Tests find toxins over aquifer
Soil samples from a suspected illegal waste dump above the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer north of Hayden show traces of petroleum and other unspecified pollutants, according test results revealed Tuesday by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
The agency launched an investigation at 1034 E. Chilco Road after being tipped off last month by two truck drivers who claimed to have hauled dozens of loads of sludge and oil-tainted dirt to the property, where it was then dumped.
The property owner, Wayne Galland, does not have the necessary permits to store contaminated waste at the property, located about 300 feet above the drinking water source for 500,000 people in Kootenai and Spokane counties.
“It certainly causes us concern,” said Marc Kalbaugh, a DEQ official investigating the case. No groundwater samples have been taken in the area, and Kalbaugh could not say if the water in the area remains safe to drink.
“It’s not known,” Kalbaugh said.
Although the agency confirmed the presence of pollutants in the soil samples, specific test results and concentration levels of the pollutants were not released Tuesday. Complete results are expected to be made public today as part of search warrant records.
Kalbaugh would say only that “more than just petroleum” was found at the site.
A pair of truck drivers who said they worked for the property owner told DEQ they had hauled dozens of dump truck loads of suspected contaminated fill to the site in February 2006.
After receiving the tip, the agency obtained a search warrant and gathered soil samples on the rural property, about 10 miles north of Hayden.
The truck drivers say they hauled the material from a site near the corner of Seltice Way and Huetter Road in Post Falls.
The area is now used by a cement plant.
Galland, the owner of the suspected dump, has cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation, Kalbaugh said.
Galland did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
In an interview last month, he said nothing illegal was buried on his land.
Galland also said the complaint came only weeks after one of the truck drivers had been ordered by a judge to pay him $4,570 to resolve a longstanding financial dispute.
Nevertheless, the state now believes illegal dumping has taken place at the site and further investigation is warranted, Kalbaugh said.
Kalbaugh, who investigated diesel leaks in 2005 at BNSF Railway’s refueling depot over the aquifer, declined to specify what will happen next or discuss the range of penalties, saying only that the DEQ is “assessing the situation.”