Residents Join To Fight State On Gelman Permit

Residents join to fight state on Gelman permit

State would allow discharging contaminated water into creek

By DEREK B. LIPSCOMBE   

MAR 5 1992

NEWS SPECIAL WRITER

About 435 Scio Township residents showed up at Township Hall Wednesday night to sign a petition opposing a state permit issued to Gelman Sciences, Inc, which will allow the company to discharge up to 400,000 gallons a day of treated contaminated water into a tributary of nearby Honey Creek.

Citizens who showed up at the township hall got fact sheets about the Gelman situation and contributed about $254 to the ongoing effort to fight the permit. The funds will be used to pay for the costs of postage for postcards and petitions that will be sent to politicians, state officials and the Gelman firm, said Gil McQuarrie, one of 30 residents organizing the drive.

The temporary permit issued by the state will allow Gelman to take contaminated groundwater out of the ground, treat the water with ultraviolet rays and hydrogen peroxide and then pump the water into Honey Creek. The treated water will still be tainted with 1,4-dioxane, hydrogen peroxide and benzene at levels considered unsafe for drinking, bathing, cooking and cleaning, residents said.

McQuarrie said residents are worried that the water could contaminate the groundwater in the area and the wells for homes in nearby subdivisions.

About 300 residents showed up for a Feb. 10 meeting with officials from the DNR, the township and Gelman to talk about the company’s plans to clean up the dioxane contamination of its aquifers. Nine days later, a group of residents met to discuss possible action and decided to organize last night’s two-hour meeting.

Gelman said after that meeting it would consider options other than the discharging treated contaminated water into Honey Creek, although the Department of Natural Resources has already issued a permit allowing the discharge.