DEQ says water appears safe
Although inspectors found petroleum-saturated soil and crushed 55-gallon storage barrels buried at a suspected waste dump north of Hayden recently, the groundwater deep below the site is still believed to be safe for drinking.
“Based on the information we have right now, it appears unlikely there would be any impacts to groundwater,” said Marc Kalbaugh, site remediation manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. “If DEQ believed there was an imminent threat, we certainly would make the public aware.”
Kalbaugh cautioned, however, that much more investigating needs to be done to ensure the aquifer was unaffected by the illegal dumping. That will happen in coming weeks as DEQ sorts through the mess and figures out who exactly should be held responsible for causing it.
Three weeks ago the agency was tipped off by a pair of truck drivers who claimed they were hired in February 2006 to haul polluted waste to the property. DEQ then obtained a warrant to search the property at 1034 E. Chilco Rd. owned by Wayne Galland.
Galland, 44, owns L&H Trucking, as well as several parcels in the rural area 10 miles north of Hayden. The area is above an aquifer that supplies drinking water to most of Spokane and Kootenai counties.
Results from the search warrant were made public Wednesday. The agency would not release soil test sample results, saying they are part of the active investigation.
The initial investigation took place using a backhoe and help from a Spokane contractor. Three trenches and 15 pits were dug in the suspected dumping area, which covers roughly an acre. The sampling was not meant to be an exhaustive search of the property, Kalbaugh said, it was simply aimed at checking the validity of the original tips.
Dark, oily dirt with a “strong petroleum odor” was found in at least four of the pits, plus one of the trenches, according to court documents. Also dug up were plastic pipes, wood and metal debris, wires, bed mattresses, an old tire, a telephone pole, shingles, several crushed storage barrels and an emptied 200-gallon fuel tank.
Galland cooperated with investigators during the search, Kalbaugh said. He has not returned recent phone calls, but when he was first informed of the allegations by The Spokesman-Review, he denied having contaminated waste on his property.
Galland does not have permits to dispose of solid waste or chemicals on his property, Kalbaugh said.
No decisions have been made on the next phase of the case, which could include criminal and civil fines as well as jail time. At a minimum, all the waste will need to be removed.
If further investigation shows any pollution reaching the aquifer, federal laws would require an extensive underground cleanup.