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WATER GREMLIN PUBLIC. HEALTH ASSESSMENT: PUBLIC COMMENT DRAFT Purpose The Minnesota.lie pa.rtment of Health`s (MDH) mission. is to protect, maintain,.and improve the health of all Minnesotans. MDH's goal is: to provide information people need to protect their health and to answer community questions about environmental contaminants and. health, To. meet.this goat, MDH .health assessors evaluate.. public health risks atsitesor facilities Where chemicals have been released into the environment. MDH.also evaluates environmental data and advises state and federal regulatory agencies and local governments on actions that can be taken to protect public health. The purpose of this Public Health. Assessment is to summarize and.1nterpret all the available environmental data from the Water Grem fin .investigations from 2019 to the preserit. This document describes hoW people may have been, or continue to be, exposed to chemicals from Water Gremlin and what that may mean for their health. Acknowledging and.addressing.comm unity concerns shared with M D H is another important aim: [, Summary A. Introduction and Background In January 20.19, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).discovered that the Water Gremlin. Company, located at 4400 Otter Lake Road in White: Bear Township (see map in Appendix A), was emitting significantly more trichloroethylene (TCE) into the air than allowed by their MPCA air permit. As a result, it was believed. that some people living.and working nearby were exposed to airborne TCE: concentrations above MDH':s health -based value for TCE inhalation. TCE use at the Water Gremlin facility .stopped in January 2019. MPCA requested M D H assistance. to evaluate health risks:and collaborate on community involvement act ivities..This document its part of that effort.and attempts to.. record and explain events and:findings most. relevant to understanding the potential implications of this site for the health of the: community that lives ;.works and plays. near the Water Gremlin facility: Water Gremlin began ma nufactu ring. lead fishing sinkers from a garage on family property in 1949; It expanded gradually, and by 1,964 occupied a 12,000 square foot facility. The currentfacility was built in stages over the years, with major expansions occurring in the 1970s andthe 1990s as the company diversified by adding custom lead parts man ufacturing. (We n ck, 20.19). Water Gremlin fabricates lead Metal products from purchased, refined lead. materials. Lead. acid battery terminal posts (BTPs) are currently a prim a ry product for the com pa ny (Wen ck, 2019). TCE was used at -a coating for the.BTPs, likely from 1992 up until January 2019..AnnuaI estimates. of..tons of TCE released in the coating process varied from 21 to.120 tons per year.. On March 1, 2019, MPCA.and Water. Ore m1in signed a Stipulation Agreement (MP.CA, 2019a) that provided information about thefacility's enforce ment.violations and. description of the accepted penalties stemming from the release discovered in January. It also outlined an. alternative operating scenario that allowed the company to resume coating operations using.trans-I,2-dichloroethylene {t DCE) as an alternative to TCE. The Stipulation Agreement required. Water Grem11n to:conduct an environmental investigation by sampling groundw.ater,:soil, soil vapor, sediment, surface water, and private. drinking. water wells. Municipal drinking.water and. private wells were also.sampled. Five .0it monitors were installed