SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of residents in two neighborhoods near Wichita, Kansas, drank contaminated water for years without knowing it, according to The Wichita Eagle.

The Eagle’s investigative report found that Kansas officials allowed the drinking of contaminated water to go on for years “despite warning signs of contamination close to water wells used for drinking, washing and bathing.”

The state first discovered dry cleaning materials had contaminated groundwater while they investigated a possible expansion of a Kiwk Shop back in 2011. The Kansas Department of Health didn’t act for six years, even though it knew about the water.

According to the Eagle's report, the state “didn’t test private wells less than a mile away. Nor did it notify residents that their drinking wells could be contaminated with dry cleaning chemicals, known as perchloroethylene, so they could test the water themselves.”

And, even worse, some fear that the contamination could happen at 22 other sites where the state hasn’t checked yet.

Read the entire piece at Kansas.com.