DID UNIROYAL CHEMICAL DUMP 60 MILLION KILOGRAMS OF CHLOROBENZENE ON THEIR SITE BETWEEN 1945 AND 1970?

 

Wow but that's a huge number. Now keep in mind that we have a few other numbers at our disposal such as 160,000 to 175,000 gallons per day of toxic liquid wastes being discharged to possibly the east side ponds alone ( i.e. RPE 1-5). Now of course this daily dumping was not straight chlorobenzene. It was mixed in with benzene, toluene, xylenes, phenols, DDT, dioxins, 2,4-D and so much more. 

A few days ago I posted here that MORE THAN 3,300 kilograms of chlorobenzene was dumped on the Uniroyal site. Now this figure came from Lanxess/GHD who were bragging about how much chlorobenzene had been removed from Elmira's groundwater since pumping started in 1998. Well this weekend I started thinking about that figure (3,300 KG.) and something leapt out at me.  Chlorobenzene is a classic DNAPL chemical with a high density (greater than 1) and a low solubility. For example NDMA has a Solubility of 1,000,000 mg per litre (ppm.) whereas Chlorobenzene has a Solubility of only 466.3 mg/l (ppm.).  Therefore to put it simply for every gram or kilogram of chlorobenzene that has been discharged on the Uniroyal site only a tiny amount actually dissolves in the groundwater albeit it does exceed the 80 ppb. Ontario Drinking Water Standard. 

Can this knowledge of Solubility concentrations be worked backwards to calculate a minimum total weight of chlorobenzene dumped into unlined pits and ponds between 1945 and 1970 when the Elmira Sewage Treatment plant was finally successfully up and running and Uniroyal wastes went through there for treatment? Keep in mind these retention pits and ponds were how all the chlorobenzene ended up firstly in the groundwater under Uniroyal's site and then later in Elmira's groundwater . I believe calculations can be done although I will admit that I am checking with authorities having better math skills than I.  

A couple of additional points. Any calculations determining possible total weight of chlorobenzene discharged might assume that the concentrations of chlorobenzene found in groundwater are all very high perhaps even approaching the maximum Solubility. In fact this does not seem to occur other than extremely rarely. In fact groundwater concentrations are often only at 1% (or lower) of the maximum Solubility. Hence in fact when this is incorporated into one's mathematics I believe that it suggests that it would take a whole lot more than 60 million kilograms of chlorobenzene dumped onto Uniroyal's site to produce 3,300 kilograms of dissolved chlorobenzene being removed from the groundwater. 

Clearly just like surface water contaminant concentrations; groundwater concentrations of some chemicals (chlorobenzene) grossly underestimates the total volume or weight discharged to the natural environment in the first place. In one sense this is a disincentive to polluters to minimize their discharges if the totals appear to be minimized by the process of dissolution. 

I expect that GHD will shortly sharpen their pencils and if they are smart refuse to release their calculations. Fortunately for us they usually aren't all that smart.