More testing is needed to better understand the results of a study of the air in Franklin and determine what should be done next, city and state officials said.
But local officials are also telling residents not to panic because multiple other studies conducted in Franklin during the last few decades have not shown dangerous levels of contamination.
The results from a study of air vapors around 14 homes in Franklin and around a former automotive manufacturing facility off Hurricane Road have prompted calls to the mayor’s office, school district and county health department. Parents have said they are considering transferring their children to another school, and daycares have said they may leave the city over concerns that the air is contaminated. Parents have asked the health department to test their children for chemicals they may have been exposed to.
But multiple local and state officials say that no definitive results can be drawn from the one-day study, and that more research needs to be done.
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“There is so much anxiety and people are not listening to reason,” Johnson County Health Officer and local pediatrician Dr. Craig Moorman said.
“I am interested in what we find out, and if we find something, we will deal with it. People just need to stay calm and not overreact.”
The study contracted by the Edison Wetlands Association, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that does environmental investigations, used air sampling tests to look for specific chlorinated compounds, including some that had been linked to cancer, and radon. The nonprofit was contacted by a group of local residents, If It Was Your Child, who have been searching for a link between childhood cancer rates and any local environmental factors.
This week, Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett and other local officials met with officials from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana State Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who had reviewed the study and information available to them.
The nonprofit has refused to release the specific addresses where testing was conducted, citing privacy concerns. Officials from the state and federal agencies declined to answer questions from the Daily Journal until more information is available.
Barnett asked the state to do additional testing in Franklin. His plan is to host at least one public meeting to allow residents to ask questions of experts, and try to calm the community’s fears, he said.
“There is a scare out there that all of Franklin is unsafe, and it’s not true,” Barnett said.
Barnett plans to set the date for the public meeting as soon as possible, but officials who will participate want to have all the facts to present to the public.
They also discussed decades worth of testing that had been done on several sites in Franklin, similar to testing done on former manufacturing sites across the state to make sure communities are safe, he said. And he wants residents to trust the facts coming from the state agencies that tax dollars pay to make sure communities are safe, he said.
“This is their job; this is what they do,” Barnett said.
Past concerns studied
The discussion about environmental factors potentially causing cancer is not new to Franklin.
In 2015, a group of parents raised concerns about the safety of water from the Webb wellfield, and wanted to know if any sort of contamination could be linked to local cancer cases. They also raised the concern that Johnson County was the site of a cancer cluster, where a greater than expected number of people in a certain area are diagnosed with cancer.
Studies done by the state at the time showed there was no cancer cluster. Studies also showed that the wellfield was taken out of service in 2013 after levels of industrial solvents were detected during standard testing. But at no time did the actual drinking water exceed recommendations for safety, according to state studies.
Officials from multiple state agencies answered questions in a public forum that hundreds of people attended.
Since then, the state updated its cancer cluster study in June 2017 with data from 2000 to 2015, the most recent available, and found no evidence of a cancer cluster, according to the state department of health report. The number of childhood cancer cases was 123 during that 15-year period, compared to an expected number of 113, which was not statistically significant, the report said. The state continues to monitor the data, the report said.
The state has also continued monitoring the water near the Webb wellfield, Barnett said.
Previous studies did find certain compounds, often used in dry cleaning or industrial degreasing, in testing of the Webb wellfield. But separate studies by Indiana American Water Co., which provides the area with water service, did not find those same compounds exceeded allowable amounts in the actual drinking water. The filtration process would also remove those chemicals, officials said.
The state department of environmental management also started an investigation into the contamination found in the wellfield, which was closed, including the source, how widespread any contamination might be and how to address it, according to a state fact sheet about the wellfield.
The state is also overseeing a cleanup of those compounds in the area, though it has not been linked as the source of any contamination, the fact sheet said.
In addition, the state has also done routine testing of other water sources in the area, and found no contamination, Barnett said.
And for the last 33 years, the state has also been monitoring the former Amphenol site along Hurricane Road, along with other locations in the area, for any possible contamination left behind after former factories closed, Barnett said. Clean-ups have been done at sites where any issues were found, he said.
“We are not unique. Any city with those old sites, they monitor those,” Barnett said.
And those are the areas where Barnett wants the state to do its own testing to look for any concerns that should be addressed, he said. State officials told him they would need a few weeks to develop an action plan before starting the testing.
The state should do the testing because they are the experts, Barnett said.
Barnett understands residents’ concerns, which is why he wants the testing done, he said. He also lives in the area where the nonprofit did its testing, he said.
But he also wants residents to stay calm. He’s received multiple calls and messages, with families worried they need to move or pull their children from school, he said.
“We need to listen to the facts,” he said.
Recent results
The recent study, done by Indianapolis-based Mundell & Associates for Edison Wetlands Association, was done on June 20, and used air sampling or passive sampling units, along with radon tests, at 14 different homes up to 5.6 miles away from the former Amphenol site on Hurricane Road, where electrical parts were manufactured. The report raises questions about possible contamination in the area due to wastes leaking through the floor.
Most of the samples taken did not detect the chemicals being searched for, according to the results of the study.
At three homes, the testing showed some levels of tetrachloreothylene, or PCE, but each was below the recommended maximum, and at least two could be due to dry-cleaned clothing inside the home, the report said.
Two other homes had some chemicals exceeding recommended amounts, with one significantly higher than the recommendations, but the study could not determine what could be causing those levels and whether the cause was coming from inside the home or outside the home, the report said.
The company recommended having additional testing done to confirm the results, the report said.
Testing also included checking the homes for radon, and six of the homes exceeded recommended levels, the report said.
Radon can be found anywhere in the country, and is typically checked for in a home inspection, and can be addressed, Barnett said.
Officials from the Edison Wetlands Association were not available to discuss the study this week.
The group has also refused to give city and state officials the addresses where the testing was done, which is a concern, Barnett and Moorman said.
Moorman also raised concerns about the processes followed by the company, including techniques used to collect the samples and how the samples were handled between collection and analysis, he said.
And in order to verify the results, the testing would need to be done again, Moorman said.
‘I drink the water’
Moorman is confident no issues will be found, he said.
“In the meantime, my advice is that people relax,” he said.
Moorman also lives in the area where testing was done, and has been there for about 38 years, including raising his children there, he said.
As a pediatrician, his focus is on the health of children, and a cancer diagnosis is a tragedy, he said.
But he also knows the state monitors cancer diagnoses and is looking for trends, and he also knows scientific data, collected properly, is important to make any determinations, he said.
Both the health department and Moorman’s office have gotten calls from parents, concerned about their children’s safety and whether they should be drinking the water, he said.
Parents have asked for tests to check their children for volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, since the study was released. That testing isn’t possible, and it isn’t necessary, he said.
Moorman is wearing a button that says “I drink the water,” showing people he isn’t concerned, he said.
Franklin Schools Superintendent David Clendening also lives in the area, along with several staff and students, and understands the community concern, he said.
But the issue has been on the community’s radar for years, he said. Franklin Community High School was the site of the public forum in 2015.
The school district is working with a consultant to determine if testing is needed at Needham and Webb elementary schools, which are both near the study area from the other testing. That company is evaluating the study and other information available to advise the school district on what should be done next, said Jeff Sewell, Franklin schools director of operations.
The goal is to be sure both schools are safe, since safety is a top priority for the school district, Clendening said.
“We want kids to be safe. We want the community to be safe. And we do understand the concerns of the group,” he said.
And as the city gets results from any state testing that is done, the community will be kept informed, Barnett said.
Barnett said he understands why the group of parents is looking for answers, and has nothing but compassion for them. But he also wants to make sure the facts are what people are focusing on, he said.
