The Indiana-American Warsaw water plant appears on the list of community drinking water services currently in non-compliance with the laws protecting consumers, but that doesn't mean that there are contaminants in the water, company and state officials say.

The non-compliance list is issued from the Environmental Protection Agency. They collect the information from a database that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management maintains, according to IDEM spokesman Tim Coulom.

Indiana-American acquired full water utilities for Warsaw from United Water Co. on Feb. 1, said Joe Loughmiller of Indiana-American.

According to Coulom, United Water exceeded its limit for vinyl chloride in July 1998. The contaminant was a problem before Indiana-American took over that facility, he said, and he stressed Indiana-American's reputation for keeping their water clean.

EPA enforcement officer Marilyn Jupp said vinyl chloride is an organic compound used in industry and found in drinking water as a result of the breakdown of related solvents. According to Coulom, vinyl chloride is a chronic contaminant that one must be exposed to over a long period of time in large doses before it does any harm.

The water company sent IDEM samples of its water to be tested in 1998 and IDEM found the water company exceeded the limit of vinyl chloride. They sent the water company a detection letter to let them know IDEM found the contaminant so the water company could increase their monitoring and keep an eye on the problem.

United Water exceeded their limit again in June 1999 and received another detection letter. They received another letter in December 1999.

According to Coulom, the water company issued a public notice Dec. 29, 1998, that they had vinyl chloride in their water. Indiana-American has done everything IDEM has asked to clean up the contaminant. Indiana-American has been clean for two quarters of a year, or since December 1999. Apparently the water company had the problem cleaned up before Indiana-American took over the company.

The reason why Indiana-American is still on the non-compliance list was explained by Jupp. She also explained the procedure for a water company to get on the list.

If a violation lingers too long, as the vinyl chloride did with United Water, the water company is put on the significant non-compliance list. Water companies in Indiana don't turn in their compliance codes to IDEM until all their monitoring is done. That takes four quarters, said Jupp.

Because Indiana-American still has two quarters to monitor, they haven't let the national database know of the steps being taken to clean up the contaminant, according to Jupp. Therefore they are still on the non-compliance list.

However, this doesn't mean that Indiana-American has exceeded its vinyl chloride limit. According to Loughmiller, there is no vinyl chloride problem now.

Jeff Robinson, director of water quality at Indiana-American, said the database for the non-compliance list needs to be updated.

"That's an issue that needs to be addressed," said Robinson.

The most recent information, that Indiana-American is in full compliance, has not yet been posted. "Once that's (the database) updated, the more recent information will show that we are in compliance," said Robinson.

Indiana-American actually has one-fourth the maximum contaminant level. The vinyl chloride has been monitored averaging .5 parts per billion, the mcl being two parts per billion.

Robinson also said there is an error in the database. Information in the database was reported in error with the units used to measure the vinyl chloride count. Jupp said the wrong units probably were used. [[In-content Ad]]