Chlordane and Heptachlor at the Housing Authority

The services to seventy five apartments housing approximately three hundred people were contaminated with chlordane and heptachlor in a city in Pennsylvania, in December, 1980. The insecticides entered the water supply system while an exterminating company was applying them as a preventative measure against termites. While the pesticide contractor was mixing the chemicals in a tank truck with water from a garden hose coming from one of the apartments, a workman was cutting into a 6-inch main line to install a gate valve. The end of the garden hose was submerged in the tank containing the pesticides, and at the same time, the water to the area was shut off and the lines being drained prior to the installation of the gate valve. When the workman cut the 6-inch line, water started to drain out of the cut, thereby setting up a backsiphonage condition. As a result, the chemicals were siphoned out of the truck, through the garden hose, and into the system, contaminating the seventy five apartments.

Repeated efforts to clean and flush the lines were not satisfactory and it was finally decided to replace the water line and all the plumbing that was affected. There were no reports of illness, but residents of the housing authority were told not to use any tap water for any purpose and they were given water that was trucked into the area by volunteer fire department personnel. They were without their normal water supply for 27 days.