Mayor says Ohio EPA monitoring plume at former Howmet site; city stresses water safety

Mayor Michael Feeney told the Chillicothe City Council on July 28 that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has long been monitoring a soil contamination “plume” tied to past aluminum operations at the former Howmet site and has asked Howmet to plan for what would happen if nearby industrial wells stop operating.

Feeney said the EPA and the companies involved "have known, for many years that the existence of that plume," and that the agency has required Howmet to analyze potential migration and to install additional ground monitoring wells. "So we've got a situation that has been known about for a long time," he said.

City officials emphasized public-safety steps and monitoring rather than immediate remediation decisions. "First and foremost, we wanted to make sure that our drinking water is safe," Feeney said, noting that the city’s drinking-water wells, drilled in Yactanji Park, are more than two miles from the plume’s current location.

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