Geologists descended on Fort Myers' contaminated South Street dump Wednesday to re-sample the groundwater from 10 wells on and off the site.
High readings last December suggested arsenic from contaminated sludge on the site had migrated into the neighborhood groundwater. New tests could change that picture, GFA International consultant Scott McManus said.
"When you look at sites in different seasons, on a quarterly basis, it gives you more data to make your conclusions," said McManus, whose firm the city hired for an assessment that has cost over $200,000 to date.
"What if all the wells are clear right now?," he said. "I've seen some strange things happen."
"What if" is a big question, not only for the city's cleanup options but also for the outlook of a federal lawsuit filed last month by residents' attorneys.
The city maintains it doesn't have to clean up the site but will do it voluntarily. The lawsuit, if successful, would make it a requirement, and likely more costly.
The state Department of Environmental Protection pressed City Manager Saeed Kazemi last Friday to make "a more robust effort" to submit a removal plan due two weeks ago.
The city bought the 17 residential platted lots from Lee County in 1962 to dump the sludge from its water treatment plant. While it kept dumping, a neighborhood grew around it. Generations of residents didn't know it was potentially laced with arsenic until The News-Press reported it last June.
Ralf Brookes, who represents a number of residents, said more testing is a good thing but doesn't want to see it end there.
"We're glad they're out there, but we want them to come back in the rainy season because historically the highest levels have been found then," Brookes said.
While the DEP set May 2 as the new deadline for the city's cleanup plan, it's not insisting on its usual requirement for expanded testing right now.
Normally when contamination is found offsite, more testing must be done before the cleanup to delineate, or trace, how and where the toxin has spread.
"We'll see what the new samples show," McManus said. "It's hard to delineate something if you can't see it."
Brookes thinks it needs to be done now, not later.
"There already is something to delineate," he said, referring to December's arsenic spikes. "Remember, this sludge has been on the property 40 years. A lot of it has already leached out of the soil and is in the groundwater."
His team will push for expanded tests and do their own regardless of what the city does, the attorney said.
The DEP assured it will get done.
"The city will still be required to continue onsite and offsite sampling to ensure complete remediation," said DEP spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller, "and to help ascertain whether the sludge is the source of the offsite arsenic levels or if the arsenic is from another source or naturally occurring."
Next steps
The new sample results should be available within two weeks.
The city is expected to file a response to the residents' lawsuit by Friday.
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