Exposure to Wells G and H in Woburn, Massachusetts
Murphy, JP
| HERO ID | 730437 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
| Title | Exposure to Wells G and H in Woburn, Massachusetts |
| Authors | Murphy, JP |
| Publisher Text | Massachusetts Health Research Institute, Inc. and Massachusetts Department of Public Health |
| City | Boston, MA |
| Abstract | In May of 1979, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE) discovered that Wells G and H, two public drinking water wells in Woburn, Massachusetts, were contaminated with toxic chemicals. These wells were then shut off. Subsequent studies of the health of the people of Woburn have indicated that the city had a higher level of childhood illness than would normally be expected. Research is currently being undertaken to determine the rate of adverse reproductive outcomes within Woburn, and to test associations between these outcomes and exposure to environmental contaminants, including the water from Wells G and H during the periods of their operation. This report presents the calculation of this exposure as a function both of roughly fifty hydraulically distinct neighborhoods within Woburn and of the 114 months of Wells’ G and H operation. The method used to calculate this exposure to water from the wells begins with a computer model of the water distribution system that was developed by the author under a previous contract with DEQE. This Woburn water distribution model was applied to the various pumping and water use configurations that occurred during each month that Wells G and H were in operation. The results of these calculations were then individually analyzed with a hydraulic mixing model to calculate the mixture of water supplied to each neighborhood. Finally, the resulting mixtures were combined in proportion to the period of their occurrence during each month to provide a monthly average exposure index for each neighborhood and each month. These indices were also summed to determine the cumulative exposure. The validity and error levels of the distribution and mixing models were analyzed by comparing computer predictions of fluoride concentration distributions in both San Jose, California and Woburn with concentrations measured during field tests. The locations of the boundary between the zones with and without the fluoride tracer were predicted within one pipe junction of where they were observed. The root-mean-square differences between predicted and observed dilutions were roughly thirty percent. The levels of exposure to water from Wells G and H were found to vary widely as is shown by Figures 10 – 15. Typically the neighborhoods south and west of the center of the city, Main Street and Montvale Avenue, received no or very little water from Wells G and H. The neighborhoods of east Woburn along and near Washington Street received water mostly from Wells G and H whenever those wells were pumping. The mixture zone between the two water sources ran along, or just to the east of, Main Street. |
| Url | http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dph/environmental/investigations/woburn_exposure_wells.pdf |
| Is Certified Translation | No |
| Dupe Override | No |
| Is Public | Yes |
| Is Qa | No |