Owners of about 70 properties in Jaffrey will be unable to build drinking wells for the foreseeable future, as officials continue to work to eliminate groundwater contamination caused by the former Elite Laundry site.
Affected property owners were given the chance to speak with project manager Marc Richard of Tighe and Bond Monday about the hold on well building, updates on groundwater clean up, and the recently enacted groundwater management zone.
“Nothing will be recorded on your property deeds,” said Richard. “We are working to shrink this zone as soon as we can.”
Local and federal entities have been working to clean contamination at the former Elite Laundry site since 2002, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed 1,018 tons of contaminated soil from the site. Commercial dry cleaning and laundry operations had taken place at the site between 1937 and 1997, saturating groundwater with trichloroethylene tetrachloroethylene.
Richard said that the groundwater does not pose a health risk unless it is consumed, which is why there will be no well building allowed. Presently, the entire area defined in the groundwater management zone is hooked up to town water.
Residents in attendance were worried about how large the zone was and how long it would take for the contamination to be eradicated. Richard said he speculates it could take 15 to 20 more years to completely clean the ground water. The zone, which contains all properties with contaminated groundwater, will be shrunk by bi-annual water testing.
The plan for the zone is to monitor approximately 26 wells two times a year, at a cost of approximately $15,000 per year.
When a property has been deemed contamination free, it will be removed from the zone.