“Texans understand how precious water resources are for families and businesses,” EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry said. “Addressing contamination helps alleviate the risk to the community and return property to economic use.”
The Main Street site is between County Road 340 and County Road 340 A and encompasses two public water supply wells and seven private ones. The water contamination stems from a tetrachloroethylene (PCE) plume, which was discovered in groundwater at the site due to monitoring of the Bertram Public Water Supply. PCE can cause damage to the nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system, and the levels of it present in the sites’ drinking wells are over the EPA’s minimum contaminant level (MCL).
The Superfund program was created 35 years ago under the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and takes on complex, uncontrolled and abandoned hazardous waste sites. The agency typically puts financial or organizational responsibility on the organization that caused the contamination, but in cases like the Main Street site, where the source is unknown, the agency begins with a full investigation.
EPA testimony statements are available at www.epa.gov.
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