Health Consultation Exposure Investigation: Private Well Water Sampling to Assess Water Quality Issues, Posey County, Indiana. Cost Recovery Number A0ZH, February 22, 2016.

摘要

Extensive oil and natural gas production has occurred in Posey County, IN since the 1930s. In 2008, area residents complained to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) about petroleum and oil field brine (i.e., salt) contamination in private drinking water wells. In January 2010, IDEM collected water samples from ten private/residential drinking water wells in Posey County, near the City of Mount Vernon and performed a limited chemical analysis. Samples from eight of the ten wells contained total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) above an IDEM comparison level. Chloride concentrations that exceeded the Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) were reported in three of the ten wells (IDEM, 2010). At the request of IDEM, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) conducted an Exposure Investigation (EI) to evaluate water quality in residential private wells located near Mount Vernon in Posey County, IN. In June 2012, ATSDR collected well water samples for chemical analysis for water quality indicators, major ions, elements, alpha radiation, petroleum-related constituents and methane The water samples were collected from untreated well water.