hey just some advice from a plumber ive been doing plumbing for 5 years nowyou said you had a iron sump pit, likely the pit is beginning to corrode and thats the cause of the iron deposits, now a days most pits are made from composit plastics ,another possibility is the piping could be the cause if its a metal pipe [iron or galvinized steel ] it could be contaminating the water being pumped out, again most pipes now a days are PVC either sch 40 ,80 or ABS to prevent this issue, it could be the pump is corroded and failing but if its working i doubt that its that ad if the pump was that bad it likely would have failedother than those the only other thing that comes to mind is that it could be something in the basement that is made of iron or steel that is in the pathway to thw water on its journey to the pit.hope this helps

A oil leak can result in a cost of several hundred thousand to clean up contaminated soils. 

We have decided to drop the deal due to the time, effort, and capital required to resolve the contaminated water well in the park.

Do your best to ascertain whether or not there is an oil tank, lead paint, asbestos, or other potential contaminants that can become personal liability even if the property is held in an LLC.

I thought she was paranoid till later news reports came out about ground water contamination due to several chemical business that since closed.

Cleanup of contaminated soil could be more, but is fairly rare. 

Now they are saying they don't want me to remove It because if there is contamination, they will be forced to remediate.

I can eat a $10k-$20k unforeseen expense (Contamination, burst pipes; etc etc) when my profit is $100k+.

First, you are not going to know how extensive the contamination until you do the Phase II. 

Commercial specific to retail / office / flex / ind where there could have been ground contamination.