(The following report appeared at WISHTV.com on January 10.)
INDIANAPOLIS — Water testing is underway in the neighborhood surrounding the area where a CSX freight train derailed on Sunday.
Crews from the Marion County Health Department are taking water samples from homes on well water. Both the state of Indiana and a private lab for CSX will test the samples. They will look for contamination from liquid fertilizer, soy bean oil and petroleum products.
“Ground water migrating to those wells would happen in weeks to months, not hours to days. So we’re not really anticipating looking for what’s in there right now. We’re trying to get a baseline right now,” said Jason Ravenscroft with the Marion County Health Department.
Follow-up tests will be done several months from now to see if contaminants begin to appear. Only residents on well water would be affected.
A town hall meeting with residents will be held on Friday night to update residents on what’s going on in the area.