Post date: Sep 01, 2014 5:3:51 AM
February 11, 2003
Public Meeting on the Pall-Gelman 1,4-Dioxane Contamination
Wednesday, January 29, 2003, 7-10 pm, Slauson Middle School
The January 29th public meeting hosted by the City of Ann Arbor drew about 200 people. Representatives from the DEQ spent the first hour reviewing some of the current situation but failed to give a full overview of the problem.
City and SRSW representatives showed maps of the spread of the plumes over the years and that the two “newly discovered” deep plumes were each as big in area as all the other plumes.
During the question and answer period, the DEQ repeatedly admitted that there is not enough known about the recently discovered deep contamination. Yet, the DEQ is approving an interim response to purge at one location without knowing if that action will make things worse.
The company proposed to use a new, unproven treatment system to partially remove the 1,4-dioxane. The new system uses ozone and hydrogen peroxide (but no UV like the current treatment systems).
The decision of how much to treat the purge water before disposal and where to dispose it have yet to be determined.
There is no formal remedial action plan... so no way to properly evaluate the talked about approach..
SRSW contends that to rush into purging just for the sake of rushing is not a good idea. The company should work cooperatively with local governments and citizens to define the new plumes, where they really came from, where they are going and how fast, what are the concentrations, and what will be required to achieve an effective, protective, and community-acceptable cleanup.
The community has already suffered the consequences of prior piecemeal approaches. It’s time for a real cleanup, not more of the same old, ineffective, and approximate cleanup.