The disposal of some 4,000 cubic yards of ash contaminated with arsenic and other hazardous metals has been delayed, Minister Arden McLean said at the Cabinet press briefing last Friday.
The delay has been caused by difficulties in getting the polyurethane liner that will be put in the pit prepared at the George Town landfill for the medium-term storage of the ash.
‘We’ve been delayed in getting the liner by two weeks,’ said Mr. McLean, noting that Hurricane Rita disrupted the process because the liner is coming from Houston, Texas.
Mr. McLean said that safety equipment for the transportation of the ash was also being sourced.
A decision has made on how the ash will be taken to the landfill, Mr. McLean said.
‘HEAVO (the Heavy Equipment and Vehicle Operators Association) have agreed to transport the ash,’ he said.
The toxic ash is located at several sites where Hurricane Ivan debris was burned. The contamination was most likely caused by the burning of pressure treated wood that was not sorted from other woods.
Pressure treated wood is treated with arsenic and chromium, which, if burned, leaves dangerous levels of the elements in the ash.
Arsenic and chromium are known carcinogens.
In June, Mr. McLean said the Government would immediately begin collecting an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 cubic yards of contaminated ash. After a subsequent survey of the sites, Government lowered the estimate to less than 5,000 cubic yards.
Mr. McLean said at the time the ash posed no immediate health threat, but it was still a concern of the Department of Environmental Health, the Department of Environment and the Water Authority.
‘They have concluded, along with other scientists, that we need to act on (removing the ash from the burn sites) immediately,’ he said in June.
The main urgency of removing the ash was the fear the toxins could leach into the ground and contaminate ground water. The government, therefore, wanted to remove the ash before the rainy season got too far along.
One of the sites containing toxic ash was the one maintained by MC Restoration in Frank Sound.
While not directly over Grand Cayman’s main fresh water lens, the site is close to it.
Water Authority water resources engineer Hendrik van Genderen said some baseline soil samples were taken from the Frank Sound site before any debris was stored there and that background levels of arsenic were detected.
Mr. van Genderen said the Water Authority was planning to do some wet season sampling to determine if any of the contaminates from the ash had leached into the ground to this point.
Another possible concern at the MC Restoration site is the unprocessed debris still stored there.
MC Restoration estimated there was still some 50,000 cubic yards of debris – some of which was brought there by the Government – to process on the site when it was told to cease operations in May.
The new Government later determined MC Restoration’s contract was over, but the matter of the unprocessed debris has not been resolved.
Some of that debris contains preservative coatings that could leach into the ground over time.
Mr. McLean said that Government has also come up with a plan of how to use the non-contaminated ash produced by the burning of Hurricane Ivan debris.
‘The ash not contaminated by arsenic will be used for cover at the landfill on a daily basis,’ he said.
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