APL In The News
Club's shotgun pellets threaten river
By ALEX NUSSBAUM, STAFF WRITER
A shooting range along the Passaic River is polluted with high levels of lead, arsenic and cancer-causing compounds that may be reaching the river and water supplies downstream, tests performed for The Record show.
The tests found soil at the North Jersey Clay Target Club in Fairfield contaminated with lead levels rivaling those at federal Superfund sites. Water in a pond on the property contained more than 800 times the lead and nearly 200 times the arsenic allowed by state regulations. A ditch fed by the pond and leading to the Passaic had nearly seven times the permissible level of lead. Read complete story
Oversight appears lax at Ringwood skeet range
By ALEX NUSSBAUM, STAFF WRITER
While New Jersey tries to get private shooting ranges to clean up their acts, it's got its own challenges at Thunder Mountain Skeet Range in Ringwood State Park. Soil from the range and surrounding woods has extremely high levels of lead, arsenic, hydrocarbons and other toxic chemicals, according to laboratory tests performed this fall for The Record.
But unlike at Fairfield's gun club or other ranges that have raised concerns, there's no sign that contaminants have reached neighboring sites or waters that flow off the range. Tests at the park's Shepherd's Pond, for example, found no evidence of pollution. Read complete story
Herbicide test shows school is safe to open
BY SEUNG MIN KIM, Star-Ledger Staff
Sparked by parents' concerns, Montgomery Township school officials have tested the grounds at Village Elementary School for herbicides, and findings indicate the building is safe to start the academic year Monday, district authorities said.
Additional test results are pending from samples taken yesterday. But results from a Sept. 6 test showed detectable levels of 2,4-D, commonly found in weed killers. The levels, however, prompt "no need for concern," said Frances Chaves, district spokeswoman.
The school is on the grounds of the North Princeton Developmental Center site, a former state mental health facility the township is transforming into walking trails, park space, housing, shops and restaurants. Parents, however, were worried about the demolition of the old buildings, particularly asbestos removal. Read complete story
Pesticide confirmed at Paramus school
By Michael Gartland, Staff Writer
Soil samples taken from a soccer field behind West
Brook Middle School contain traces of the outlawed
pesticide chlordane, an environmental consultant
hired by The Record has found.
The consultant, nationally certified Aqua Pro-Tech
Laboratories, took two samples from fields at the school. The first sample -- collected from a dirt track on the campus -- showed no trace of dangerous contaminants. The second sample -- gathered from the northern soccer field -- revealed chlordane.
Robert Barrett, the chief operating officer of Aqua Pro-Tech, said the contaminated sample did not exceed state safety guidelines, but added that chlordane at those levels should not be present on a playing field. Read complete story
Commerce June 2006 Cover Story
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APL is doing it's part to preserve the integrity of New Jersey's groundwater for future generations. When one of the largest daily newspapers in New Jersey, The Record, published a groundbreaking five-part series last year on hazardous waste from an abandoned Ford Motor Company factory, Aqua Pro-Tech Laboratories (APL) was selected to provide the scientific backup. Though the factory closed in 1980, and supposedly cleaned the site at the time, it left long-lasting hazardous wastes affecting local residents for years to come. In an eight-month investigation, journalists documented health complaints in poor communities where much of the dumping took place. Read Complete Story |
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created by Ford Motor Co. plant in Mahwah, NJ
"For 25 years, the Ford Motor Co.'s factory in Mahwah churned out the latest in Detroit horsepower -- 6 million vehicles in all. But before closing in 1980, it also generated an ocean of hazardous waste. Much of that remains where it was dumped -- in watersheds and other environmentally sensitive places, including a 900-acre tract in Ringwood that's home to people who say the pollution has made them sick."
Click on image above to see a multimedia presentation on the series. Or read text of the story by clicking here.
Tests find many N.J. wells tainted
By ALEX NUSSBAUM, Staff Writer
Nearly a third of the private wells tested
under a new state law are contaminated
with pollution linked to cancer, breathing
problems, and other serious illnesses,
environmental officials said Wednesday.
The tests on wells of homes that are being sold
have uncovered bacteria, lead, and other
contaminants in the drinking water. The most
troublesome problems turned up in central and western New Jersey counties, including Morris, Sussex, and Somerset, where years of heavy development could be fouling the waters, environmentalists said.
In all, three-quarters of the wells tested failed one or more standards, though most posed no health risk. The number of failures in the law's first 10 weeks has fueled calls by scientists and state officials for more widespread testing. More than 1 million people in the state drink from private wells. Read complete story
Lead Levels High In Local Tap Water
By JEFF HARRELL,
The Montclair Times
Some residents might have tossed an innocuous three-page pamphlet sent by the Montclair Township Department of Public Works into the trash.
If so, residents discarded a warning by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Montclair Water Bureau that there is lead in the drinking water.
“We tested 60 homes,” said Gary Obszarny, superintendent of water operations for the Township of Montclair. “The average was 16 parts.” Read complete story
Wallington Board of Education proposes water testing
WALLINGTON - The Board of Education wants the Borough Council and the Passaic Valley Water Commission to set up a quarterly water-testing regimen, after high levels of contamination were detected in the school water supply.
The reported levels of trihalomethanes, byproducts of chlorine disinfection, found in September, are considered safe, said Schools Superintendent Frank Cocchiola.
The water is provided to the schools by the borough, which purchases it from the commission.
Consumption of the contaminants at higher levels over a long period is believed to raise the risk of cancer and damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system, according to the federal Environmental Protection agency.
The board first contracted Aqua-Protech Laboratories of Fairfield in 2000 to test schools' water. The board was responding to reports of high levels of contamination in the borough and news that North Haledon's school system prohibited students from drinking from school fountains after high levels were discovered there, said board member Barbara Popek.
Read Complete Story
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