Published in The Regional News
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Old dump still a hazardous concern.
‘Environmental pariah’ a threat to community, says liaison group


BY Bill Jackson
The Regional News Staff Writer

A public liaison committee that was set up to serve as a forum for the dissemination of information, consultation, review and exchange of information regarding the operation of the Edwards Landfill in Cayuga is going public to raise awareness about potential hazardous concerns identified by a hydro geologist earlier this year.

Wilf Ruland identified “hazardous plumes” containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a June 3 report to the committee after reviewing the Edwards Landfill 2006 operating report prepared by Conestoga Rovers and Associates.

He said that groundwater “is very badly contaminated” and that the plumes may have already gone beyond property boundaries. Most of the contamination is due to decades of disposal at the abandoned dump that was recently reactivated.

Monitoring to the south and west of the site is imperative to determine the migration of PAHs, including benzene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and benzopyrene - a highly carcinogenic cancer causing agent - which are at above reasonable levels, he claims. Benazopyrene has been detected at four times the MOE “Reasonable Use Limit,” Ruland noted.

“Based on these test results, it is my opinion that the historic waste area contains hazardous wastes,” he wrote. “It should be kept in mind that the sampling results from (the site) are not necessarily representative, and it is likely that there are even worse areas of contamination as well as less contaminated historic areas of wastes on the site.”

Ruland fears that if not done carefully, excavation of the waste area during the next year for the disposal of ICI waste in the future could pose additional safety risks to local surface water ditches because of the potential for runoff.

On July 31, Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment required the dump to install five additional monitoring wells by Sept. 28. PAHs were detected in the well of a local homeowner on Highway 3, south of the site, and surrounding local homeowners were notified according to MOE spokesperson, Mimi Gilbert.

The well in question is not used for drinking, she said, and the Edwards 2006 operating report concluded that the well was probably contaminated by a source other than the dump, which Ruland finds strange.

“Since (the dump was granted approval) we have had continuous involvement with the site to ensure it meets our requirements and so it does not operate behind closed doors,” Gilbert said.
“Our recent groundwater results show no detection of PAHs.” Surface water samples take by the MOE last March are still under review, Gilbert claims.

But samples taken last May by the dump site owner, Haldimand Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc., indicated that contaminants are travelling off site through aquifers, Ruland says.

“The most likely directions for contaminant movement off-site are westward beneath Brooks Road and southward onto the adjacent agriculture property,” he contends.

Ruland recommends “sampling of all domestic wells which are completed in the basal aquifer along Highway 3 within 1 km east or west of Brooks Road.

The PLC which includes the MOE district manager as an ex-officio member, has passed a motion to halt all dumping at the site until the contaminant area can be delineated and a remedial plan put in place. “We are quite concerned that these contaminants may eventually find their way into the Grand River,” reads a letter dated August 4, 2007, and submitted to the Regional News by PLC Chair, Dave Glenney.

“If Source water Protection is truly a Ministry priority then protection of our community from this hazardous landfill site must be paramount.”