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ANDERSON, IND. — Cleaning up contaminated groundwater at an Anderson well field is now a priority 
for the EPA.

The EPA said Tuesday that it has has added the city’s Wheeler well field to its National Priorities List, making the site eligible for a long-term environmental cleanup project funded by the federal government.

“Adding sites to the NPL is the last step in the process to secure federal funding for the cleanup,” said EPA Regional Administrator Cathy Stepp.

The site is called the Broadway Street Corridor Groundwater Plume site.

The EPA said a long-term cleanup project is necessary because the well field’s groundwater is contaminated with toxic chemicals like tetrachloroethene, a dry cleaning fluid, and trichloroethene, an industrial solvent.

The exact cause of the contamination is unknown, but the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has identified at least five possible sources, the EPA said.

The city of Anderson and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management say the city’s drinking water meets federal safety standards and is safe to drink.

The EPA has not said when the cleanup project will begin.

(Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)