ELMIRA FAIRY TALES & TECHNICAL MISINFORMATION

Over twenty-three years Elmira citizens have been bombarded with self-serving information by our local polluters and their in-step political leadership. Whether being told by Wally Ruck of Uniroyal that "NDMA is not in our vocabulary" to "There is a solid impermeable clay barrier between our shallow contaminated aquifer and the deeper municipal aquifer."; the horse manure has been pungent, non stop and always entertaining. Today I will try and scrape a little of that manure away.

Chemtura and their consultants for decades have claimed that yes there is residual DNAPL (dense non aqueous phase liquids) on site but not free phase (pools). Residual DNAPL refers to "...disconnected blobs and ganglia of organic liquid, is formed at the end of a migrating DNAPL body." In other words, free phase (pools) DNAPL occurs first and residual follows. The claim that free phase no longer exists on site frankly is a ridiculous and self serving fallacy probably to reduce the demand for on-site cleanup. Afterall it would seem to be a relatively easy chore to go after pools of DNAPL rather than looking for the sparser trails that have followed it. All the technical, theoretical and practical evidence including samples of free phase DNAPL found on both sides of Canagagigue Creek is contrary to the company's position.

Chlorobenzene is a DNAPL chemical. It has a low solubility and is denser than water. It is also less viscous (thick) than water and like all chlorinated solvents is mobile in the subsurface. It sinks via gravity through sands and gravels although it can get delayed upon lower permeability surfaces such as clay and silts. Generally thinner and denser chlorinated solvents will migrate horizantly less than creosotes for examples which while also DNAPLS are generally thicker and less dense. Nevertheless clorinated solvents such as Chlorobenzene and other Chemtura DNAPL solvents have had lateral migration of "...tens to hundreds of metres at many sites." Both the Ministry of the Environment and Chemtura would like Elmira citizens to believe that their DNAPLS whether residual or free phase are all on their site.

For some time I believed that DNAPLS sunk straight down until they hit a clay Aquitard and then would flow in the direction that gravity pulled them. The actual rule of thumb is that "DNAPL must migrate sideways in order to migrate down." Free phase DNAPL has been found behind Varnicolor Chemical near the Elmira water tower on Howard Ave. I was convinced that it had to be from either Varnicolor which had both free phase LNAPL (light non aqueous phase liquid) and DNAPL or even possibly from the old Borg Textiles. Based upon my more recent understanding of subsurface flow, Uniroyal/Chemtura can not be entirely ruled out as the source. Indeed it would partly explain their recent bizarre pair of reports 'explaining" away this discovery by their consultants fourteen years ago.

Free phase DNAPL usually is not found at contaminated sites because of it's tortuous and meandering subsurface pathways. Also as indicated earlier it can pool both on Aquitard surfaces in depressions or in the middle of Aquifers on silt or clay lenses. There are numerous lines of evidence which will indicate both residual and free phase presence and Uniroyal/Chemtura have all of them. Plus it physically has been seen and removed from the subsurface on a number of occasions. Both types of DNAPL (residual & free phase or pools) contribute to long term groundwater contamination which will not be cleaned up by hydraulic containment also known as pump and treat.

The 1% rule refers to the presence of either type of DNAPL at a site if groundwater concentrations exceed 1% of the solublity of a particular chlorinated solvent. However this has been determined not to be 1% of the lab solublity of a solvent mixed into a litre of pure water. It is 1% of the effective solubilty which refers to the fact that the more dissolved contaminants there are in groundwater the lower the solubilities of each one becomes. Whether lab or lower effective solubilities; both Chemtura and Varnicolor Chemical exceed them. These are two truly horrendously polluted sites.

Another concern I have is that while residual DNAPL can not be mobilized by an artificial increase in hydraulic gradients, free phase can be. This may also be a reason for Chemtura's claims of no more free phase DNAPL. Essentially pump and treat technolgy while containing dissolved plumes can further mobilize free phase DNAPL which may have been precariously perched on a lower permeability surface. Relevant to the discovery of DNAPL at OW57-32R near the Elmira water tower in 1998; soil borings can be used to confirm the presence of either residual or free phase DNAPL. This would include discoloured soil, odours and iridescent sheens all of which were found at the time while drilling at the interface between the MU (Municipal Aquifer) and the MAT
(Municipal Aquitard).

Residual DNAPL will never flow into a monitoring or pumping well. Free phase DNAPL can be collected if there is a sump at the bottom of the well however I have never heard Chemtura make refernce to sumps specifically included at the base of wells located in probable DNAPL areas. Partial removal of DNAPL from above the Bedrock is probably the best case scenario. There has been enough testing and psuedo "investigations" done over the years including special DNAPL committees to have pinpointed many particular locations of either residual or free phase DNAPL. By the way when I say "special" DNAPL committees; I truly mean special as in deaf, dumb, blind and oops that could be viewed as politically incorrect. Let me just say that I attended them long enough to recognize how "challenged" they were. Enough said. Partial DNAPL removal, residual and free phase, would not necessarily immediately lower dissolved contaminant concentrations. What it would do however is reduce the time frame of restoration from centuries to decades. Thanks to our impotent and toothless Ontario M.O.E. we've already wasted two decades plus. Our children and grandchildren deserve better than what we are leaving them.

There are dozens and more scholarly DNAPL articles on line. I particularily would recommend "An illustrated handbook of DNAPL transport and fate in the subsurface" written by the United Kingdom Environment Agency in 2003. It is one of the clearest, most comprehensive and easiest to understand for both professionals and lay persons.