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.