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CARD warns Gelman plume offshoots increasing and cleanup may take decades
Summary
CARD Chair Roger Riel and others showed updated plume mapping with a northern offshoot and the first detection at Lakeview; Roger said purge-well trends and high historical concentrations indicate cleanup could take many decades and urged polluter-funded monitoring and replacement water where thresholds are exceeded.
Roger Riel walked members through updated Google-Earth mashups showing a growing northern offshoot of the Gelman plume and a first-ever detection on Lakeview. He said monitoring-well placement has gaps and that recent mapping corrections improved well locations, but cautioned that the plume’s size and some historically high purge-well concentrations imply lengthy remediation timelines.
Riel said the site's purge wells have occasionally dropped in concentration and then plateaued because they draw dioxane from farther away, and he warned that “there is enough dioxane left to contaminate several townships” if not contained. He urged that polluter-funded monitoring continue and that replacement water or home-treatment systems be provided for homeowners contaminated above relevant thresholds; participants discussed force-majeure filings and temporary purge-well outages tied to equipment failures.
