Elevated Cancer Rates Found In Crestwood

By Staff in News on Mar 7, 2010 6:45PM

Cancer cases for Crestwood, Illinois residents were elevated, according to a new report by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The study was prompted by a Tribune investigation last year that found Crestwood residents were drinking tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals for more than two decades. The report determined it’s possible contaminated drinking water contributed to higher cancer rates, but the results are inconclusive. There were too many variables to definitively link cancer with the water, a health department official told Chicago Public Radio.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency investigators told Crestwood village officials in 1986 the well water was contaminated with some sort of perchloroethylene, or PCE, a dry-cleaning solvent. Officials said they would then only use Lake Michigan water. The Tribune found that to save money the well was utilized routinely after 1986 allowing the contaminated water into Crestwood’s system - relying on it up to 20 percent for some months. The well was shut down in Dec 2007 after the Illinois EPA tested it for the first time in 20 years. Vinyl chloride levels were found up to 5.41 parts per billion, more than twice the legal limit.

Since the investigation, nine civil suits have been filed including one by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that accuses Crestwood officials of lying more than 120 times about the use of the well. The lawsuits have cost village taxpayers more than $1 million to defend Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek.

In a letter obtained by the Tribune, Stranczek acknowledged water was drawn from the well previously, but it hasn’t been used since the 2007 Illinois EPA findings. Stranczek was appointed mayor in 2007 after his father, Chester, retired. He wrote in the letter, "There is no evidence that the drinking water that flowed from our kitchen taps contained any hazardous substances beyond what the law allows."

Post by Sean Stillmaker