Chillicothe residents are being warned about a pump failure at a well operated by the U.S. Paper Mill that has been helping contain a toxic plume of underground chemicals beneath the city, the Chillicothe Gazette reported on Thursday, Nov. 12. The mill alerted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency the same day to a fracture in the decades-old, 90-foot pump.
The pump will need to be replaced at a cost of thousands of dollars, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. The mill has been pumping water into the well to keep underground water tables away from the plume, and the company said it is working on a solution but is not sure how long the repair will take.
The plume was caused by a cookware manufacturing plant that closed in the 1990s, the Chillicothe Gazette reported. Its possible migration was already a concern for many residents when the Pixelle paper mill announced it was closing, and the new owners of the mill site have continued the pumping that holds the plume in place.
In a news release, the U.S. Paper Mill said migration of the plume could, over time, contaminate land and groundwater in farmland and residences, as well as the Scioto River, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. The company is also working with Howmet, the owner of the former cookware site, to monitor water levels and water quality while the pump is out of service.
“As we work closely with the Ohio EPA and the City of Chillicothe, the residents of this community need to understand this is a potentially urgent situation,” U.S. Paper Mill Utility Superintendent Aaron Andrews said, in comments reported by the Chillicothe Gazette. “Without replacement of the pump, the water table could potentially rise high enough to release contaminants from the plume.”
Andrews said residents do not need to be concerned about their water at the moment, but the company wanted to be transparent about what was happening with the plume and the well, the Chillicothe Gazette reported. “We are doing all we can to protect the community that we love,” Andrews said, in comments reported by the Chillicothe Gazette.
The company said it does not know how long it will take for the water table to rise, and it says it will work quickly to protect residents. For now, monitoring of water levels and quality continues with Howmet while the mill and the Ohio EPA work through the replacement.
What happens next is the pump replacement itself: a 90-foot, decades-old pump must be swapped out before the water table can rise far enough to move the plume. NewsForce247 will update this coverage as the mill, the city and the Ohio EPA release a repair timeline.