Information
On Behalf of Her Majesty The Queen
This is the Information of Elke Blodgett, Artist, 12 Grantham Place, St. Albert, AB,
The Informant says that he has reasonable grounds to believe and does believe that the City of St. Albert, in the Province of Alberta, on or about May 28, 2004, at a location adjacent to the Riel landfill site in St. Albert, east of the wooden shelter near the end of the Rodeo Ground entrance and closest to groundwater monitoring wells MW-11 and W-2, in the Municipality of St. Albert, in the Judicial District of Edmonton, did deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance, including but not limited to fluid containing Iron and Zinc, in excess of Freshwater Life Criteria, in water frequented by fish or in a place where the deleterious substance or any other deleterious substance that results from the deposit of the deleterious substance may enter any such water, contrary to section 36( 3) of the Fisheries Act, R.S.C. 1985, c.F-14, as amended, and did thereby commit an offence under section 40(2) of the said Act.”
Signed: Elke Blodgett
Sworn before me this 2 day of July A.D. 2004, at Edmonton,Alberta, signed by Justice of the Peace: Andrew T. Holko
Set for Process Hearing July 19, 2004, 9:30 am, St. Albert
Background Report
July 1, 2004
Elke Blodgett
12 Grantham Place
St. Albert, AB, T8N 0W8
458-3445
Report on effluent from landfill site in St. Albert
On May 26, 2004, Mr. Dave Burkhart, of St. Albert, (459-7794) reported to me that he had noticed an unusual coloured fluid in a ditch between the dike of an abandoned landfill site (one of three former sanitary sewage lagoons) and the Sturgeon River in St. Albert. He asked me to check it out with him. Upon investigation, we found a buried rusty culvert full of a brownish substance draining into the ditch and from there into the river. I photographed the site for visual evidence and took a few small samples.
On May 27, 2004, I notified the City of St. Albert Office of the Environment that a ditch from the abandoned landfill site draining into the Sturgeon River via a culvert contained an abnormal looking, reddish-orange effluent, with a hydro-carbon, oily-like sheen. Since for years there has been considerable concern about leachate from the former sewage lagoon/landfill sites reaching the river, I asked that the City notify Alberta Environment.
On May 27, 2004, Mr. Burkhart also reported the discovery to the Alberta Environment Hotline.
On May 27, 2004, at 15,45h, AE (Messrs. Terry Peck and Brian Lacey, St. Albert Deputy Fire Chief Dave Martin and crew) attended the site. They turned the investigation over to the City of St. Albert.
On May 28, 2004, the City’s consultants, EBA, took fluid samples. I asked the City that bioassay testing be done to see if the substances in the fluid were lethal to aquatic life. My request was refused. Only chemical analyses were done.
The lab results of the May 28, 2004, sampling (EBA report dated June 11, 2004) confirm that the fluid contained substances of concentrations higher than recommend for aquatic life, namely iron and zinc.
On May 29, 2004, I contacted the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Mr. John Englert) with my concerns and asked that Environment Canada be notified. On June 14, 2004, Environment Canada Enforcement Officer, Terry Roberts, met with area residents Stuart Loomis, Louise Horstman, and me at the site. We walked the entire shoreline along two abandoned landfill sites (the third one is still an open storm-sewage lagoon), noticed several other very obvious seepages and a second partially buried culvert, also draining into the river, as indicated clearly by rust-stained rivulets. Mr. Roberts, after this inspection, felt that further investigation and testing was warranted. Since it had been raining heavily, the pooling water was considerably diluted by then, and he decided to come back later. On June 17, 2004, I met again with Mr. Roberts, who returned with an the EC Environment Assessment Coordinator for DFO, Alberta Division, (951-8758), Mr. Fred Zaal. They sampled two or three sites for testing, including bioassays. The fluids they sampled were very diluted, whereas the first EBA samples were carried out after a long period of drought.
During mid-June, the City also did further sampling, again after several heavy rainfalls, after the additional seepage areas were reported to them. I am awaiting the test results.
Elke Blodgett
July 1, 2004