Sanford pushes to investigate water well contamination
Leaders renew press for state intervention to treat against chemical dioxane
A decade after a toxic, industrial chemical appeared in three of Sanford’s drinking water wells, the city is redoubling its calls for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to finally and officially determine the source and devise a solution.
“The key for us is what is DEP doing to protect our water supply,” Mayor Art Woodruff said Monday. “We are trying to push DEP to make sure we can keep a safe water supply for our residents.”
The city’s utility discovered a chemical called 1,4-dioxane, which is often just called dioxane, in its wells beginning in 2013. At about the same time, Lake Mary and Seminole County also detected the chemical in their wells.
Both cities and the county took steps to keep overall concentrations of the chemical in their water systems below the level recommended by the state health department.
For Sanford, those steps were to reduce the usage of the three wells. But with population growth since then, those wells, or new ones, are needed to provide the city with enough water.
Without more assertive intervention from the state, Woodruff said, Sanford faces costly options going forward, including potential installation of a treatment system.
“We would either have to find another source or treat that water,” he said.
Sanford’s hired expert firms who say the source of dioxane is a location a few miles from the wells — the former Siemens electronics plant off Rinehart Road in Seminole County between Lake Mary and Sanford.
The plant, owned by various companies since it opened in 1968, became embroiled in
controversy and tragedy in the early 2000s over findings of contamination there from industrial solvents.
Dozens of workers filed a lawsuit against the plant’s owners, alleging that exposure to toxic solvents had caused them to develop cancer.
The lawsuit was settled in 2011 and by then equipment had been installed to remove solvents from the soil and aquifer waters beneath the plant.
Then, from 2013 to 2015, Sanford, Lake Mary and Seminole County were detecting dioxane in their wells. An industrial and manufacturing chemical, dioxane primarily served to stabilize the chemical characteristics of solvents. It has been found along with solvents contaminating the Siemens site.
According to the state health department, exposure to dioxane can cause cancer, as well as liver and kidney failure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency labels the chemical as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
Woodruff noted that there is some disagreement about the source of dioxane that reached city wells and it is the state’s job after years of starts and stops to finally say where the chemical has been coming from and what must be done about it. The environmental department did not respond to requests on Friday and Monday for comment.
A previous owner of the plant also noted the continuing lack of clarity over the source of dioxane.
“Siemens is not aware of any link between possible contaminants in Sanford’s public drinking water and its operations,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “To Siemens’ knowledge, the state has not determined the source of potential dioxane contamination in Sanford’s groundwater wells.”
Sanford leaders made the matter public recently after the state Department of Environmental Protection sent letters last August and last month directing General Dynamics, a previous owner of the Siemens electronics plant, to further investigate the underground movement of dioxane.
The January letter, from the Central Florida director of the state Department of Environmental Protection to General Dynamics, demanded investigative progress.
“The Department hereby directs that a response, including a comprehensive technical evaluation of the contamination migration if the responsible parties will not be proceeding with well installation, be provided by February 17, 2023,” the letter states.
But a week after that letter, Sanford’s city council authorized staff to take legal action if needed in the state’s drawn-out handling of dioxane contamination.
General Dynamics did respond to requests for comment.