What initially caused the residents of Toms River to question the factory as noted in the nonfiction book, Toms River?

An integral part of the Toms River Chemical operation was a pipeline that carried effluent out to the ocean. The factory had been pumping waste into the Toms River, but that caused the river to look and smell different. Locals did not like it. The company also dumped it in the ground. That took a little longer for residents to notice. Dumping it far out to sea seemed like a great solution because no one really knew that it was happening. The waste was able to dissipate into ocean currents and be nearly untraceable. This pipeline worked very well until a leak in the pipeline caused a cave-in of a road in 1984. Then, the residents realized what was going on under their feet, and started questioning what the plant was doing.