Chillicothe — The Wear-Ever groundwater pollution will never reach city wells, a lesson from a tour of the water treatment plant. That’s what the Chillicothe Water Treatment Plant manager pointed out in an open house there on August 26th, 2025.
When Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney offered “office hours” at the Chillicothe Water Treatment Plant in Yoctangee Park, I took the opportunity to take a tour afterward – especially with recent concerns about the groundwater toxins at Eastern Avenue.
A “plume” of “forever chemicals” that originated under 1089 Eastern Avenue is in the groundwater there, but a high-capacity paper mill well has pulled it northeastward, and has prevented it from drifting southeast with the flow of groundwater. With the shutdown of the mill, the 30-plus-year-old situation has spiked in local news.
In my latest stories on the issue, Mayor Feeney discussed the situation further, and activists asked for more action and information about it, in the last council session.
A map in the main hallway of the water plant shows an aerial photo of part the city, about a mile radius around the plant. A smaller aerial map on the wall is a page about the Wear-Ever plume. Tom Jenkins, Water Treatment Plant Manager, explained the maps after guiding his tour, along with city Utilities Director Nathan Prosch.
Jenkins said the “source water protection plan” is a map produced by Ohio EPA geologists, and it shows two areas of groundwater movement around the plant: water that is about one year, and five years, away from its wells.
It also shows sites of known potential polluters, like auto repair shops, dry cleaners, medical facilities, gas stations, funeral homes, and junk yards. Jenkins said the EPA has them on record in case of leaks, spills, and other activities.
Jenkins pointed out that all city water wells are in Yoctangee Park, close to the floodwall and former railroad bed – most between the current 1991 water plant and the original 1881 water plant, the Pump House Center for the Arts.
In contrast, Jenkins said the Wear-Ever / Howmet plume is about two miles away, and the natural flow is away from those wells. Utilities Director Prosch said “we’ll never draw water from that.”
They said the paper mill well that is redirecting the plume is bigger than each city well, and that the city does not see any possibility that the Wear-Ever plume could get to the city wells. Additionally, the EPA requires that they test their water every year for those kinds of chemicals.
However, the plume is partly under the Chillicothe Wastewater Treatment Plant on Renick Avenue – the sewer plant – which Mayor Luke Feeney has said does not use groundwater.
Jenkins spoke for another eight minutes on the water plant, but I have separated out his four minutes on the Wear-Ever plume in the below video. Hear him in his own words…and stay tuned for the rest of the interview and samples of the tour.
