FeedsPark is packed with problems
Contamination in Central City Park in Westland is even more widespread than originally found, according to testing by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).
Results of testing performed in April and May were released by MDEQ representatives on Aug. 8.
The park was closed last year due to concerns about the presence of heightened lead levels on the land, which had been used as a dumping ground by the Wayne County Roads Commission from the 1940s-1970s. The county-owned land has been leased to Westland since the late 1970s.
As investigations into the history of the site continued, documents were recovered that indicated the former Nankin Township (now Westland) had used part of the site as a landfill while a 1971 photograph showing 55-gallon drums littered across the land prompted concerns about possible industrial waste.
The meeting last week provided Wayne County and Westland officials with the results of geophysical searches, boring samples, and groundwater samples taken in April and May.
The results were both better and worse than originally reported.
“The contamination is a little more widespread than we expected,” said Jim Sygo, deputy director of the MDEQ. “We did find a number of different compounds and a number of heavy metals. The good news is most of it is subsurface.”
Sygo indicated that further study may be needed to address the situation involving the possible movement of contaminated groundwater, but he added that since well water is not used within the city, the situation doesn’t impact drinking water.
Sygo said the MDEQ still needs to explore the issue of methane gas created by the decomposing landfill materials—particularly the possibility of off-site migration of the gas—since it was recovered in every sample taken in levels ranging from 1-81 percent.
There was some good news, though. Although arsenic was found to exceed residential direct contact criteria in eight soil samples, the MDEQ found that all were “below naturally occurring arsenic levels typically found in Wayne County.” Pesticide levels were below residential direct contact standards, too.
“From our point of view, the key finding is that they didn’t find any problem with industrial waste,” said assistant Wayne County Executive Alan Helmkamp. There was no sign of the 55-gallon drums filled with waste that had been depicted in the photograph.
Helmkamp said that he expects Wayne County to expand upon the original proposal for a geo-textile barrier covered in clean soil to keep the elements of concern below the surface and out of contact during normal park usage.
“We had a remediation plan on the table when that photograph came to light,” he said. “We’re going to start there.”
There will need to be changes, though. At a minimum the area covered would need to be broadened since the amount of the land involved is larger than the original plan recognized, he said.
“Both the city and the county have some responsibilities,” he said. “We don’t want to wait years to take of this.”
Sygo, however, said that due to the remaining variables he was unsure what form an acceptable remediation would take.
Further information is available on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality web site, www.michigan.gov/deq.
