Buried barrels in Ephrata leak toxic goo

Buried barrels in Ephrata leak toxic goo

Workers removing barrels of waste from Ephrata cleanup site. Department of Ecology

In August 1975, somebody scored a sweet deal.That summer, a transport company paid $2 a barrel to dump 2,353 drums into a Ephrata landfill. There were no records of what was in the barrels, which since then have rotted and leaked toxic chemicals into an underlying aquifer, according to this story by Michelle McNiel in the Wenatchee World .

The waste includes some radioactive material, medical waste, paint and solvents. Some barrels bear stencils reading “The Boeing Company, Commercial Airplane Building, Auburn, Washington.”

Now Ephrata and Grant County are in the midst of a $6.5 million cleanup of the Eastern Washington site, with no one to officially peg the pollution and damages on.

And while the ground water has tested positive for high levels of organic compounds, metals, petroleum products, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals, there are apparently no wells or other drinking water being drawn in the immediate area. Ecology officials still fear that drinking water could be tainted if the pollution is not removed, according to McNiel’s story.

Posted by document.writeln(showE2(“lisastiffler”,”seattlepi.com”,”Lisa Stiffler”))Lisa Stiffler Lisa Stiffler at August 29, 2008 7:52 a.m.