Researchers from Wichita State University and the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita will be investigating chemical contamination in West Wichita. The $15,000 project will be funded through an award given out by the Wichita Medical Research and Education Foundation.
Residents of a neighborhood in West Wichita were notified last spring that their private drinking wells are contaminated with tetrachloroethylene—a likely carcinogenic chemical traced to dry cleaning operations that go back over 50 years.
Residents have since been connected to city water lines.
Now, a group of local researchers are looking into any lingering health effects. Angela Buzard is director of Wichita State University's Environmental Finance Center.
“We plan to put together a timeline of all the events of (this contamination),” Buzard says. “But, our main focus is, what are the health impacts? What is happening at the site today? What do you we need to be looking at going forward?”
Buzard will team up with Jack Brown, a researcher at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. The two will investigate the site over the next year, using information from the Kansas Department of Health Environment.
“We are getting a lot of information from (KDHE) because they’ve been the lead on all of the technical information and all of the analysis,” Buzard says. “They won’t be a formal partner, but we’ll be in contact with them throughout the duration of the project.”
Researches will also be in contact with residents in the affected area.
Buzard says the investigation will result in a number of public forums and a published article of their findings.
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