Environment minister awards contract for further testing at New Harbour landfill site

Environment Minister Bob Mercer announced today a contract valued at $24,720 has been awarded to SGE Acres to conduct a study on the potential contamination of downstream surface water bodies arising from the New Harbour landfill site.

"Government continues to work closely with the Upper Trinity South Environmental Committee to address concerns which have been raised about the New Harbour landfill site," said Minister Mercer. "Previous testing has indicated there were very low levels of PCBs on the landfill site which are well within acceptable guidelines. Furthermore, there were not any detectable levels of PCBs around the perimeter of the landfill site itself."

Minister Mercer said government wants to ensure that the concerns being raised by local residents are fully addressed and, as a result, has made the commitment to fund further testing. This contract represents the second part of Phase II of an environmental testing program being conducted at the site. As part of the contract, the company will:

• Collect surface water samples from water bodies that may be potentially affected by the landfill site;
• Collect surface water samples from water bodies as required to provide unaffected background samples;
• Have chemical analyses performed on all samples to identify and quantify environmental pollutants;
• Prepare a report on the environmental testing program for submission to the client;
• Prepare and host a public consultation session on the results of the study.

The specific water bodies to be studied include the steady just below the landfill site, Three Corner Pond, Denny's Pond, Tickle Pond, Island Pond and Codner's Pond. The chemical parameters to be analyzed are general water quality parameters, metals and mercury.

SGE Acres Ltd. has started the hydraulic modelling required prior to sampling to determine when the best sampling times are to track the transport of any pollutants from the landfill site to the downstream surface water bodies. It is anticipated that sampling will begin in late July, extend into August and possibly September.

"I look forward to the completion of this further testing," said Minister Mercer. "As with the last two studies, a public meeting will be held to disseminate the results when the study is concluded and a final report prepared."

Media contact: Carmel Turpin, Communications, (709) 729-2575.

2003 07 31                                     10:35 a.m.