According to this article via Thisweek, both the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will be doing tests for groundwater contamination of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) from firefighting foam leeching into the ground. The article states that both agencies will be testing various locations around Apple Valley and Burnsville but gave no further specifics. I contacted both the Department of Health and the Pollution Control Agency for more information and both got back to me in short order.
According to the MDH, they will be testing all of the groundwater supply wells in both Apple Valley and Burnsville between now and June. Following the sample collection, they will be tested at the MDH’s own labs to see what levels of contamination may be present. If any unacceptable levels are detected the wells will be retested to be sure and then the department will go from there.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has already been keeping an eye on local landfills and has published a list of 40 different landfills in Minnesota which show PFC contamination. Five of these landfills are located in Dakota County: Burnsville Sanitary Landfill, Pine Bend Sanitary Landfill, SKB Environmental’s Rich Valley landfill, SKB’s Rosemount landfill, and SKB Dawnway. They are also planning on testing both the Flint Hills refinery in Rosemount and the Burnsville Fire Department for PFC contamination beginning here soon in 2009.
With Dakota County already possessing the highest lead contamination of any other facility in the country and one of the most contaminated parcels of land in the state, it’s a serious concern to me why this hasn’t taken a more prominent place in the local media.
What do you think about all the contamination reports around Dakota County? Do you feel unsafe living here because of it or is it just business as usual for you? Comment on, I’d like to hear what you think!
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February 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
All of my comments on this subject should be filtered through my abiding mistrust of ANY governmental body that says it is looking out for my best interest. It just ain’t happening.
I don’t think anyone, anywhere, fully understands the direct results of what we have done to the earth in the name of progress, manufacturing, and general living in the past 125 years. Now, I do not consider myself a “tree-hugger”, or a rabid environmentalist, but – there has been “stuff” dumped everywhere. In defense of the processes of many years ago, there wasn’t the knowledge that exists now. So to take them to task seems to be an exercise in futility.
Does it worry me? Sure, when I think about it, it does. Do I stay awake nights? Nope. This ground water problem is just beginning. 3M dumped chemicals, and polluted the ground water in the Woodbury area, and now they are filtering ground water in Cottage Grove, and have talked about filtering it in Hastings because of the aquifer flow. Is it wide spread? Geez, I think it goes all through the metro area.
The real question is: If the MDH does find something, and I don’t see how they cannot, what should their duty be?
February 9th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Why worry about it? Just stick a golf course on top of the Burnsville Sanitary Landfill. People will be so happy to have such a dramatic and important feature in our city they completely forget about such minor issues as a little leeching of PFC’s into groundwater tables.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Lyn,
It’s a little funny to me that people can get so worked up over something as silly as differences between the grocery store chains but when it comes to the number of toxins that are entering our bodies as a result of residing in Dakota County, well, that just isn’t as high on the priority list.
Perhaps if and when they do ever build that baseball stadium or “Chain of Lakes Burnsville Edition”, people can be comfortable in the knowledge that they are at risk for higher PFC absorption because they’ll be sitting right on top of one of the highest concentrations of it!
On that note, I wonder if PFCs help improve your golf swing? That could definitely make it a selling point.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Last I heard, the cost to cleanup the landfill was over $700 Million. Maybe it’s time to take some of the stimulus money and apply it to a real problem. Then again, my priorities are probably mixed-up. It’s obviously more important to throw available $$ at upgrading the PAC water feature.
Thinking about golf, we had a good spot in this town for a golf course (Terrace Oaks), but I think that land has been zoned so it could never be used for that.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:14 am
What I would like to know is, what is the PLAN (besides the double-check re-testing, which would take what, another 6 months to a year?) if the outcome is that the water has been contaminated to unacceptable levels? From the article it looks like the options are: “Some may be able to reduce overall concentrations by combining water from different sources, including wells that are found to be free of PFCs. Additional information will be made available to citizens on actions they can take, such as home-treatment units, to reduce exposure.” So, if all of the city wells are found to be contaminated, who gets to pay for those “home treatment units”? Yep, you and me. In six months, B’ville will be scrambling for a solution to this water safety crisis, with the economic crisis, property and sales tax revenues in the tank, and foreclosures and crime on the rise. But that PAC sure is pretty.
Look on the bright side. When we start glowing in the dark ourselves, we won’t need all those mercury-containing new fangled lightbulbs.