SLUDGE VICTIMS

On March 19 James Burns, the local Health Department's district director, wrote to Shrader warning against using the water from his well but advising against doing additional tests of it. Burns wrote that the well was definitely contaminated, 'probably by surface water entering the well . . . . I do not recommend further testing of this well, but the new well should be tested.'

Failing to follow this advice, Shrader had some tests done the last week in March. Joiner Labs tested the well water and found MPN 80/100 ml for total coliform bacteria (meaning that the most probable number of organisms is 80 in every 100 ml of water). The test found MPN 8/100 ml for E. coli. An acceptable level in drinking water for coliform bacteria, including E. coli, according to the Health Department, is zero.

Joiner Labs also tested a sample of sludge from the Lenn farm adjacent to the tenants' homes and found MPN 9 per gram for E. coli. A sample of soil taken 10 feet from the well in the direction of the sludge was found to contain MPN <2 per gram for E. coli. Robyn Joiner explained that this means none was detected, but it is not necessarily absent.

On March 28,Shrader said, Suzanne Haldin-Coates of the Health Department told him that BioGro, the firm that applied the sludge on the Lenn farm, had applied for the permit on Lenn's behalf to dig a new well. Charles Shepherd of the Health Department confirmed on Tuesday that "BioGro applied on Lenn's behalf as his agent. They were the ones that ' had Mr. Lenn's telephone number. They were the ones that could contact him."

Shrader also said he has developed a rash on his left leg, beginning in March. He is continuing to have medical testing done.

, On April 3, Shrader said, the Lenns had returned from Florida and had poured chlorine down the well but had not yet contacted him. The next day, Shrader says, Wayne Lenn called him.

Shrader says that Lenn suggested he move out and that Shrader told him he was "financially and physically incapable" of it. Then Lenn reportedly said he would have to consult with BioGro.

Contacted this week, Lenn said he has been waiting for days for Leazer Drilling Co. to show up and dig a new well. Mark Bannister, at Leazer, said the well will be drilled by the end of this week or the beginning of next.

"Circumstantial evidence," Lenn said, "points heavily to contamination from the sludge. Thatfs about the only logical (explanation), but there seems to be no test that can prove it." Lenn said he had never heard of tests to identify fecal coliform as of human origin.

Lenn said he charges tenants rent that is "$100 under the market," and that before he left for Florida in late January, he told his tenants he would give them $100 per month to buy water. "As soon as my back was turned they decided they wouldn't pay the rent."

The tenants all stopped paying rent as of January.

Lenn said he had never heard of ground water getting into the well in years past, and that if he'd known the well casing was cracked he could have replaced it a year ago and avoided the contamination.

In response to his tenants' (and the Health Department's) complaints that they couldn't reach him for months, Lenn said, "Aw, hell's bells. The mail is forwarded! Didn't you know the postal service has been forwarding mail for 150 years?"

Lenn said he has evicted the tenants from one house, following a disagreement over rent. Asked whether others would be evicted, Lenn laughed loudly and said, "Call back in a couple of weeks.'

Shrader said that he did not know the mail was being forwarded and that he has always paid cash because he has no check book. He said the Health Department, had told him in early March the tenants would get free rent plus bottled water.

Shepherd said, "That"s what I was told by Pamela Gratton of BioGro Where BioGro got the information I don't know."

Lenn does not think his tenants have had it very bad. He laughed