Investigation To Find Source Of Health Threatening Industrial Chemical Leaking Into Aquifer Serving San Antonio

San Antonio, TX (AHN) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials on Monday started detailed studies to find the source of a plume of industrial solvent tetrachlorethene, or PCE, that is leaking into the Edwards Aquifer.

PCE is heavier than water chemical that is commonly used for dry-cleaning clothing and degreasing engines, it can cause kidney and liver damage, as well as cause cancer in people exposed to high enough concentrations over long periods.

There is a plume of the chemical extending a mile long and a half-mile wide leaking into the aquifer from a site near Bandera and Grissom roads in Leon Valley near San Antonio, which was declared a national super fund site in March 2007.

It is endangering the area's drinking water.

EPA officials found six private wells in the plume contaminated with slightly higher levels of PCE than allowed by law and paid to connect those houses to public water.

The Edwards Aquifer has allowed San Antonio, America's 7th largest city, and almost 2 million agricultural, industrial, recreational, and domestic water users in south central Texas to avoid having to develop groundwater sources of water for two centuries. The area served by the aquifer is on the edge of the large Chihuahuan desert.