Port Dalhousie park's soil checked for contaminants
DON FRASER
Local News - Saturday, January 20, 2007 @ 01:00
The federal government is testing soil in Port Dalhousie's Lakeside Park as part of a national program to identify and rehabilitate contaminated sites.
Substances of interest, including lead, zinc, beryllium and oil material, have been identified at the St. Catharines site, federal Fisheries and Oceans department spokesman Paul Herage said.
"Lakeside Park is a site that has had many uses in the past," he said. "There's probably been filling activities there and all sorts of things going on.
"Where you're seeing them drilling, we're getting soil samples at (various) depths to see what kinds of elements might be present in the soil."
The Phase 3 environmental site assessment is part of the federal contaminated sites action plan.
"We want to see what sites might have some contaminants in them and require some action to address it," Herage said.
Hundreds of sites across Canada are undergoing similar reviews, including Jordan Harbour, Owen Sound and Grand Bend off Lake Huron, Herage said.
At Lakeside Park, the first two phases involved soil testing and a historical review of the harbourside park.
"There was some metals, some oil, grease and (byproducts of petroleum) that were above federal guidelines," Herage said.
Final drilling in Port is wrapping up, Herage said.
Lakeside Park soils will be sent to a lab and analyzed.
It could be a "couple of months" before a report is completed, he said.
If officials are concerned about contamination, they could then perform a risk assessment to determine whether the risk to the public and the environment warrants further action, Herage said.
Soil removal and rehabilitation in the park could be a possibility, he said.
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