MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) - City officials plan to ask residents to enroll in a program to monitor vapor contamination from a carcinogenic chemical that’s spread from a factory site in the eastern Iowa city of Maquoketa.
The Telegraph Herald reported that the contamination stems from the operations of Clinton Machine Co., which built small engines in Maquoketa from 1950 into the 1990s. The factory used trichloroethene, commonly known as TCE, as a degreasing agent. Federal authorities have since determined that TCE is carcinogenic.
The city took over the site in 2000 and tore down much of the facility, leaving only the office building. It now houses the Clinton Engines Museum.
Contaminants have been detected in groundwater up to two-thirds of a mile (1,062 meters) away. Shelly Nellesen, the Iowa Natural Resources Department project manager for the factory site, said the TCE in groundwater also creates the potential for indoor contamination. As the contaminated water evaporates, TCE can be carried as a vapor into structures through foundation cracks.
Mike Fisher with Impact7G, an environmental company that took groundwater samples around the site, said the threat posed by the current levels is low.
“It’s above the EPA level, but we are still talking about a very low amount,” Fisher said.
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