New Testing Shows Toxic Threat Remains Near Jones Road

When THEA tested water in homes near the Jones Road Ground Water Plume Superfund Site last year, we made a commitment to return to sample residential water supplies four times a year. In April and May, we tested 16 properties both inside and just beyond the EPA’s designated area of concern. We were looking for evidence that dry cleaning contaminants were still circulating in the groundwater below the community.  

The Results: We found that low levels of toxic chemicals are still present in the water. It’s important to note that this testing is not to identify homes where people are in imminent danger. However, it shows that the chemicals dumped outside the back door of the dry cleaner’s more than 20 years ago are still present in the water supply that dozens of people still use for drinking and washing. 

Involving The Community: We have another important update on Jones Road. The EPA has released a Community Involvement Plan (CIP) for the site…Finally!  Community Involvement Plans are supposed to be a part of every Superfund remediation process and the EPA’s rules for creating them are 156 pages long! The only problem at Jones Road is that our team continues to meet people who’ve never heard from the agency. 

In responding to a request from THEA, EPA officials finally provided a plan last month. It outlines the activities the EPA is expected to follow to ensure that the public is involved in the planning and execution of the site cleanup.  You can read it here. 

What It Means: That is not to say that the EPA hasn’t been involved in the community in the past. Representatives have been in the surrounding Cypress-area neighborhoods, attended THEA meetings and held four community meetings of their own in the last seven years.  However, community members have raised repeated concerns about the level of involvement, especially since the agency determined that its current plans were inadequate and still has not directly engaged the community to come up with effective solutions. 

In other words, creating a plan to engage the community is a step in the right direction, but now the community needs to see those words turned into action.