Wes Comes wants more than answers – he wants action.
The Trumbauersville Borough resident has been advocating for the public release of laboratory testing done by the borough’s third-party water consulting firm so residents can rest assured their drinking water is safe.
“I want the results of the water tests to be made public. I want an investigation about how the material got into the field, and I want it remediated,” Comes said in a recent phone interview.
A letter dated Tuesday and sent to Trumbauersville Borough Administrator Dani McClanahan and forwarded to Comes by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection representatives captioned “Stormwater Potential Illicit Discharge” calls for an investigation into the suspicious water reported to Trumbauersville officials earlier this year, including outlining “steps the borough has taken or will take” to determine if the sheen on the water [is] caused by an illicit discharge into the storm water system.“
The letter further calls for reporting of steps taken, or further steps to be taken, to identify and trace the origin source responsible and “work with the responsible party to cease the illicit discharge.”
Trumbauersville holds an MS4 permit issued by the commonwealth. An MS4 permit for storm water management means the borough is responsible to investigate and follow through on any water issues or problems.
According to the DEP letter sent to Trumbauersville: “The MS4 permit further defines an illicit discharge as any discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer that is not composed entirely of stormwater, except non-stormwater discharges.”
“In the end if they won’t do what needs to be done … the county or state should take over the situation,” Comes said.
As early as January, a resident who lives on Main Street in the borough noticed a dark substance floating in a water filled “ditch” bordering her property and Bracalente Manufacturing Group, a machining and manufacturing facility, according to Comes.
Efforts to reach the resident were unsuccessful. Efforts to reach Trumbauersville Borough officials and its engineer Wynn Associates, Inc. of Quakertown have also been unsuccessful.
Comes said the “ditch” trickle is actually a tributary of the Barrel Run Creek. The Barrel Run Trail follows the creek in Trumbauersville and ultimately flows into the Perkiomen Watershed. The small waterway is also near to Trumbauersville well #3, which serves the public water distribution system.
During a call Comes made to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection in May, he was told by an agency representative that the water sample contained “PFAS, VOCs and one unknown compound.”
“In the end if they won’t do what needs to be done … the county or state should take over the situation.” – Trumbauersville resident Wes Comes
The DEP letter dated July 22 confirms the presence of “trace amounts” of potential harmful chemicals and calls for the borough to report it on its upcoming annual MS4 report.
PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl substances, are “human made forever substances” and “may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website said.
VOCs or volatile organic compounds, of which many are human made and often found as “components in petroleum fuels, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners and cleaning agents. VOCs are common ground-water contaminants,” according to the EPA.
Trumbauersville Mayor Jim Black pulled the water sample and it was provided to the borough’s water contractor, Ken Fulford of K.L. Fulford Associates in Emmaus, Comes and various published reports said. And Fulford sent the water sample to a Reading, Berks County laboratory for testing.
“I’m not willing to say, ‘it’ll be fine’ – because I can’t think that way,” Comes said.
He’s made multiple Right to Know (TRK) requests. All have been denied.
According to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records file:
“The Requester [Comes] notes that the sample was collected by K.L. Fulford Associates and sent to Standard Labs of Reading, and he [Comes] asserts that ‘residents of Trumbauersville can’t make informed decisions about their drinking water without knowing what has been dump[ed] over our aquifer.’”
The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records Final Determination document dated June 9, 2025 may be viewed here.
The water was sampled by the borough in April. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has also been investigating the water.
Trumbauersville Borough Administrator Dani McClanahan, declined to provide information regarding the lab testing results during a May phone call.
She said during that call there was no threat to the public water supply or resident safety. McClanahan would not elaborate on the test results.
Roughly 1,000 residents live in the small Upper Bucks County community, bounded by Milford Township.
McClanahan has not returned subsequent email requests for comment.
Requests for comment to Christopher Betz, Trumbauersville Borough Council president and Mayor James Black have also been unsuccessful.
David Keightly, an attorney at Grim Biehn & Thatcher in Perkasie, said Right to Know requests made under RTK law follow exemption protocols, and that municipalities are at liberty to decline or deny those that fall under exempted categories.
“We have to look if the requested records fall into those exemptions. We saw a request and the materials were exempted, and we applied the law to deny the request,” Keightly said.
For Comes and other concerned residents, the borough’s position – and its refusal to make the water testing results public – is cold comfort.
“Why is it such a big deal, and why can’t we move forward,” Comes said.
