A chemical that is likely to cause cancer has been discovered at almost 100 times the state standard in the groundwater of the Superfund site in Ringwood where Ford Motor Co. dumped tons of toxic paint sludge decades ago.
Scott Fallon reports in The Record today:
The chemical — 1,4-dioxane — had not been identified before at the highly polluted site. It was found deep under the Peters Mine area by engineers for Ford, according to documents obtained by The Record.
Its discovery is one of the reasons more test wells are being dug this month to assess whether that chemical or others are migrating from the site, which sits above the Wanaque Reservoir, a drinking source for 3 million people.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials, who are overseeing the work, didn’t mention the chemical when asked about the new test wells two weeks ago. They said the wells were to be drilled to “assess benzene contamination” — one of the more widely found pollutants at the site — along with other chemicals that the agency didn’t name.
A spokesman said at the time the EPA team assigned to Ringwood would share specific information at a public meeting scheduled for March 1.
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