A full eight years after the discovery of toxic contamination from Hamilton’s airport flowing into the Welland River and Lake Niapenco, a work plan to contain and monitor its source is being developed. The city will pay $100,000 this year for the project intended to “specify containment and monitoring activities to prevent further surface water discharges of PFOS contamination” that is continuing to cause multiple fish consumption warnings.
Perfluoroctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is a flame retardant used in the 1980s at the airport’s fire training pad. It is a persistent organic pollutant that has been connected to breast cancer, kidney disease, ADHD and suppression of the human immune system. Phased out of production in 2003 and prohibited across Europe more than a decade ago, in 2009 it became only the second chemical ever banned in Canada.
Lake Niapenco, also known as the Binbrook Reservoir, is the main feature of a popular recreational fishing, boating and swimming area operated by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority just north of Binbrook. In 2009 PFOS was discovered in high concentrations in turtles living in the reservoir. That resulted in fish consumption advisories for Lake Niapenco and the Welland River that were published in early 2011.
Independent testing by Environment Hamilton then traced the source to the airport fire pad. The citizen group uncovered world-record concentrations in a tributary of the Welland River flowing under Airport Road. That led to promises of action but tempered with arguments over who should pay the bill.
The warnings are still in place for nine fish species found in Lake Niapenco including large and smallmouth bass, crappie, pike, pumpkinseed and catfish. For several of those species the province recommends zero consumption by children and by women of child-bearing age.
The PFOS warnings for some species extend downstream all the way to the Welland Canal. The implications of the toxicity are still being evaluated in a Transport Canada risk assessment promised for late this year or early in 2019 which may lead to a cleanup plan.
The complicated ownership and management history of the airport, together with uncertainty about when the PFOS contamination took place, have generated arguments about who is responsible for the cleanup costs as well as some of the delay in doing the work. Some steps were taken in 2011 to try and prevent further flows into tributaries of the Welland River.
A staff report provided last week to the Airport advisory sub-committee recommends funding on-going monitoring and contaminant storage, new consultant costs, as well as “current and continued government relations and public relations initiatives with all levels of government.”
The monies are being drawn from the annual lease payments by Tradeport International, the private company that in 1996 won a 40-year contract to operate the airport. Under the terms of the agreement, lease payments to the city calculated as a percentage of operating profits began a decade later.
But only half of those rental fees end up in city coffers. One quarter must be spent on airport advertising and the other quarter goes into a reserve fund for capital projects at the airport. That’s what is being tapped for this year’s PFOS work to meet demands of provincial environmental authorities.
Other 2018 spending fully covered from the reserve fund includes $40,000 to measure volumes in creeks crossing the 1600 acre airport property and $50,000 to determine exactly how much the airport is discharging into the city’s sanitary sewers under an “over-strength” agreement. Another $50,000 is topping up the $300,000 previously provided for a stormwater management facility that is “intended to provide sustainable on-site treatment of collected water, provide for discharge to natural bodies of water with adherence to permitted discharge standards and reduce large volumes of water to the city sewer system.”
In recognition of the “significant influence” that the airport has on the surrounding area, a Mount Hope Community Investment Fund is being established with an initial contribution of $30,000 – but it also is coming entirely from the city’s reserve fund. The monies are to be “made available for community projects such as parks or community centres and other community related initiatives to benefit the residents of Mount Hope.”