Bad Water

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Feature Story: Bad Water Ruben Luna’s doctor was stumped. The Aurora resident’s teeth were falling out, he had no control over his bowels and the sharp jabs in his gut left him hunched over daily. “You can’t be this sick,” the doctor told Luna. “You have the body of an 80-year-old and you’re 30.” The doctor gave him pills. Nothing changed. They took out part of his stomach, removed some gallstones. But the grinding ache persisted.
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How can your water go bad ?

Without a fairly simple device, it’s easy for polluted water to back up into your shower.
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Update: Nicor denies contamination issue again In a letter sent Friday morning to The Beacon News, Nicor once again stressed that no employees were put at risk by plumbing within the company's facility at 408 S. River St. here. Read More Is this the Culprit?

Workers at the Nicor plant in Aurora believe methylene chloride was leaking into drinking water at the plant
Read More Peril in the pipes Backflow problems have had serious consequences in the United States. Read More Denise Crosby: I’ll never forget that afternoon here in the newsroom... Read More Additional Links: Nicor Co. Information via Google
Nicor Corporate Homepage
OSHA Homepage

The Documents

Official documents from OSHA, the city of Aurora, Court-room affidavits and emails concerning this story.
See in slideshow Download the .pdfs The People: Bruce Brummel, Reuben Luna, Libby Thompson, Bill Sinn, Dave Erickson, Tom Schultz, Anna Sutton, Anonymous, Bill Fleming, Dana Weese

Bruce Brummel, is hired by Nicor to work installing and repairing gas lines.

Five city officials, a local plumber and Brummel enter Nicor’s Aurora facility to inspect water.

A water test done by the city of Aurora shows methylene chloride levels at 17.5 parts per billion – more than three times the allowable levels. According to the Department of Labor methylene chloride is a volatile, colorless liquid with a chloroform-like odor that is considered a potential occupational carcinogen.

However, the independent lab could not be sure of its sample.

City plumbing inspector Robert Thompson writes letter to Nicor saying that “the potable water is directly connected to the boiler and to a chemically fed tank.” Accord ing to the letter, “this type connection poses a threat to the quality of potable water for both employees in the building and to the city’s water main.” Nicor area manager Steven Martin is advised to have a licensed plumber install a backflow device on the pipes and disconnect the lines.

Claudia Colalillo, Nicor’s senior vice president of human resources, writes a letter to Bruce assuring him that the company “did not find any violations of any safety or health regulations relating to employee drinking water.”

Additionally, she says the company provided proof to OSHA that the company that “the boiler piping and chemical mixing tank for the steam boiler was not improperly connected.”

According to the Depart ment of Labor, OSHA completes inspection of water on this date. OSHA states that it did not impose the fine because OSHA does not have regulations covering backflow prevention valves and couldn’t document that Nicor failed to provide potable water prior to the valves being installed.

OSHA also could not evaluate exposures that allegedly occurred in 2001 because it is well past its six-month statute of limitations for taking enforcement action.