New wells going in to study old contamination site in Kingsland
This building at 2101 RR 1431 in Kingsland was once a laundromat with a coin-operated dry cleaning machine that dumped toxic chemicals onto the open ground for over a decade. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been studying the contamination site and its impact on local groundwater for decades. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is drilling several new monitoring wells in Kingsland to study a decades-old contamination site where a former laundromat dumped toxic chemicals that leached into the surrounding area’s groundwater.
TCEQ and Llano County officials said there is no evidence the contamination has reached Lake LBJ or potable groundwater sources. The state commission wants to determine the extent of the contamination before initiating a cleanup plan.
“(The TCEQ) doesn’t want to start (the cleanup) process until they know how far out and how far down (the contamination) goes,” Llano County Precinct 3 Commissioner Brent Richards told the audience at the Commissioners Court meeting Monday, Feb. 10. “If (the tests) come back negative, then they’ll start to mitigate and try to pull that stuff out.”
During the meeting, the Llano County Commissioners Court approved allowing the TCEQ to drill seven new monitoring wells near the contamination site, continuing research that has been ongoing since at least 1989.
The site in question is near 2101 RR 1431 in Kingsland, where This-R It Thrift Store now sits. The building was a laundromat from 1968-88. A coin-operated dry cleaning machine reportedly released toxic chemicals directly onto the ground beside the structure from 1968-79.
In 1989, the Texas Department of Health detected dangerous levels of the volatile organic compound tetrachloroethylene in Kingsland’s public groundwater supply. The chemical likely came from the dry-cleaning fluid used by the laundromat. The public water supply provider switched from groundwater to surface water to avoid contamination. More contaminants were detected in private wells in 1998, and homes within the impacted area were connected to the Kingsland water supply to avoid the toxic groundwater.
“The TCEQ has conducted numerous site investigations since the late 1990s to better understand site conditions and define the (contaminated) groundwater plume boundaries, including the collection and analysis of soil, groundwater, and surface water samples on on-site and off-site properties,” reads a statement from TCEQ Media Relations Specialist Ricky Richter to DailyTrib.com.
Richter went on to say that no current home in Kingsland is using the potentially contaminated groundwater as a potable source.
“Residents are connected to the public water supply and the contamination is not discharging to Lake LBJ (the source of the public water supply),” he wrote. “All off-site affected properties are connected to the public water supply for potable water, which is not impacted by contamination at the site.”
The new monitoring wells are part of a current feasibility study to determine the best course of action for a potential cleanup. They will be drilled in strategic locations within Llano County right-of-ways to get a better idea of the extent and dimensions of the contaminated groundwater plume.
“The TCEQ is delineating the lateral and vertical extent of the groundwater plume, conducting routine monitoring of the groundwater, and conducting a Feasibility Study to develop and evaluate alternatives to address the impacted groundwater at the site,” Richter wrote. “The additional monitoring wells along the Llano County right-of-way are needed to delineate the southern boundary of the groundwater contamination.”