Without clean water Erica Tarr has no way to clean dishes at her home, so she loads them into her car before driving to another families house to clean them.

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In 2019 the Tarrs moved into what they believed was their dream home in Glen Mills, PA, only to discover that the home had a serious problem: contaminated water. Since June of 2019 they have not had clean water for their home.

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At the heart of this problem is this well that sits behind their house, or rather how this well has been contaminated. The Tarr’s home sits near the Mariner East Pipeline. Following HDD drilling at a nearby construction site the Tarr’s well was contaminated (Sunoco denies any wrong doing, claiming they are not responsible). In an effort to fix the problem the Tarrs installed a a new well and an expensive filtration system that fills an entire room in the basement.

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Despite the new well and filtration efforts the water remains contaminated. Lab results still show substantial VOC contamination. The site where there house sits is close to a 1992 Sunoco fuel line which leaked tens of thousands of gallons of hazardous material.

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The only long term solution is getting their property connected to the public water supply which would cost half a million dollars, in the meantime they have installed a giant “water buffalo” in their garage which holds 300 gallons of water which much be filled from an external source. They ration water use in order to make it between fill ups.

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