History: Pollution Clean Up in Seminole Heights

Interesting history. Seminole Heights was the site of a pollution cleanup at 1919 E. Paris Street. This was the former site of the National Linen Service before it burned down. There were two other dry cleaners operating out of that site before National Linen moved in.

The following timeline is from the Tampa Tribune (10/23/95)

Dec. 1988: National Linen Service tells DEP an underground storage tank leaked diesel fuel at its property at 1919 E. Paris St.

March 1992: HRS Hillsborough County Public Health Unit identifies chlorinated solvents in private drinking wells located to the east and northeast of the business.
Sampling through September shows about 15 contaminated wells, as high as 15
times above state Safe Drinking Water standards.

May 1993: Kemron Environmental Services, consultants for National Linen Service, reports 47 domestic wells near the facility are listed in Southwest Florida Water
Management District permit logs without addresses.

Sept. 1993: DEP warns National Linen Service about potential violations and requires company to assess the contamination.

Oct. 1993: DEP meets with National Linen Service, which says it never used chlorinated solvents for dry cleaning.

Dec. 1993: Health department checks records, finds no sampling in area since September 1992. Kemron reports back to DEP that follow-up investigations show "no private drinking water wells were found to the south and west of the site."

May 1994: DEP technical review staff notes discrepancies in Kemron's assessment of private wells and groundwater flow.

Dec. 1994: Kemron contacts health department with news of seven additional wells. Four test positive for solvent contamination. Tainted well owners receive bottled-water vouchers and free hookup to city water system.

Jan. 1995: Kemron writes to DEP: "A more intensive well search may be required to identify all wells. ... It appears the magnitude and extent of contamination is larger than originally thought."

May 1995: Health department continues house-by-house well survey, samples wells a half-mile west of site and finds contamination seven times above Safe Drinking Water standards.

Oct. 1995: Lab results show 64 of 134 wells in area contaminated as high as 20 times above standards. Health department awaits results on 12 more tests.

An April 6, 1996 Tribune article noted:

"Soil samples on the property were contaminated eight times above state cleanup standards for tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a cleaning solvent that causes cancer in laboratory mice.

A monitoring well one foot north of the property pumped up groundwater samples of PCE 61 times above what the state considers safe for drinking.

As wells spread farther from the property, PCE concentrations decreased.

Neighbors -- including one man whose wife worked for the dry cleaners at the site -- said former operators dumped lint and sludge along the south of the property. A woman who lived next door said she often smelled strong solvent odors in her shower drain and outside her house."

And

"Officials also had trouble finding about 120 private wells in the area.

They did not know so many residents still tapped private water supplies in the old city neighborhood where water service has been available for half a century. Tests showed 64 wells were tainted with unsafe levels of PCE."

And

"For now, the investigation is bound by Sligh Avenue to the north, Hillsborough Avenue to the south, 24th Street to the east and 15th Street to the west.

But that could soon change, Phillips said. "Contamination has been found well beyond all four of those boundaries.""

Presumably everyone with well got hooked up and the problem was cleaned up.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency has a listing for this site. Based on a 2003 entry regarding a reassessment visit, it seems to show that they are taking no further action on this case. Data from the Florida Department of Enviroment Protection website seems to indicate everything was completed.