Sam Gigliotti has been in the water filtration business in Bucks County for 19 years, and says he’s never been busier than he is right now, weeks after a jet fuel leak in Upper Makefield.
Gigliotti and his partner, Clark Dilatush, run The Water Cleaner. It provides water filtration systems, testing, and other services.
“Between our normal client list and the new clients, this has definitely added an extra dynamic that has got us working overtime for sure,” said Gigliotti.
Much of that work is being paid for by Energy Transfer/Sunoco which operates the Twin Oaks pipeline that delivers fuel to the airport in Newark, N.J. When the leak was discovered at the end of January, the company began widespread testing and pledged to provide water treatment systems to residents who needed them.
The Water Cleaner is one of several companies adding point of entry (POET) treatment systems to homeowners in the Mount Eyre Manor neighborhood. Because Gigliotti has been in business for so long and has many clients in the Washington Crossing area, he’s getting a lot of calls for testing and filtration systems.
He explained the filtration systems use charcoal to remove the volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which comprise jet fuel or gasoline, from water.
His company usually charges about $6,000 for those systems, depending on what is needed, he said. “Sunoco reimburses (homeowners) up to $7,500,” he said.
Gigliotti called the situation “a real mess.”
Sunoco Project Manager Matt Gordon told residents at a public meeting earlier this month that the company is “committed to cleaning this up. The DEP issued a notice of violation. And issued an administrative order for actions they were already taking.”
Paying businesses like Gigliotti’s is one of those actions.
More than 500 samples have been taken in the area and, as of March 10, six properties had VOC readings above the allowable limit.
But the company has paid for filtration systems like those installed by Gigliotti at 60 properties, Gordon said, and plans to install 34 more.
Sunoco has also completed various tests of the soil and used ground radar to detect what lies underneath. They are going to start on “packer testing” of wells, which is “an EPA-recogized test to help determine the permeability of the well.” It shows fractures in the bedrock, he said.
“Hopefully we’ll get approvals to install monitoring wells,” Gordon added.
Local property owners are still angry.
“Residents are pushing for 25 years paid monitoring (of their wells), but Sunoco has offered them 10 years,” Gigliotti said.
And the state Attorney General’s Office is now among the agencies investigating the leak, a spokesperson confirmed.
Several local elected officials have called for the pipeline to be shutdown entirely, including Upper Makefield Supervisors Chair Yvette Taylor.
“How can we look into the eyes of the impacted residents and demand anything less than transparency? They suffer and we suffer with them as we demand relief from this crisis. Again, shut down this pipeline.”
The township recently hired geologist David Fennimore of Earth Data Northeast. He will conduct a replacement study for a long-term clean water source.
“We recognize their wells have (filter) systems on them now but this is a long-term solution,” said Fennimore. He is starting with three options: reconstruction of the wells, a community water system, and hooking up to public water.
Sunoco officials declined to answer questions at the March 11 meeting because of a pending residents’ lawsuit.
The pipeline is still operating at 20 percent less volume. There has been no evidence of additional leaks, he said. They plan to do tests by running “in-line tools” through the pipeline to ensure there are no other cracks.
Joe McGinn, vice president of public affairs for Sunoco, again apologized to affected residents. McGinn said the company is providing bottled water and paying for POET systems. The company is giving water testing results to the DEP and the township. And Sunoco excavated soil from the area of the leak.
“We will be able to say the product that’s in the ground has been removed,” said McGinn.
Although the DEP has now mandated the Act 2 process, they are “committed to do it voluntarily and right away. To the stringent-ist amount, the statewide standard,” said McGinn.
Sunoco plans an online town hall for March 27.
