POMPTON LAKES - They came seeking answers but left with more questions about the toxic vapors rising from ground water beneath as many as 350 basements in the northeast corner of town. But key uncertainties remained for residents who attended informational meetings Monday afternoon and evening with state health and  environmental officials, the borough, and DuPont, the company responsible for the pollution.

alth and environmental officials, the borough, and DuPont, the company responsible for the pollution.

 Officials and company representatives stood at tables with printed information explaining vapor intrusion and urging homeowners to take DuPont's offer to test the air inside their homes and to install a protective vapor mitigation system, a device similar to the pipe vents used to eliminate radon contamination. "The DEP strongly suggests you put the system in your home," said Len Romino, assistant director of the Site Remediation Program for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Some 170 residents stopped in during the two informational sessions at the Carnavale Center at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. They expressed continuing concerns about their health and property values.

Somia Aluwalia, a research scientist with the state Department of Health and Human Services, told a reporter that information still is being collected on the potential health effects of the vapors of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), which were used as degreasing agents at the explosives manufacturing plant that existed in town from 1902 to 1994.

"We need data," she said. "When it's made available, we'll be able to assess exposures to residents and any adverse health effect."

More than a few residents attending the afternoon session did not like the forum structure of the meetings, in which the residents had to disperse among tables to find out information rather than address the entire assembly.

"They're more or less telling us what we already know," said resident Chris Cannizzaro. "I wanted to hear from my neighbors. Maybe they would come up with something I didn't even think of."

Full Story: http://www.northjersey.com/environment/environmentnews
/Pompton_Lakes_residents_leave_meeting_befuddled.html

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