News Releases Article
Toxic Plume Hits Wildlife Refuge
Originally published in The Reflector, November 21, 2000. Reprinted with permission.
by Heidi Wallenborn
A pair of nesting eagles in the top of a willow tree and gaggles of Canadian geese seemed undisturbed by the recent sound of heavy equipment drilling monitoring wells on the southern edge of Ridgefield's Carty Lake.
But their habitat is in jeopardy because underground contamination by wood treating chemicals is believed to have made its way from Port of Ridgefield property into the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, said Washington State Department of Ecology senior hydrologist Dan Alexanian.
Visible signs of contamination were detected in the first of three sets of monitoring wells drilled on the south shore of Carty Lake November 7, said Alexanian.
"It's worse than we thought," said Alexanian. "There is cause for alarm. This was our worst case scenario, and it has happened."
Port and Ecology officials were concerned that an underground plume of toxic wood treating chemicals left over from a previous Port tenant, Pacific Wood Treating, would eventually reach the Refuge and Carty Lake. Cleanup costs using a steam extraction method is estimated at $40 million.
Contamination was evident during the drilling of the first well when the distinct odor of wood treating chemicals was detected after breaking ground, said Alexanian.
"There was an odor that appeared to smell like wood treating chemicals," Alexanian said, "and a sheen of what looked like petroleum in the wet soil samples."
Alexanian said the sheen may be caused by the natural breakdown of water vegetation, but added that it was not likely.
However, there was no odor apparent in the two other sets of wells drilled.
"The well we believe we found contamination in is closest to the site, and in line with the underground plume," Alexanian said. Officials have mapped a chemical plume that extends over 4 acres. The plume is progressively making its way to the Refuge, located at the north end of Port property.
Further testing is expected to confirm the presence of wood treating chemicals in the first well, Alexanian said. Other wells will also be tested for contaminants. The results may be available in early December.
Carty Lake in jeopardy
"No one at this point can say the lake is poisoned," said Alexanian. "But I am concerned. It appears the contamination is in the ground water. If the lake depth is lower than the ground water, we're in trouble." Drilling sampled wet soil at 17 feet.
Eric Roth, cleanup project manager from Maul, Foster and Alongi in Hazel Dell, said he and Alexanian tried to determine the depth of the lake over a year ago with phone calls to area officials.
"The Department of Fish and Wildlife will probably measure it," Roth said. "We just were not at that point yet. My gut feeling is that it's a fairly shallow lake, probably 5-6 feet deep. But now [that information] is a key piece of the puzzle."
"So far, it looks as if the lake is probably okay, because it's perched more on tight silts above the gravel," Alexanian said. "The questions are, is the gravel impacted? Which way does the ground water flow?"
Gravel allows dissolved contamination to move more freely, Alexanian said. "This phase of the contaminant can move with greater speed and move farther," he said. "I am almost certain what I saw is the dissolved phase of the contamination."
Monitoring wells keep watch
Three sets of three monitoring wells 2 inches wide and averaging 15-35 feet deep were drilled into the ground in a triangle formation, about 80-100 yards apart on the marshy south shore of Carty Lake, beginning November 7.
The monitoring project is financed through a $500,000 federal Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Innovative Technological Evaluation (SITE) grant.
Each well has a 10-foot stainless steel screen that will allow lake water into the well, but will keep fine sediment out to ensure accurate testing. Once the sediment settles from the drilling, testing of lake water can begin, Alexanian said. The monitoring set-up will also tell on-site geologists which direction the ground water moves, and if Lake River located east of Carty Lake is in danger as well, he said.
The wells contain three 2-inch wide by 10-feet long stainless steel tubes that will be surrounded by heat resistant grout that seals off the area to keep the heat impact of steam cleaning out, said Alexanian. The tubes will rise above the ground, allowing access for monitoring any contamination movement.
According to Brent Grening, executive director of the Port of Ridgefield, the wells are also designed to monitor contamination when cleanup efforts using steam technology begins. That process may begin sometime next year, he said.
"There is concern that when we start the cleanup using steam technology, the contamination will become heated and more mobile," Grening said. "These wells are to be a baseline for information to monitor the situation during cleanup efforts so we don't drive it into the lake."
Former tank farm source of pollution
Pacific Wood Treating (PWT) a former tenant at the Port's Lake River Industrial site, stored chemicals used for treating wood in several large tanks from 1963 until the company declared bankruptcy in 1993.
When the PWT closed its doors, it also walked out on a host of environmental problems at the site, leaving the Port to face the task of cleanup.
Activities to rid the site of surface contaminants began in 1997 and clean-up efforts began in earnest after Grening's arrival in 1998, said Alexanian.
Stormwater drains from the site to Lake River were cleaned, causing pentachlorophenol (a poisonous water-insoluble wood preservative) levels in Lake River to drop from 1,000 parts per million to almost undetectable levels, where they remain today, Alexanian said.
The removal of about 150,000 gallons of toxic wood treating solutions that included chromated copper arsenate and creosote as well as the removal of 4.88 tons of ammonium sulfate, 2.35 tons of diammonium phosphate, 8.75 tons of pesticide-contaminated soil and debris, and almost 70 tons of waste creosote from tank cleaning all took place in 1997.
What remains is a gooey mass of wood treating chemicals that has pooled on top of the surface of the aquifer that lies beneath Port property and has attached itself to soil particles.
Like mixing molasses and soil, the two are difficult to separate, said Alexanian.
The steam solution
The best and most effective way to clean the site, say Grening and Alexanian, is using steam enhanced remediation.
Steam generators will be used to inject steam into the ground at the bottom of the aquifer. Steam fronts are created, which move through the aquifer and heat the ground, said Alexanian. This heat causes the gooey mass and soil to change its syrupy texture, making them flow more freely. The contaminants are then pumped into extraction wells along with steam and water, and then separated.
According to Alexanian, the process will take 3-5 years, as opposed to a pump and treat method which can take hundreds of years and not entirely remove the contamination.
Both Grening and Alexanian agree that steam technology is by far the best way to resolve the situation at the Port and now the Refuge. "But it is a matter of money," Grening said.
The $40 million price tag makes cleanup impossible for a community the size of Ridgefield, Grening said.
Although the State Federal Department has placed Ridgefield as very high priority in the state for cleanup funding, Grening and the commissioners are frustrated.
"What is actively happening here is a small community is falling through the cracks because no government entity will step up to fix the problem," Grening said. "We need help. This is the alarm. This is what we were afraid of."
"The problem will get worse," Grening continued. "It will be more expensive to fix and harder to do. This is an emergency situation."
Alexanian said the poisoning of Carty Lake is a very real danger, and if that happens, smolts (small trout and salmon) will die, as can waterfowl, he said.
If the contamination hits the water, Grening and Alexanian are concerned that far-reaching effects will include poisons entering the streams that feed Lancaster Lake and Gee Creek on the Refuge. These waterways pass by the mouth of the Lewis River which feeds into the Columbia River.
If that happens, Grening said the $40 million dollar price tag to clean the Port property can quickly escalate into millions more to clean the waterways.
"Then we're talking about a lot more money than $40 million for a cleanup effort in just one spot," Grening said.
"This is much larger than anyone thought, and progressively getting worse," Grening added. "We have known what the problem is. We have a solution. What we need is money. This is a money issue. Our goal is still cleanup."
