Chesapeake offers more free water tests near golf course

CHESAPEAKE

Free water tests for people living near a golf course made from fly ash continued Monday, and city officials confirmed they offered the sampling to even more homes near the course.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, 38 of roughly 70 eligible homeowners had requested the city-funded tests. They were available to homes on both sides of Murray Drive and Whittamore Road, as well as to some homeowners on Centerville Turnpike.

The city also sent an additional 130 letters to homes within a 2,000-foot radius of the golf course, officially notifying them of a June 20 deadline for the filing of any claims against the golf course owners for wells damaged by the project.

The tests began a week after a report in The Virginian-Pilot about Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville, which was sculpted from 1.5 million tons of fly ash from Dominion Virginia Power's coal-burning power plant in Deep Creek.

Fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal for electricity, contains arsenic and other heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, which can pose health risks.

The city hired James R. Reed and Associates, based in Newport News, to conduct the testing.

At each house, an employee first made sure any water-softening systems were turned off. Tap water was then run for two minutes before collecting a sample in a 500-milliliter bottle containing a preservative.

Over the next three weeks, the firm's laboratory will be looking for the presence of heavy metals such as arsenic, barium, chromium, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, silver and vanadium. The results will be weighed against EPA drinking-water standards.

Some environmental experts questioned the protocol used in the testing.

"The sampling method used for this survey - from an interior faucet after a two-minute flush - may be appropriate for residential water that is from a public water system, but it is not appropriate for sampling private well water," said Charles Norris, a Denver-based hydrogeologist who works with Earthjustice, an environmental law firm.

"The method that was used for these private wells may underestimate potential exposure to metals, lending a false perception of safety."

City officials maintained that the protocol used is standard and offers an effective first-line screening to assess if there is a problem.

The city also has hired an engineering company to do ground-water testing on the golf course itself to identify any potential contamination, said Mary Ann Saunders, assistant to the city manager.

On Monday, at City Manager William Harrell's request, Dominion Virginia Power met with city officials, Saunders said.

The city asked for all technical information the utility had relating to the site and was assured they would receive it, she said.

Dominion was not the applicant for the project; it only supplied the fly ash. The utility has said the fly ash was mixed with a chemical additive to inhibit the leaching of metals into the groundwater.

Some homeowners expressed skepticism about the testing program and what led to it.

"I feel it was nothing but a public relations stunt, with the city trying to accomplish one of two things - one, if there is contamination, to dump it on the golf course to take care of," said Stephen Fox, who bought his Murray Drive home in the fall of 2001, just a few months after the City Council unanimously approved the project.

"And if there's no sign of contamination yet, they can say, 'See, there was no harm, and we can forget about it.' "

Others worried about the value of their homes.

"My reaction is that I think it may have some effect on our property value, which is very disappointing," said Pat Norfleet, who has lived on Murray Drive since 1988.

Robert McCabe, (757) 222-5217, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com