ST CHARLES, Mo. — Thursday, the EPA held a public meeting to tell St. Charles residents about clean-up efforts near the Elm Point Wellfield.
Earlier this month the EPA identified Ameren as the source of contamination near the well field which is affecting the city’s drinking water.
St. Charles residents say not only do they want it cleaned up, they want an entirely new well field.
“We want it cleaned up and we want good water,” St. Charles Resident Linda Pendel said.
The EPA says right now Ameren is doing more cleanup work at the Huster Substation which should be complete by the end of March.
“We are requiring Ameren to take some additional actions, and those actions include a focused, feasibility study to really identify the nature and extent of where, and how much of this contamination is there and look at what the long-term options could be and we’re also requiring them to install a barrier which will break down contaminants as the groundwater flows through that barrier,” EPA spokesperson Ben Washburn said.
As part of that feasibility study, the EPA says a whole new wellfield is something that can be looked at.
They're also asking Ameren to work with the city.
“Work with the city to determine ways to safely use municipal wells including developing a well pumping plant,” an EPA representative said at the meeting.
But St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer says there still hasn't been any collaboration between the city and Ameren.
“I keep hearing the EPA is working with Ameren ... Ameren is doing a feasibility study ... Ameren is going to do this, and Ameren is going to do that. We’ve never met with anybody from Ameren. Nobody on their corporate side has contacted us and I think that is a horrible failing,” Borgmeyer said.
St. Charles residents say while they’re glad Ameren has taken responsibility, they still don’t have faith in the clean-up process.
“They said that the contamination was not spreading before. Then we find out from this new testing that the contamination has spread. EPA has told us, you know, Ameren did clean up the contamination. But by looking at this new contamination, obviously they didn't. So it's hard to trust them,” St. Charles Clean Water Advocate Kara Elms said.
But Ameren said in a statement on its website, they’re confident the plan will work, and they brought in outside experts to make sure.
“Based on the successful treatment of sites around the country, we anticipate we will start seeing positive results within weeks robust testing will continue to ensure drinking water remains safe,” independent expert Dr. Ray Ferrara said.
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