Potential Exposure Pathways

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Public Health Assessment Public Comment Release

Ward Transformer NPL Site

of Contaminant

Potential Exposure Pathways

Groundwater Pathway

No use of local groundwater for drinking water was identified in the vicinity of the site. Three

wells near the site were previously used for drinking water. The well at Ward Transformer

reportedly had been tested yearly before the company was connected to the municipal water

supply in 1994; no contaminants were found above drinking water standards. Two other nearby

wells were sampled in August 1994: a residential well had no detections of contaminants, and a

well at a former auto shop had detectable petroleum constituents, at levels below drinking water

standards. Therefore, because no evidence exists of actual exposure to harmful levels of

contaminants in these wells, the groundwater pathway is considered incomplete.

ATSDR evaluated monitoring well data collected from the shallow groundwater during the RI.

Data were available from 2 of the 5 monitoring wells installed on and around the Ward

Transformer site. Some contaminants (including PCBs, chlorinated benzenes, pesticides, and

some metals) were detected at levels above drinking water CVs (data not shown). ATSDR

recommends that the groundwater beneath the site not be used for drinking unless the water is

fully characterized to determine its public health impact.

Air Pathway

No measurements of air emissions from the facility are available. Although the burnoff oven on

site has never been permitted to burn used transformer oil containing PCBs as fuel, it is known

that some burning of PCB oil did occur during at least one year, and possibly more, in the past.

This could have released dioxins from the incomplete burning of PCBs.

In the 1997 ESI, sampling of ash from the burnoff oven and in the soil directly underneath the

oven showed high levels of metals, dioxins/furans, and Aroclor 1260. Ash from the burnoff oven

is currently drummed and shipped offsite for disposal, so this pathway is incomplete. Because

the pathway is currently incomplete and because no information exists to allow an evaluation of

potential past exposures, this pathway will not be considered further.

Children's Health Considerations

ATSDR recognizes that infants and children might be more vulnerable than adults to exposures

in communities with contaminated air, water, soil, or food. This potential vulnerability results

from the following factors: 1) children are more likely to play outdoors and bring food into

contaminated areas; 2) children are shorter and therefore more likely to contact dust and soil; 3)

children's small size results in higher doses of chemical exposure per kg of body weight; and 4)

developing body systems can sustain permanent damage if toxic exposures occur during critical

growth stages. Because children depend completely on adults for risk identification and

management decisions, ATSDR is committed to evaluating their special interests at the site.