PFOS contamination has migrated: MOE

[Gerritt]

PFOS contamination has migrated: MOE

 

The latest government test results show low-level chemical pollution from the city’s airport is spread throughout the sediment in Lake Niapenco.

 

The Ministry of Environment lake sediment tests, published in a recent update report, confirm perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has migrated from the airport and settled throughout the bottom of the Binbrook reservoir, about 13 kilometres downstream on the Welland River.

 

The report shows the sediment PFOS levels are much lower than those discovered in ditches and a holding pond near the airport’s former firefighting training pad, where the chemical was originally released in firefighting foam in the 1980s.

 

The airport holding pond, for example, showed sediment concentrations of up to 1,000 nanograms per gram. The average levels of PFOS found in Lake Niapenco sediment ranged from 2 to 4 nanograms per gram, depending on depth.

 

MOE surface water specialist Craig Fowler notes in the report there is no “toxicity benchmarks” for PFOS in sediment. But he added the contaminated lake and river sediment should still be considered a potential threat, because when sediments are disturbed “they can be re-introduced into the water… and result in uptake by aquatic organisms.”

 

The PFOS investigation began after Environment Canada scientists accidently discovered high levels of the chemical in turtles in the reservoir in 2009. The provincial government later changed fish consumption guidelines for the lake and Welland River to stop residents from eating the most contaminated fish.

 

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905-526-3241 | @Mattatthespec

[Rod Caster]

MOE surface water specialist Craig Fowler notes in the report there is no "toxicity benchmarks" for PFOS in sediment.

 

 

The airport must be thankful for this. " what do you mean we were polluting, you don't even have minimum standards/criteria for PFOS". Time to change the regs again.

 

If they find elevated levels of PFOS in groundwater or sensitive surface waters, they'll have a better chance at enforcing a clean-up. Either way, a clean-up will probably have to be voluntary at this point, it's pretty difficult to prove fault 30 from years past.