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Team to Test Soil, Water for Pollution

Posted on: Monday, 17 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By RICHARD BURGESS

LAFAYETTE - A private environmental team will collect soil and water samples this month to determine if Hurricane Rita's storm surge left polluted sludge in its wake, said New Iberia chemist Wilma Subra, who is overseeing the project.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will also conduct sampling at four southwest Louisiana hazardous waste sites that were in Rita's path.

Subra said soil and water sampling should begin within the next two weeks in Vermilion, Cameron and Calcasieu parishes. A group of environmental justice foundations is funding the work.

The concern is that the muck Rita pulled from the bottom of water bodies and spread across coastal Louisiana might contain unhealthy levels of sewage, pesticides and contaminants related to oil production.

Water-bottom sludge can serve as a storehouse for contaminants that settle out of the water.

"In most of the waterways, it was highly contaminated," she said. "This carried all that material onshore."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, citing potential health risks, has warned residents in flooded areas to avoid contact with sediment left behind when the water receded.

Subra raised questions last week whether anyone should be allowed back into some areas in New Orleans, where she recently oversaw soil and water testing. She cautioned residents returning to homes in flooded areas of southwest Louisiana.

Subra, who has served on several EPA science advisory committees and has been active in environmental justice issues, said the dried sludge can become "a dust cloud of hazardous particles" when picked up by the wind.

She said residents returning to flood-stricken areas in New Orleans have already reported respiratory problems.

Health officials have advised the use of respirators during clean- up work, to avoid inhalation of contaminants, fumes from household chemicals and mold spores.

The EPA, which has primarily focused on the New Orleans area, also plans to conduct soil and water tests in southwest Louisiana.

Of particular concern are four EPA Superfund hazardous waste sites - areas that had been placed on a "national priorities list" because of the extent of contamination.

There are three Superfund sites in Vermilion Parish - all former processors of oil-field waste - and one in Cameron Parish, an inactive crude oil refinery.

Federally monitored clean-up programs have been completed at all the sites, but some contamination remains in the soil in contained areas and could have been disturbed by flooding.

Sam Coleman, the regional director for EPA's Superfund division, said soil and water samples will be collected at all the sites within the next two weeks. The results should be available by early November.

He said the Cameron Parish site, Mallard Bay Landing Bulk Plant, remains flooded.

Coleman said the three sites in Vermilion Parish - one north of Abbeville and two about 2.5 miles southwest of the city - have been visually inspected. He said there is no obvious damage.

"They've all been flown by air, but you can only see gross damage," he said. "We are going to pull samples from all the sites."

The tests will focus on contaminants the were originally identified as problems at the sites.

"We essentially go out and look for the same things," Coleman said.

Any flooding at the sites is believed to have been minor, according to Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Quality.

"If they flooded at all, it would have been for a brief period," she said.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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