CONTAINMENT

Various containment practices can help to insure the quality of water in our community. If an spill occurs, discharges into the water can be contained with a system of absorbent booms placed on the waterway.

		These photos were taken in Perkasie at a May 2001 oil leak from a storm drain entering the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek near the Frank R. Kulp Memorial Playground. The leak was of unknown origin and was contained due to the quick action of a local citizen informing the authorities of the problem.
Boom across the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek seen near the Covered Bridge Apartments.		Notice how the boom in water has absorbed the oil (darker) at the water line.

Significant increases in federal regulations now require underground fuel tanks to be contained. Many local gas stations have closed their pumps rather than paying the cost of replacing their gas tanks with new contained tanks.

This Sellersville gas station, like many automobile service facilities in the area no longer has underground tanks or gas pumps.		Pennridge School District transportation now has its fuel tanks in special containment vessels.

CLEAN UP

Whenever chemicals pollute the soil, there is potential for leaking into local waterways. The Federal Government Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a program that identifies hazardous sites. A huge cleanup occurred at the Derewel superfund site in neighboring Palisades School District.

Locally, a cleanup occurred in our school district in Sellersville, PA. significant amounts of radium were found in the soil in this area which at one time was a municipal dump site. It is believed that the source of radium was the U.S. Guage which used radium in paint to make the dials it made glow in the dark. TCE, a solvent, was also traced to the site. A local well, part of the Sellersville Water Authority, was contaminated. A system called an air stripper had to be added to make the water safe to drink. As part of the clean up, significant amounts of soil were removed at this site and taken to Utah to a toxic waste containment dump. Today this area looks just like any other hill. Testing wells in the area allow the water to be checked on a periodic basis.