Sun, Apr 28,
2002
Landfill cleanup
at standstill amid review by DNR
By Pat
Peckham
Wausau Daily Herald
ppeckham@wdhprint.com
TOWN OF MOSINEE - Plans remain on hold for investigating the Gorski landfill
contamination that was first detected in a nearby drinking water well 20
years ago.
An ad hoc committee submitted an investigation proposal to the state Department
of Natural Resources on Feb. 22, but DNR lawyers still are reviewing it.
Contaminants, including two carcinogens, were found in six drinking water
wells in the vicinity of the landfill that closed in 1976. The seven-acre
landfill is 0.8 miles outside of the Mosinee city limits near the intersection
of Highway B and Highway KK. Solvents believed to have originated in the
landfill were found in concentrations 80 times greater than the groundwater
enforcement standard.
| The
contaminants Trichloroethylene, the most prevalent among the contaminants in the Gorski landfill, was found in amounts as high as 400 parts per billion. The groundwater enforcement standard is 5 parts per billion. The chemical can cause kidney, liver and lung damage in animals that inhale or drink the chemical, but the effects on humans are unknown, according to the Marathon County Health Department. Tetrachloroethylene, a similar solvent-based chemical, has been found in similar concentrations. Both are relatively common, according to Joe Traynor, a hydrogeologist with the Department of Natural Resources. The chemicals are used in parts-washers and found in products used to clean painting equipment and metals, he said. |
The DNR has cautioned
those living nearest the site to consume only bottled water and not to bathe
in their well water.
Without any legal admission of responsibility, the city, Wausau-Mosinee Papers,
JI Case Corp. and current property owners Mike and Sandra Lakey have formed
an ad hoc committee of parties potentially responsible for the cleanup. Mosinee
City Administrator Jeff Gates said this approach to dealing with the situation
could speed the investigation and eventual cleanup.
Other potentially responsible landfill contributors are the town of Mosinee,
Deluxe Disposal and the town of Kronenwetter.
Joe Traynor, a hydrogeologist at the DNR's Eau Claire office, said he hopes
his agency's lawyers finish their review soon.
"I had expected we would have something at this point," said Traynor, who
identified the Gorski landfill as among 12 in the state in most urgent need
of attention.
The problem might not have become so serious if current regulations were
in place in the 1960s when the landfill opened, he said. If built now, the
landfill would have a liner to prevent chemicals from getting into the
groundwater and no homes would have been allowed within 1,200 feet.
It's too early to forecast what could be involved if remediation is ordered,
Traynor said. The landfill was created in a rotten granite quarry, and the
aquifer from which drinking water originates is in fractured bedrock.
"Depending on what fracture the well hit, the well may be OK or the well
may be heavily contaminated," he said.
This problem and others around the state might be less serious if homes were
built farther from landfills, said Bob Strous, a DNR employee who works on
remediation of landfills gone awry.
"I can tell you that in the last 10 years, we've found that there's been
a lot of new home development in the area of old landfills," Strous said.
"That's a real concern for us. We're working hard to make sure people know
what they're doing."