Residents Seek Action on Tainted Wells

Denise Mazzan, whose well on Youngs Cliff Road was one of the 22 that tested positive for TCE, said health officials waited too long to tell residents about the contamination. Mazzan, a breast-cancer survivor, said she wonders whether her illness might be linked to the chemical.

The TCE levels have spurred the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality into funding the installation and initial maintenance of water filtration systems in the homes whose wells tested positive, said Jeff Steers, director for the department's northern regional office. It is the first time the department has funded filtration systems to deal with contamination that did not come from an oil or gasoline spill, he said.

Steers said, however, that the filtration systems would be short-term "Band-Aid" solutions. County Supervisor Bruce E. Tulloch (R-Potomac) said county officials were studying solutions for the long term.

Steers said one option is to connect Broad Run Farms to a public water supply -- an idea that DeJonghe said is not popular among residents.

"Our biggest concern is that they remediate the TCE," Bendit said.

Steers said DEQ is trying to determine whether the landfill, which was authorized to take only construction debris, is the source of the contamination. He said there is anecdotal and photographic evidence that regular trash also was dumped there.

"You've got a landfill and you've got some contaminated drinking-water wells, so it sounds like that's obviously the source," he said. "But we haven't proven that yet."

If the landfill is linked to the contamination, its owners -- Philip Smith of Oakton, Va., and the estate of his deceased partner, Albert Moran -- will be responsible for cleanup, Steers said.

DeJonghe said he is pleased DEQ will pay for filtration systems, but he said that doesn't end the issue. He said the civic association is planning to petition EPA to declare the landfill a Superfund site.

"This is not something that was created by the homeowners, nor should they bear the burden of it," DeJonghe said.