Toxic groundwater revealed in 2000

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Feb. 16, 10:52 EDT

Toxic groundwater revealed in 2000

But Brantford residents learned news this week

Margaret Mironowicz

TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE

KAZ NOVAK/TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE

NEIGHBOURS WORRIED: The former Keep-Rite plant on Elgin St. is the source of

a large underground chemical contamination in Brantford.

BRANTFORD - The Ministry of the Environment was notified two years ago about

a large underground chemical contamination from a former refrigerator-making

plant in Brantford.

The ministry and United Technologies Corp., the U.S. conglomerate that now

owns the site, have corresponded back and forth since February, 2000, over

what steps need to be taken to determine the extent of the contamination

into adjacent neighbourhoods.

Yesterday, about 300 visibly upset residents from the vicinity of the former

Keep-Rite plant on Elgin St. packed a hall for a public meeting held by the

Brant County Health Unit.

Dr. Doug Sider, Brant's Medical Officer of Health, said there were no

answers yet as to how big the underground contamination is, how concentrated

the chemical contamination is beyond the site of the plant, or if it is

getting into people's homes.

The health unit was notified by the ministry this week that high

concentrations of trichloroethylene, known as TCE, have been found at the

site of the plant, which operated from 1970 until its closing in 1994 and

which used TCE as an industrial degreaser. The news was broken at a Thursday

news conference, and public meetings were hastily called.

Cooke, an environment ministry supervisor, said groundwater

contamination of TCE beneath one area of the former plant was found at

12,000 parts per billion. The safety standard in Canada for TCE in drinking

water is 50 parts per billion. TCE is not in the city's drinking water.

The fear is that TCE, a suspected human carcinogen, is producing vinyl

chloride, a gas that is a by-product of the chemical, and which is a known

human carcinogen. It can cause liver cancer, nerve damage and dizziness.

A 12-block residential area of the city's east end has been tentatively

identified as having contaminated groundwater beneath it. Sider said the

contamination has spread " in a plume " to the plant's southeast.

Air monitoring to check for the vinyl chloride gas was to begin this weekend

in some homes, but Sider stressed the ministry has " limited resources " for

this work. United Technologies is expected to drill wells and begin a

thorough measurement of home air quality in a week. " I can't talk about

possible health effects until I know what we're dealing with, " Sider told

the residents.

Jon Shaw, manager of corporate relations for r heating and

air-conditioning systems, a subsidiary of United Technologies in Syracuse,

N.Y., said the company found contamination at the Brantford site two years

ago, shortly after UTC bought International Comfort Products, which owned

Keep-Rite. However, UTC wanted to sell the property.

" UTC went to sell the property two years ago. During the process of due

diligence, they found contamination, at which point we notified the Ministry

of the Environment, " said Shaw. " The ministry was notified in February of

2000. "

United Technologies, a $26-billion company based in Hartford, Conn.,

provides high technology products to the aerospace and building systems

industries world-wide.

Shaw said UTC has hired a Waterloo-based environmental firm, Conestoga

Rovers and Associates, to conduct testing and the cleanup. UTC began an

initial environmental survey because it wanted to sell the property. It

currently leases the three-hectare site to a numbered company in Ontario,

which uses it to store appliances. The building is 323,000 square feet.

" We've got to get some equipment in there to determine the extent of the

groundwater impact, and do some indoor air sampling, " said Shaw. " We'll be

doing that with the MOE. In terms of the cost, we don't know at this point. "

Shaw said UTC submitted a report in February, 2001, containing information

about their initial investigation over the past year, " and from that point

forward, there was correspondence back and forth, with them commenting and

us responding. We've been working with the MOE through this process. "