William Tong, one of Stamford’s State Representatives, recently provided some useful information for those homes in North Stamford looking to have their water tested. As you may know, the City recently decided to stop covering the costs of testing homes near the Scofieldtown dump, leaving homeowners with the responsibility. So for those of you looking to have your home tested (or testing the water for a customer), here is what William Tong had to say:

The city of Stamford has determined that it will not extend testing to homes that have not already been tested.  However, the city did negotiate with a local water testing company to provide testing for all Stamford residents with wells at a discounted price.  The company is Environmental Analysis Corporation, which is based in New Canaan.  The contact is John Vorhiees, and his telephone number is (203) 966-5144.   I have had my water tested by Mr. Vorhiees, and I waiting for my results.  Here’s a breakdown of what the testing entails:

505 TEST ($250). The test is designed to detect the presence of certain pesticides, including Dieldrin and Chlordane, and it is known to be a very sensitive test.

METALS ($100). This test is designed to detect the presence of certain metals, including uranium, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury.

524.2 TEST ($100). This test is designed to detect the presence of volatile organic compounds, and is generally associated with testing for common residential contaminants.

I am continuing to push the Governor to release state bond funding to address the problem.  Needless to say, this is an urgent matter and I hope that the Governor hears out concerns.

I appreciate William Tong’s continued efforts in helping the residents of North Stamford. Thankfully the city has recently approved funding to have UCONN conduct research to further evaluate the situation. You can read more about the plan here.

Another article in today’s Stamford Advocate highlights the growing concern about contaminated drinking wells in and around Scofieldtown. I have been following this investigation closely and it surprised me to see city officials quickly try to pass blame for the contamination of these wells. All early signs pointed to the old Scofieldtown dump as being the source of local water well contamination. However, now the city claims that the real source was the over zealous use of pesticides. This even after an earlier report written by Orion that stated contamination found in wells was far too potent and widespread to be caused by routine use of pesticides.

The city has been mired in the toxic problem since the summer, when federal report of contaminated soil in Scofieldtown Park led city officials to test nearby wells for toxins. Since then, the city has found 33 wells contaminated with one or more of the toxic pesticides chlordane and dieldrin. The city undertook a project to connect water lines to nine affected streets in the fall, at a cost of $3.4 million.

Last month, in a conclusion that upset some nearby homeowners, an environmental consultant hired by the city, TRC Environmental, said groundwater testing carried out by the firm did not show evidence that nearby well contamination was caused by the dump.

The city has already run city water lines to those houses that tested positive. Inst that already an admission of guilt? How can they now get away with halting testing all together? There are houses next door to houses which tested positive which the city has failed to test due to some imaginary line they drew on a map. Seems to me the city is not making these residents health a priority. Not further addressing the issue now will just mean greater liability down the road.