Residents of the Highlands are concerned about groundwater contamination after a breach one week ago at the Highwest Landfill on Millstream Road.
The Highwest Landfill is being used by the Tervita Corp. for a remediation project at the Esquimalt Graving Dock, with contaminated sediment being first barged to a private facility in Victoria Harbour and then driven by trucks to the Highlands site.
The sediment that caused the breach had been dropped off inside a soil berm used to keep the contaminated material in place. Some of the sediment got past the berm and ended up in a cell — a treatment area — that didn’t have a plastic lining.
Officials with Tervita confirmed the breach happened on July 20 about 2:40 p.m.
“The material was destined for a lined cell, but, for some reason, was unfortunately dropped into an unlined cell, so we’re mitigating and moving it now,” said Andrew Rodych, strategic issues and planning adviser with Tervita, from the company’s headquarters in Calgary.
More than 150,000 cubic metres — the equivalent of 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools — of contaminated sediment will be dredged from the Esquimalt Graving dock and transported to the Highlands site.
The work is expected to take until March 2014.
Sixty to 90 truck loads per day are usually driven to the landfill. However, the site has been taking fewer trucks since the breach.
There are six cells at the Highwest Landfill, with Tervita planning to build two more.
Lined cells are covered with a plastic coating that prevents contaminated material from leeching into the soil. An unlined cell lacks the plastic coating and uses bedrock to protect material from leeching into the surrounding area.
Rodych said after the breach was discovered, the contaminated material was scraped away from the unlined cell and transported to a lined cell. He stressed that no groundwater had been affected and that the material, containing low levels of metal and sodium chloride, wasn’t hazardous.
However, residents are concerned about the breach and the possible effects on their health.
“They’ve already had a breach and they’ve just begun to work,” said Neville Grigg, a Highlands resident and a member of a community group focused on keeping groundwater safe.
“[Tervita] tells me not to worry, but I worry about the people drinking water downstream who might be affected.”
The unlined cell will be lined by next week, but Rodych was unsure of when the facility would be back to operating at full capacity.
