WARDEN - The chemical level in Warden's Well 5 dropped to almost safe levels.

City Clerk Kris Shuler reported recent test results showed the level of ethylene dibromide (EDB) dropped to 0.057 parts per billion.

The well has been out of commission for several years after the state Department of Health inspectors discovered high levels of the fumigant in the water.

The US Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of the fumigant in 1983, after tests showed it to be a carcinogen and that it caused reproductive disorders in test animals.

The city started its efforts to rehabilitate the well last year, with the city putting an inflatable packer in the well to separate the contaminated higher aquifer from the uncontaminated lower aquifer, and pumping water out, former City Administrator Mike Thompson said in a previous interview.

Initial tests showed the chemical at 0.19 parts per billion. It dropped to 0.101 parts per billion in July, Thompson said. The city hopes to be able to keep the well as a back up in case one of the other two city wells fail. If the city succeeds, it plans to seal off the upper aquifer and just pump water from the lower one.

Shuler said the well hadn't been pumped since late October, and the recent test shows the well hasn't gotten worse.

"We're going to flush again and take another test as soon as (the food processor taking the water) can take more water from us," she said. "We're going to run it for a week and then take another test. So we're getting there. It's continually coming down."

Mayor Tony Massa was happy with the results, saying the packer separating the two aquifers deflated.

Shuler pointed out it wasn't deflated for long.