Lawsuit Over Drinking Water in Camden

CAMDEN, NJ: February 5, 2002 — A group of citizens has told city officials and the Pennsauken Sanitary Landfill to expect a lawsuit over polluted drinking water in the city. The water in question came from a contaminated well field in Pennsauken that is now listed as a federal Superfund site. "For a quarter-century, large portions of the city of Camden received tainted water ... with the knowledge of many agencies and entities," Keith Walker, a former mayoral candidate who has been organizing meetings on the issue, told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Tuesday's editions. The lawsuit has not been filed, but the plaintiffs are required to notify government bodies named in it. Several private firms that may have released pollutants into the Puchack Well Field along the Delaware River in Pennsauken may also be named.

The six wells in the field were closed between the early 1970s and 1998, when the area was declared a Superfund site.

The wells are also the subject of a study planned by the state and federal governments. They intend to look at cancer and birth-defect rates for the areas of the city south and west of the Cooper River that were served by the wells.

Gerald Williams, a lawyer with one of the three firms working on the suit, said Camden residents have been joining it – but he declined to say how many.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 ABC