Erin Brockovich bound for Grand Island, Neb.

? Erin Brockovich-Ellis and members of her California law firm will be in town this week to discuss water contamination in Grand Island.

Brockovich-Ellis, environmental research director at the Westlake Village, Calif., law firm of Masry & Vititoe, will discuss contamination in an area being considered for Superfund status.

The meeting is Thursday evening at the Hornady-Marshall Theater at College Park.

Brockovich-Ellis, who went to high school in Lawrence, Kan., was the subject of a popular 2000 movie starring Julia Roberts. Roberts portrayed the title character, a legal assistant who helped bring down Pacific Gas & Electric.

PG&E settled a lawsuit alleging they knowingly misled residents of Hinkley, Calif., into believing their drinking water was safe when it actually was tainted with hexavalent chromium, a substance toxic to humans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that the Parkview Well Site in southwest Grand Island be added to the list of hazardous waste sites that the EPA has determined warrant further response.

Masry & Vititoe sent an environmental consultant to Grand Island in October 2003 to collect water samples, and attorney Nancy Eichler visited in November.

The law firm representatives at Thursday’s meeting will present the status of their investigation, according to a press release issued by Masry & Vititoe.

They will discuss local residents concerns and answer questions regarding the contamination. The Grand Island City Council in May asked Gov. Mike Johanns to petition the EPA to declare southwest Grand Island a Superfund site.

More than 70 private wells are contaminated in that part of town.

The EPA proposed on Thursday that the area be added to the National Priorities List, which would make it eligible for extensive, long-term cleanup actions and related funding through the Superfund Program.

Volatile organic compounds were found at concentrations significantly above the drinking water standard in numerous private wells and one municipal well, which has been closed.