Gov. Tom Corbett Thursday announced a $2 million grant has been awarded to New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, to extend public water to area residents whose groundwater is contaminated.

Funding for this Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund grant comes from Act 13 impact fee revenues.

“This waterline project is being made possible through the cooperation, assistance and partnership of New Hanover Township, Superior Water Company, area legislators and the Department of Environmental Protection,” Corbett said.  “It will provide clean drinking water to a community where wells were polluted and will ensure the public’s safety.”

DEP initially met with area residents in April 2012 to discuss its investigation of contamination at the nearby Good Oil site on Layfield Road. Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act program staff concentrated their efforts on offsite contamination first noted by the Montgomery County Health Department in 2011 along Layfield and Hoffmansville roads in Perkiomenville.

Sampling of more than 40 drinking water wells showed elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, pesticides and herbicides, along with oil and gasoline.  In working with EPA, as well as state and federal health officials, DEP provided bottled water to affected residents, and installed carbon filtration units in homes where contamination levels posed an inhalation risk.

In December 2012, DEP held a hearing to give residents and interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposal to extend public water to nearly 30 homes where contamination exceeds or has the potential to exceed safe drinking water levels.

DEP’s investigation to determine a definitive source for the contamination is ongoing.

7/29/2013