Agreement will bring water to contaminated Marengo wells
By Gregory Harutunian For Chronicle Media — March 2, 2016
Arnold Magnetic Technologies, Inc., and 300 West LLC, have struck a deal with Marengo to bring water lines down Railroad Street, turning south on Ritz Road, in attempting to address contaminated residential wells from leeched chemicals on their property into the water table. The agreement does not affect the Illinois Attorney General’s civil litigation against the two companies.
The city of Marengo approved an agreement with Arnold Magnetic Technologies, Inc., and site owner, 300 West LLC, to bring water lines to its property, and along Railroad Street and Ritz Road, during the Feb. 22 full council meeting.
The 7-1 vote also calls for a contingency annexation agreement to bring the 90-acre industrial parcel into the municipal boundaries.
The water lines and construction of the main are slated for the spring, and a precursory $45,000 engineering study, being conducted by the McHenry-based firm of H R Green, Inc., will be fully reimbursed to the city of Marengo. Effectively, the entire project, estimated at more than $3 million, comes with no cost to the municipality, per the agreement.
“The annexation accord has to be submitted by March 9, for the council to have an opportunity to review it,” said Marengo city Manager Gary Boden. “An actual vote on the annexation is to take place 180 days after they file the appropriate documents. We’re talking some time in August, for that to occur.”
Impacted homeowners with contaminated wells have the option to hook into the water line, with expenses paid by the two companies, and the applicable usage rates will be assessed at the “in-town” rate. They will also not be required to annex into the city. The infrastructure plan is a remedial course, as soil and groundwater contamination allegedly leeched from the industrial concern into the water table, and into residential wells.
The impacted homeowners have been supplied with bottled water, following a McHenry court order, until such time as the matter is resolved. That matter includes a 2013 civil suit filed by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office against Arnold and 300 West LLC, on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
“The state’s lawsuit is ongoing, but we have received and reviewed a copy of the agreement between the city of Marengo and the defendants,” said Annie Thompson, the Attorney General’s press secretary. “The agreement provides for the connection of certain residences to the city’s public water supply, and … is separate from the state’s case.”
The issue surfaced when Marengo crews discovered the condition in attempting to install a well of its own. In May 2010, Arnold retained a consultant group with monitoring wells to produce on-site samples. The subsequent findings detected concentrations of the vinyl chloride, PCE, TCE, and other carcinogens
Approximately 17 private and non-community water wells located within the one-mile proximity of the 300 West site also showed concentrations of the substances, and the lawsuit sought to enforce testing and correction procedures. In March 2014, a modified filing outlined the testing regimen and placement of the monitoring wells.
“The state is pursuing an investigation of the nature and extent of contamination on- and off-site, submittal of a remedial action plan to clean up contamination to approved limits, and implementation of the approved remediation plan,” said Thompson. “The provision of an alternate drinking water supply to the affected off-site residents on Railroad Street and Ritz Road is part of it.”
“As for the civil penalties and fines, those are set forth by state statute and the final amount is to be determined by the court,” she said.
A Feb. 2016 report, filed by Chicago-based STAT Analysis Corporation, obtained through the State Attorney General’s Office, itemized the volatile organic compounds found in recent water samples, duly regimented through a chain of custody to maintain its integrity. It continued to exhibit by-product chemicals of the manufacturing concern.
The sampling company did not want to comment.
Boden noted the water line construction is a separate matter from the state’s civil suit.
“The engineering study is the first phase, there is a second phase, and the actual construction is starting in the spring,” Boden said. “They have to get started on this work, right away. There are engineering studies to be completed, and the actual construction of the lines from the municipal plant, as well as the water main.
“The lines will come down west along Railroad Street, to its intersection with Ritz Road, and turn south,” he said. “The lines will also be led onto their site.”
While the city had taken a neutral position during the last few years as a “participant observer,” according to Boden, the attorney general’s action and overtures from the two companies had signaled potential progress on addressing the contamination issue and making amends to residential homeowners with wells containing the leeched chemicals.
A memorandum of understanding outlining the furtive agreement for clean water and conveyance had been slated for a Nov. 16 council meeting. It was cancelled, due to further negotiations on the exact items, and documents still facing revision by the companies.
Regarding the contamination spread, Boden said last month that testing is still being done to determine the extent of the plume and its rate of advance through the water table.
Attempts to reach Arnold Magnetics Technologies general manager Robert Splitt, for comment, were unsuccessful.
— Agreement will bring water to contaminated Marengo wells —
