WINDHAM — The neighbors called themselves prisoners in their own homes, inundated with dust, unnerved by noise, and plagued by contaminated water over the past year.
At least a dozen residents of Haverhill and Meetinghouse roads vented their frustration to state environmental officials last night at a public hearing on a construction company's application to operate three rock-crushing machines on Ledge Road.
The state Air Resources Division was only considering comments related to air quality but hearing Chairman Craig Wright gave the speakers latitude considering the heap of problems they have endured in the past year, including contaminated water.
The town suspects a strong connection between blasting at the site of the office park project and high nitrate levels in residents' water. The town and state ordered the company to stop blasting last fall.
The anger mounted during more than two hours of testimony at Town Hall last night, with residents saying their families' lives have been destroyed and they would not be able to sell their homes.
"We have (contaminated) water, noise, can't enjoy the outdoors, and have potential health problems," said Jack Hamburger of 57 Haverhill Road.
Steven Allan of Meetinghouse Road, a developer, said "the dust comes in my windows, in my home, in my garage."
"They have ruined my life," he said. "I can't even sell my house because it's so bad."
Julia Wissell pleaded with the air officials to deny the permit application, saying she has spots on her lungs and children may see disease crop up in the future.
"The past is not over," she said. "The kids in this town will suffer from the past."
Meanwhile, the investigation of high nitrate levels in the water continues and some Haverhill Road families are being supplied bottled water by the construction company, Paonessa. Some residents have said they spent thousands of dollars on filtration systems.
The state's nitrate limit is 10 milligrams per liter of drinking water. Test results at the blasting site have shown 130 milligrams of nitrate per liter. And samples from five nearby wells have ranged from 17 milligrams per liter in one well to 62 in another.
A high amount of nitrates in the blood can cause brain damage or death, according to Dave Gordon of the state Department of Environmental Services.
Last night, residents asked why the state would trust Paonessa to comply with permit conditions when the company has operated rock crushers without permits on Ledge Road and at the nearby Windham High School construction site.
No one from Paonessa spoke at the hearing.
Two selectmen, Roger Hohenberger and Charlie McMahon, sought assurances from the state in case they approve the permit.
Hohenberger suggested that the state environmental department contract out with a monitor to oversee the operation. McMahon called for better definitions of the standards to be monitored.
Greg Kindrat of Haverhill Road said he and his wife had been thinking of having a third child but not under the condition they have been forced to live under.
Kindrat said the project is expected to last at least five years. There was a mountain of ledge to be removed and used in the Interstate 93 widening project, he said.
"We don't want to be sacrificed at the altar of the I-93 project," Kindrat added.
Kindrat's wife, Cheryl, said she is afraid to let her two toddlers outside because of the pollution.
"The dirt is in my house, the dirt is in my carpet, the dirt is in my porch," she said. "It's been terrible."
The Air Resources Division will accept written comments from the public until Friday at 4 p.m. The division will then take 30 days to render a decision on the temporary permit, good for 18 months.
