, is thought to have been one potential source of the one-propanol if the chemical was illegally disposed of in a drain.

East Hampton - Springs resident Robert Morsch walked over to his shower, turned on the knob and waited for the water to get warm. As the steam rose, the sweet and noxious scent of one-propanol, a volatile organic compound, filled the room.

Morsch notified the East Hampton Town Board, and following a cooperative effort between the Suffolk County Health Department, Suffolk County Water Authority and local government, the Kings Point Road neighborhood will soon have public water lines routed to the area, likely within the next three weeks, immediately addressing the safety concerns of local residents.

Kings Point Road in Springs sits between the
ecologically sensitive Hog Creek and Gardiners Bay.
As a relatively dense residential neighborhood with
year-round residents and second homeowners, the
town has made quick work of securing funds to bring
county water to the neighborhood.

Robert and Irene Morsch live in a scenic nook of East Hampton along Kings Point Road, with Hog Creek running through their backyard, which is a stone's throw from Gardiner's Bay. About two months ago, Robert Morsch and his family began to detect the scent of acetone in the steam of their shower. Morsch promptly called the Health Department, and following chemical tests of the well water, found the volatile organic chemical one-propanol in the water at fifty times the safety level designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"The contaminant is so rarely found that I am quite sure we have never encountered it in drinking water in these levels. Hopefully that means it's an isolated problem," Paul Ponturo, Chief of the Office of Water Resources for the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, explained in an interview. Ponturo added that the chemical, one-propanal, was found to be in the Morsch well at 2,600 parts per billion, far exceeding the EPA designated safely level for the chemical - fifty parts per billion.

"We will go and try to determine the extent of the problem," Ponturo explained. "This area has a lot of private wells. Hopefully, this is a relatively isolated problem in this part of the town. We have every reason to expect that." The Health Department will continue to sample neighboring wells in the area, looking at the direction of groundwater flow in order to determine the potential sources of the volatile organic. As of this week, the chemical has been detected in three neighboring wells.

"Besides sampling neighbors immediate to the well, we will be waiting for labs to complete other analysis, hoping that there may be some variant or something out of the norm that might give us a little bit of a lead," Ponturo added.

The Suffollk County Health Department, which samples 1,000 private wells per year, offers private well testing for $100, which Ponturo offered would cost up to $850 on the private market. In this case, the follow-up samples will be completed at no charge as the investigation continues.

The homeowner has been advised that because one-propanol is a volatile chemical that comes off in the air, that his family should not drink the water and should limit the length of showers to five to ten minutes in order to reduce exposure. Both the source and the nature of the chemical are unknown as of this week, although, Ponturo postulated that one-propanol "may be the breakdown product of another chemical."

"The home is close to the shoreline, which tends to suggest to us the possibility that we are not talking about contamination that is many miles away, but even that is not a guarantee." Depending on the outcome of the testing, and following the final determination from the laboratory, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) or EPA, may get involved in the case.

"There is an on-going investigation of how this chemical got into the groundwater," Morsch added. "At this point it appears it probably got in through the storm drain the town put in to mitigate flooding, which is seven feet from my well."

The private marina at the end of Kings Point Road in Springs is a stone's throw from the Morsch property private well, which has been found to contain fifty times the safe concentration the volatile organic chemical one-propanol, a manufacturing solvent.

Looking for Source
The Morsch well was most recently sampled on Thursday, Feb. 14, along with two immediate neighbors. Although, Ponturo clarified, "our investigation is somewhat hampered in this stage, because a good percentage of homeowners in the area are seasonal." The Health Department works from known sources of contamination outward and then up-gradient, looking at ground water flow in the area to help determine the source of the chemical.

East Hampton Town Environmental Director Larry Penny explained the situation to the East Hampton Town Trustee Board least week, saying, "This is the first time Suffolk County [Health Department] found this particular solvent in a well. They are a little concerned about it, the source is very much a mystery." The best option at the moment is to minimize potential impact from the chemical, Penny added, and to get town water to the area.

The Suffolk County Water Authority had previously run water lines to the neighborhood, with the main sitting 2,900 feet from the affected area. If the town board allocates $40,000 to the water authority work can begin on hooking up homes in the neighborhood with town water, with installation costs to be recouped once 19 of the 37 homeowners in the area make the switch. Currently, five homeowners have agreed to take town water.

The Town Board has agreed to absorb the initial cost, and following a final Suffolk County Water Authority approval, work will begin within three weeks. Further, the East Hampton Town Highway Department has agreed to give permits for the work, despite the preference to only promote roadwork during non-winter months.

"In this case, there is a homeowner that has a crisis, and the town board responded properly and with a sense of urgency. I couldn't be happier that my town responded in the way that it did," Morch said.

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