The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is doing more testing for chemicals that could be causing rare child cancers in Franklin. That includes re-testing air in homes that showed high levels of PCE and TCEin the report by the Edison Wetlands Association.
Darrell Cochran lives in one of those three homes. He says he’s not convinced that there’s a cancer cluster in Franklin, but he wanted to get a second test just in case.
“IDEM came yesterday and installed canisters on my property and in my home and they’re at this moment taking them out to have them analyzed,” he said Wednesday.
Cochran says this test seems more thorough.
“They actually went outside, up high, and then they went into the sewer system — which wasn’t done by the Edison,” he says.
IDEM will sample about two dozen private wells in the Paris Estates subdivision on Monday, according to the Johnson County Health Department. Private wells are at greater risk for groundwater contamination from the old Amphenol industrial site. IDEM tested these wells back in 2009 and no contamination was found.
Franklin College recently hired its own firm to test for cancer-causing chemicals on campus and is awaiting the results.
IDEM plans to do some air sampling at different locations around the city and determine where long-term monitors need to be placed. The agency also plans to sample the water from Hurricane Creek as well as take groundwater and soil gas samples in that area.
Officials with IDEM did not make themselves available for an interview. The agency has made a website to keep the public informed.
READ MORE: State Calls Franklin Chemical Testing ‘Questionable’ At Forum
Indiana Environmental reporting is supported by the Environmental Resilience Institute, an Indiana University Grand Challenge project developing Indiana-specific projections and informed responses to problems of environmental change.
