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Five properties in Cook Street Village contaminated with dry-cleaning chemical

Stephen Ban said he is keen to see a cleanup plan confirmed after learning Monday that he owns one of five Cook Street Village properties contaminated with a toxic dry-cleaning chemical.
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McKenzie Street resident Stephen Ban examines test equipment in his yard. Ban was not aware of the contamination when he bought his house in May around the corner from the former site of Fairfield Cleaners at 325 Cook St.

Stephen Ban said he is keen to see a cleanup plan confirmed after learning Monday that he owns one of five Cook Street Village properties contaminated with a toxic dry-cleaning chemical.

Groundwater, soil or soil vapour at three residential properties and two commercial sites — located on McKenzie, Oxford and Cook streets — showed higher chemical levels than are provincially acceptable, said Jan Abbott, a scientist with Franz Environmental Inc. Health risks remain very low, however.

“It’s mixed news,” Ban said. “The next step is basically to come up with a plan in terms of remediation.”

Scientists believe that PERC, also known as perchloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene, spread from an underground storage unit at 325 Cook St. Fairfield Cleaners operated at the site from the mid-1970s to 2007.

The oil-stain removing chemical has been linked to esophageal and cervical cancer in dry-cleaning staff, as well as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to CAREX Canada, a project that tracks cancer-causing substances in workplaces and communities.

PERC was found in the groundwater at five properties, exceeding provincially acceptable levels of 1,500 micrograms per litre, according to early study results presented by Franz Environmental during the public meeting Monday. It was also found in the soil at rates higher than 50 micrograms per gram. And at one commercial property, soil vapour exceeded 0.5 micrograms per cubic metre.

The vapour readings are the most concerning, Abbott said, because the chemical identified was not PERC, but a more toxic one called trichloroethylene, which is created when PERC breaks down.

However, they still aren’t considered significant health risks, she said, and employees at the commercial property need not wear face masks or leave the building.

“If you work at a dry-cleaning facility, the exposure is much higher,” she said.

Ban said the report presented at the public meeting caused a variety of reactions.

“I think for most people it was good news, because they have a better idea of the extent of the contamination plume,” he said. “[And] there’s no human or environmental risk from the levels they’re seeing, even though some of the specific samples exceed provincial guidelines.”

Franz Environmental will continue monitoring the contamination and potential spread, believed to be moving at a rate of one metre per year through groundwater. A more detailed assessment will be released by the end of January. A remediation plan is expected to follow.

The Environmental Management Act requires “responsible persons” to pay the cost of remediation at contaminated sites. A spokesman for the Ministry of Environment said that may include current and former property owners, those who transported the PERC and secured creditors.

The next public meeting is planned for February.

asmart@timescolonist.com

Cook Street Village