Neighborhood concerned about water contamination

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A Terre Haute neighborhood community is concerned about what's in their water.

People in Terre Town are concerned that a rash of health problems in their backyard could be from contaminated tap water.

They're so concerned with the problem, they're looking to the city council for a solution.
    
North and south of the section of the city known as Terre Town are two areas where volatile organic compounds--or V.O.C.s-- have been found in the soil.

The residents' fear of contamination have them wondering what's in their water.

"On one or two streets in the neighborhood...folks had been sick and had cancer without any type of precursors to the cancer," city council president Norm Loudermilk said.
    
So last month, two homes on Clay Avenue tested their wells.

"From what I see in the results, they did not detect any V.O.C's in their ground water,” Richard Milton of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said.
    
But, that's only two homes out of around 300.  No recent tests have been done on the soil.
    
So city councilman and Terre Town resident Norm Loudermilk is looking for a solution he believes takes the "what if" out of the equation..

"Indiana American Water is working on proposals to see how many folks in Terre Town...are interested in having water brought to their house,” Loudermilk said. “There is some water in some of the streets already, but not every street, not every house."
    
The problem with adding residents to city water is more of a monetary problem.

"Estimates several years ago, maybe 2006, it was just a little over a $1.5 million to bring that water in,” he explained.

That's not the cost the residents would pay, but what the company would pay.
    
So, part of the negotiations with Indiana American Water would center around how profitable it would be for them to take on that burden.