Report: Contamination in Ringwood could threaten the Wanaque Reservoir

High levels of a dangerous chemical at the Ringwood Superfund site are a potential threat to the nearby Wanaque Reservoir, the major source of drinking water for the region, according to a new report for the state commission that oversees the water supply.

The pollution needs to be treated to ensure it doesn't migrate to the reservoir — just a mile away — and contaminate the drinking water that serves as many as 3.5 million people, the report said.

The chemical — known as 1,4-dioxane and considered a probable carcinogen — has not been detected in the reservoir. But high levels have been found over the past 18 months in groundwater and brooks that feed into the massive reservoir downstream of an area where Ford Motor Co. dumped an ocean of toxic paint sludge 50 years ago.

The report, written for the reservoir’s operator, the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, recommends that a system be built soon to pump contaminated groundwater to the surface and decontaminate it “given the severity of the impact to the water supply if the contaminants, in particular 1,4-dioxane, reach the [reservoir’s] intake.” 

The report comes at a time when many residents and environmental groups are pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to abandon a plan to leave tons of contaminated soil at the 500-acre site. Rather than covering the pollution with a protective barrier, they want it dug up and removed.

They have long argued that soil laced with benzene, lead and arsenic should be excavated and hauled out of town because it is a threat to nearby residents and the Wanaque Reservoir, whose northern edge sits a mile from the Superfund site. 

“Up to this point everyone in power was saying there is no impact to the Wanaque Reservoir, and now we have a report saying that’s not accurate,” said Bob Spiegel, who has led a community group on the Ringwood cleanup for years.

“There is a potential problem here, and something needs to be done with it," he said. 

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The commission’s executive director, Todd Caliguire, would not take questions regarding the report's findings. He said through a spokesman that he and the commission are "pleased to learn the Wanaque Resevoir has not been compromised from the site."

Elias Rodriguez, an EPA spokesman, said agency officials are still reviewing the report and will take it into consideration while developing cleanup alternatives for groundwater, which are scheduled to be made public this summer.

The report will be a major topic of discussion Monday evening at a meeting of a community group that advises the EPA on the cleanup.

The chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is a clear solvent that is difficult to remove from water. It was first discovered in spring 2015 in water that had collected in the airshaft of Peters Mine — one of three major dumping grounds used by Ford contractors for waste from the company's factory in Mahwah in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Subsequent tests found 1,4-dioxane in groundwater throughout the Superfund site — as high as 215 times the state safety standard of 0.4 micrograms per liter. It was also found in lower amounts — but still above the state standard — offsite in Pine Brook, which flows into Sally’s Pond, then into Ringwood Creek and on into the Wanaque Reservoir. 

The 40-page report by global engineering firm Jacobs says the chance of 1,4-dioxane reaching the reservoir’s treatment plant 7.5 miles from the Superfund site is low. But since the treatment plant is incapable of removing 1,4-dioxane, the chemical “will impact the finished water quality” if it migrates that far. 

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Treating the groundwater at its presumed source, Peters Mine, "should ensure that contaminants do not migrate downgradient and impact the water supply,” the report reads. 

Despite those concerns, EPA officials are still confident the reservoir is safe from the chemical. 

“Data indicates that the Wanaque has not been impacted by site contamination and is not expected to be impacted by site contamination in the future,” Rodriguez said in an email. 

The reservoir has been tested at least twice in the past four years for 1,4-dioxane, with no sign of the chemical. 

The first test was conducted in 2013 during a nationally mandated test for all water systems. 

The second test came last March, when commission officials ordered tests after reports in The Record showed the chemical was found throughout the Superfund site near the reservoir.

The second tests showed no trace of 1,4-dioxane in water taken from six locations, including Ringwood Creek, although levels upstream at Sally’s Pond were detected as high as double the state safety standard. The chemical was not detected at the intake of the reservoir's treatment plant and the distribution system after the water is treated.

The chemical, 1,4-dioxane, has been found in recent years in several smaller drinking water systems that serve North Jersey towns, with the highest concentrations in Fair Lawn, Garfield, Pompton Lakes and Oakland. Environmental officials have said there is no imminent health threat from the levels of 1,4-dioxane that were detected, but there is still no clear consensus on how much of the chemical can be in drinking water before it makes anyone ill.

Trying to get 1,4-dioxane out of water is expensive. Tucson, Arizona, built an $18 million treatment plant that uses a method called "advanced oxidation," in which ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide remove 1,4-dioxane and other contaminants. It opened in 2014 and treats 8 million gallons a day.

Monday’s meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. in Tuxedo Park, New York, at the NYU Institute of Environmental Medicine, 57 Old Forge Road.

Staff Writer David Zimmer contributed to this story.