Sundre shop site cleanup plan in the works
By Dan Singleton
Round Up staff
Work is underway to prepare a remediation plan for the former Mountain View County shop property off Centre Street S.W. near the museum grounds, town councillors heard.
John Olsen of MWH Canada made a presentation to councillor about the recent investigation of the site, at 107 - 1st Ave S.W., and proposed plans to clean up the soil and groundwater there.
Underground storage tanks for gasoline and diesel were removed from the site about 15 years ago after many years in use by the county.
MWH gathered soil and groundwater samples from 16 boreholes and 12 monitoring wells at the site to gauge gasoline and diesel impacts on soil and groundwater, said Olsen.
The findings include no current exposure to the care home across Centre Street, although future risk cannot be ruled out, he said.
As well, there is no current exposure to the Red Deer River, although there is current exposure to groundwater and current exposure to soil ecology, he said.
Specifically, the investigation found ethylbenzene, xylene, toluene, and benzene levels at the site that exceeds current Alberta Environment guidelines.
As part of the regulatory requirement to clean up the site, a proposed remedial approach plan is in the works, which will include preparing a remediation strategy report.
The remediation work could include an injection of oxygen release compound to breakdown and oxidize gasoline and diesel at the site, council heard.
The site in question is currently used as a recycling site for newspapers, bottles and other items.
The county is working on remediation plans for a number of other similar sites in the region, including in Carstairs and Didsbury, councillors heard.
