EPA ORDERS W.R. GRACE TO CLEAN UP AMMONIA ENDANGERING AQUIFER

LANSING, Mich., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 has issued an emergency administrative order to W.R. Grace & Co. to clean up ammonia threatening an underground source of drinking water for Lansing, Mich., and 13 other public systems.

EPA alleges that ammonia has entered the Saginaw Sandstone Aquifer from the Motor Wheel Disposal site, 1401 Lake Lansing Rd. in Lansing. The aquifer supplies drinking water to 297,000 persons.

In the 1960's, W.R. Grace produced fertilizer at a facility uphill from the Motor Wheel site, and wastes -- including ammonia -- washed into the site.

The Motor Wheel Disposal site -- which does not include the Motor Wheel plant -- was placed on the National Priorities (Superfund) List in 1986. In 1993, W.R. Grace was among several defendants that agreed to investigate possible contamination in the Saginaw Sandstone Aquifer. An interim report indicated that a plume of ammonia existed in the aquifer near the Lansing Board of Water and Light North Well Field. As a result, the utility board shut down 10 drinking water production wells in 1997. Further analysis showed that the plume was moving northwesterly toward the closed wells.

Ammonia from the plume has not entered the treatment plant, and there have been no nitrite or nitrate associated illnesses. The drinking water that the Lansing utility now provides to the public is safe to drink and currently meets all standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

"The purpose of the emergency order is to ensure that cleanup of the ammonia plume occurs before it causes a problem at the treatment plant," said Acting Regional Administrator David A. Ullrich. "The Board of Water and Light, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and EPA are monitoring the situation to ensure that hazardous levels of ammonia do not get into the water distribution system."

In December 1998, samples taken at the closed wells showed levels of ammonia that presented an imminent and substantial danger to public health. If excess ammonia enters the drinking water treatment plant, it would cause problems with treatment and operations at the plant.

When water is pumped out of the aquifer, ammonia interacts with oxygen to form nitrate and nitrite, which pose an acute health concern at certain levels of exposure. Excessive levels of these chemicals can cause serious illness and sometimes death in infants under 6 months because nitrite interferes with the oxygen carrying capacity of the child's blood. Symptoms can develop rapidly and include shortness of breath and blueness of skin.

EPA has ordered W.R. Grace to develop a cleanup process and schedule by
April 30, 1999, that will achieve background levels of ammonia in the
aquifer and prevent the loss of any more drinking water wells. It has
ordered the company to develop a plan to provide an alternative source
of drinking water equal to the volume and quality of the 10 closed
wells no later than July 1, 1999.
SOURCE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

-0-                             03/04/99 /CONTACT:  Technical, Raymond 
Urchel, 312-353-6292, Legal, Susan Perdomo 312-886-0557, or Media, 
Phillippa Cannon, 312-353-6218, all of the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency/ 
 CO:  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ST:  Illinois IN:  ENV SU: 
LAW