MDE spokesman Jay Apperson says the county has hired a contractor to investigate the issue and develop an action plan at the department’s request.

A sample taken Aug. 3 was revealed to have 17 parts per billion of arsenic. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set the arsenic standard for drinking water at 10 parts per billion.

Bruce James, a professor of soil chemistry at the University of Maryland, tells The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown that the finding should warrant monitoring and caution, but not necessarily alarm.