SLUDGE VICTIMS

STATEMENT DATED JUNE 21, 2000 BY SLUDGE VICTIM, ELIZABETH FLEWELLING, UNITY, MAINE

Dear Helane

Sorry I am so late with getting back to you but every time I have tried something always seems to come up, life is so very busy these days. One of the farmers who is responsible for the spreading of sludge next to our property is giving us a very stressful time of it since last year after channel 2 was here and filmed the 12 loads of sludge and then it aired on TV. I am known as the crazy old lady and the sludge lady,and he comes by real often and drives up and down the dirt farm road at a high speed seeing how much dust he can create.

We have five wells in the Unity area with Chloroform Bacteria-water undrinkable, this has caused a tremendous burden on all of us as well as a financial burden for some of us. We were forced to purchase a water distiller which was very costly this in turn increased our electrical bill by up to fifty dollars per month and some months even higher. We have had many other extra expenses due to the quality of the water and the toxins in the water.

Furnace had to be repaired caused by what is in the water, black oily substance that had plugged the boiler feed and the filter (Science News-Feb. 28, 1998 DR. DAVID LEWIS Report)

One of our service technicians went to Elizabeth's home when she called our office. The complaint was for a water leak. When the service technician arrived he found that the relief valve was leaking (prematurely) water on the floor. He replaced the relief valve and found it had a foreign substance coating the inside of it. When he went to refill the boiler the automatic feeder would not fill the boiler. He discovered that the feeder had a foreign substance built up inside it, not allowing any water to pass thru the feeder. The system is not old enough to need all the above work done to it under normal water conditions the two items that were replaced have a life span of 10-20 years.

(Our furnace is six years old)

Needless to say this has also caused many health problems, the Henry's who live above us and have a contaminated well say their dog has digestive problems and diarrhea if he drinks the water , and over the years they have seen two dogs and a cat die of cancer. The Henry's also had stomach problems until they stopped drinking the water also headaches, tiredness, sore throats etc.

My husband and I have also had headaches, diarrhea, stomach upset , weight loss, tiredness, sores in nose, accelerated aging, dry skin, blood problems, memory loss, depression, destruction of tissue, toxic liver and hair loss not coming out but breaking off) I have lost over half of my hair. Also, Barbara is having the same problem with her hair)

Our dog Breanna, was immediately sick last week after drinking only a small amount of water from the well, that is how very toxic it is. The D E P is trying to tell us we have a cracked casing or a leak, it seems a little strange that five wells could suddenly all have cracked casings etc. The latest sorrow is that we lost our fish "Charley" who has been with us for many years and was expected to have many years to go ---- When and where will it all end?

VICTIMS'WELLS CONTAMINATED. THEY SUFFER HEADACHES, DIARRHEA STOMACH UPSET, WEIGHT LOSS, FATIGUE, SORES IN NOSE, BLOOD PROBLEMS, TOXIC LIVER, HAIR LOSS, DEATH OF PETS.