Wayne county business park construction fouls wells

WEDCO provides bottled water; disputes responsibility

By TOM KANE

STERLING, PA — Mike Sibio has lived in his current home along Route 191 for 24 years and hasn’t had a problem with his well. That all changed when the Wayne Economic Development Corporation (WEDCO) began digging across the road to build a retention water basin.

The digging is in preparation for a proposed business park that WEDCO has been planning since 2003 when it secured an option on the property.

“I’m absolutely certain that this construction is the cause,” Sibio said. “All three of us [Sibio and two neighbors] started to get brown water about three months ago when they started digging and then the contamination got worse with E. coli, fecal and other coliform bacteria. It’s been a nightmare.”

They can’t drink it. They can’t bathe in it. They can’t wash their dishes in it. They’re afraid to even cook with it.

The three homes are located along Route 191 directly across from the business park near the intersection of Routes 191 and Moon Road. WEDCO representatives say that it is uncertain that they are the cause of the contamination.

“We have agreed, however, to provide the families with tanks of clean water, which have been installed in their cellars,” said Fred Howell, WEDCO president.

Originally, the fresh water source came from a large tank that stood near the three homes, with hoses that carried the water to them. The hoses froze in the wintry weather.

“We appreciate that they did something, even though the trucks that come every two days to refill the tanks chew up our lawns,” Sibio said.

“We have cleaned out the plumbing of the three residences with a strong chemical that will kill a long list of contaminants,” Howell said.

“They super-chlorinated our plumbing and got all the bacteria but the chlorine is so strong we can’t drink the water,” Sibio said.

WEDCO has offered to drill new and deeper wells for the residents, going far below the current aquifer level. “Their current wells do not meet Department of Environmental Protection standards but these new ones will,” Howell said.

“They still haven’t addressed all our concerns,” Sibio said. “We have nothing in writing from them which we asked for. We want to know if this problem will keep recurring as they build the 23 buildings that they plan,” he said.

As they proceed, the potential is great to have similar problems. They are building a sewer system that will discharge into the Wallenpaupack Creek that empties in Lake Wallenpaupack. While the sewer system treats the effluent, Sibio said, the potential is great that one unscrupulous manufacturer will pollute and have it go into the lake.

Sibio was one of the strongest opponents of the business park. “This park is being built in a residential area that doesn’t allow business parks,” he said. “They got around it by smoke and mirrors. Our zoning ordinances say no industrial parks in a residential district. The zoning allows a warehouse, an office building and a manufacturing site, but they are not to dominate the residential district like this does.”

Former WEDCO executive director Robert Suhosky said in 2005 when the property was dedicated that the park could attract companies that have the potential of creating about 1,200 jobs for county residents.