SEARCH FOR SOURCE OF CHEMICAL BEGINS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 22, 1992                   TAG: 9202220415
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SEARCH FOR SOURCE OF CHEMICAL BEGINS
State Health Department engineers Friday began a search for the source of a chemical that may have contaminated ground wells in the Hollins-Plantation Road area of Roanoke County.
Seventeen samples were taken from wells in the search for tricholoroethylene (TCE), according to Dr. Molly Hagan, Alleghany Region health director. The samples will be sent to Richmond for laboratory tests that may take a week, she said.
If it is a carcinogen, it is probably low-level, she said. A long concentration of upward of 70 years would be required for significant contamination, she said.
TCE is used in anesthesia, she said, and "any acute effect is non-existent." No evidence has been found to associate cancer with TCE in humans, the doctor said.
The samples were taken within a quarter-mile of the Tinkerview Trailer Court, where engineers first detected a "very high" level of TCE.
The problem is that an estimated 50 homes within a mile of the trailer court have private wells which could contain the chemical, Hagan said.
She said she doubts that the TCE comes from the nearby ITT plant, but she does not know the source. Other smaller industries are located nearby.
If she lived in that area, Hagan said, she would drink bottled water, but she considers the water safe for showers. Concerned residents might use a carbon filter to remove the chemical as a short-term solution, she said.
Hagan said TCE is a non-flammable, colorless liquid with a sweet odor. The chemical came under regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency only last year.
Joyce Hicks, a resident of the trailer court, said she has been complaining about the water there for more than five years. She and her family bring water home from work in eight-gallon jugs.
Hicks said her clothes turned gray from the local water and more than two gallons of chemicals, encrusted like oyster shells, must be cleaned from her water heater every year.
A material safety data sheet she obtained from her office at the Veterans Administration Medical Center describes TCE as harmful if swallowed, Hicks said.
Positive samples of TCE were found in two other wells within a half-mile radius of the trailer court, Hagan said.
Hagan is working with the state Water Control Board on the problem. She planned to study ground water maps with the board and ITT representatives "to try to anticipate where other contamination may be."
Liability for the contamination will be an issue later, she said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB