Post date: Sep 01, 2014 4:46:51 AM
April 4, 2002
Problems with Proposed Permit Changes Aired
Dozens of people attended the March 18 Public Hearing. All of the problems with the proposed changes to Pall Life Sciences discharge permit were pointed out to the person who will make the final decision for the DEQ, Dave Hamilton.
Among the problem aired were:
-The increase to a 1300gpm discharge without reducing the concentration, will put too much 1,4-dioxane into the creek,
-More dioxane will be allowed to seep from the stream to underlying groundwater supplies,
-What dioxane that doesn't seep into the ground will end up in the Huron River upstream from where Ann Arbor gets 80% of its water.
-The added volume of water causes constant unnatural flooding of wetlands and raises water levels of shallow aquifers, causing uncontrolled movement of dioxane to lower aquifers,
-The added volume of water will exacerbate the serious bank erosion that has already taken place along the tributary just past Little Lake and will threaten the viability of the manmade holding ponds there.
SRSW maintains that any increase in discharge volume must be at a lower concentration, 0-3 ppb. Also, carefully controlled groundwater reinjection (at non-detect) should be resumed at the edges of the plumes to help flush dioxane contamination back to purge wells.