Agents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took water samples Tuesday from a Penn Township hog farm, eight neighboring wells and a residence served by Lititz Borough Water System.
The samples will be tested for nitrate and fecal coliform, EPA spokesman David Sternberg said Thursday. He said results are expected in a couple of weeks.
EPA regulates the byproducts of animal waste to protect drinking water, "the first priority here," Sternberg said.
Sternberg said EPA took well-water samples from the farm owned by Dale Rohrer, 762 W. Lexington Road, "to evaluate compliance" with Rohrer's permit for a concentrated animal feeding operation. The locations of the "eight domestic wells" were not identified.
The agency also said it took a tap sample from a private residence served by the Lititz water system to check for compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. The residence was not identified.
EPA is "investigating the possibility that pollutants generated at Rohrer farms may have reached an underground source of drinking water," EPA Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh wrote in a letter received Monday by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
Local officials offered no comment.
"[E]xcessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have caused serious illness and sometimes death," according to the EPA Web site, which states, "Fecal coliform and E. coli ... can cause short-term effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea and headaches. ...
"[N]itrates have a high potential to migrate to ground water. Because they do not evaporate, nitrates/nitrites are likely to remain in water until consumed by plants or other organisms."
The farmer, a Penn Township zoning hearing board member, must maintain a permit for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System because his operation houses 2,800 sows and breeds 50,000 to 60,000 piglets a year.
Levels of nitrate as high as 2.76 times federal standards for public drinking water have been detected in monitoring wells at the farm since October 2006. Nitrate in public drinking water is limited to 10 parts per million.
Fecal coliform levels of 52 colonies per 100 milliliters were detected in a monitoring well at the farm in October and November 2006. Fecal coliform of 1 colony per 100 milliliters was recorded in September. Fecal coliform is banned from public drinking water.
The farmer must have a state-certified lab conduct the water tests on a quarterly basis as a condition of his state permit to operate the controlled animal feeding operation. Rohrer retained Pure-Test Water Laboratory of Myerstown to conduct the tests.
Other conditions of the permit required Rohrer to install steel-reinforced concrete walls up against concrete block walls to form the barrier between manure pits in Rohrer's three hog barns and the Lititz Groundwater Protection Area.
Levels of nitrates between 1.42 and 1.89 times federal standards were recorded July 30 in untreated water entering the Lititz system in July. Lititz relies on seven wells drawing supplies from the groundwater protection area.
The findings of nitrate in raw water by Analytical Laboratory Services Inc. of Middletown were reported to Lititz Borough council Aug. 28.
At the council meeting, Carl Kline, spokesman for the Lititz water plant, said the system's treated water is safe to drink.
Kline, of Severn Trent Environmental Services, the firm that runs the plant, said the borough has not exceeded nitrate levels enforced by DEP since 1993.
On July 30, when the untreated water was tested by Analytical Lab, Severn Trent reported raw water nitrate at 8.2 ppm.
Asked to explain the difference between Analytical Lab and Severn Trent test results, Kline said in an e-mail Sept. 21 to the Intelligencer Journal, "Lititz does not have the capability of performing EPA-approved nitrate analysis. The raw water nitrate concentration is performed using a non-approved method for process control purposes only. It has never been used for regulatory reporting."
The Intelligencer Journal reported July 28 that Lititz customers drew tap water untreated for nitrate for three days after a power failure disabled purification equipment in the treatment plant in August 2002, according to state records. And two times earlier in that year, nitrate in the water exceeded 10 ppm, according to results of tests performed by Analytical Lab, the Intell reported.
John Repetz of the state Department of Environmental Protection said July 27 in an e-mail to the Intell "there was no certified lab data" submitted when automated equipment failed in the water plant from Aug. 15 to 17, 2002.
The 2002 incidents resulted in no consequences for Lititz or Severn Trent.
Repetz said Thursday DEP "had an inspector there to observe" the water sampling by EPA.
Rohrer has refused newspaper requests for comment since April 2006.
Harry Smith, Penn Township zoning officer, said Wednesday, "EPA doesn't advise us of their activities."
John Riegel, borough council president, did not respond to two requests for comment Thursday.
Council will meet Dec. 18, a week early, due to the observance of Christmas Day on Dec. 25.
E-mail: bhannegan@lnpnews.com 