Sludge from Portland Maine, destined for processing by GSI in Quebec Canada dumped in New Hamphsire.
Portland Maine sludge (formerly lime stabilized) is apparently the sludge
implicated in the lawsuit against Synagro after the death of Shane Connor
in 1995. Synagro paid out the family of the dead boy.
Concern Arises over Events
Following Sludge Spill
By Claire Lynch and Karen Harrigan Ladd , Colebrook Sentinal
Worried about health and the safety of her water, Jackie Hinds of Millsfield spoke at length with the News
and Sentinel about the sludge truck which overturned across from her home on the morning of Saturday,
July 26. Eighteen tons of sludge, or treated human wastewater products, were dumped across Route 26
and past the edge of the road, coming within ten feet of wetlands opposite Jackie's residence. The house
is currently rented to Ingo Ahrens, and Jackie hopes it will someday be a home for her son, John, who is
currently serving in the Marine Corps.
There were some things that happened, she said, mixups down the line, which resulted in the mess sitting
on the ground over the entire weekend. It should have been picked up within 12 hours, she later learned;
she said she was "scared to death" that contaminants from the waste would travel through the ground
water to the home's water source. "Come Sunday I was pretty panicky," she said. "I thought, 'My God,
my God, my God, this stuff is just seeping into the ground,' and it had rained on Sunday night."
Water Pollution Sanitarian Tim Sweatt, of the Department of Environmental Services¹ Residuals
Management section, visited the site of the accident on Monday. He reported that all 18 tons of the sludge
was removed by JNL Construction of Errol and put into a 50-yard trailer provided by Jean-Guy Perras,
Inc., and GSI Environment, which owns the truck involved in the accident. The company holds the
contract with the city of Portland, Maine, from where the sludge originated. Also at the site that day were
Rick Triess of the Gorham DES office, Fish and Game Officer Mike Moody, Transport Dispatcher for
GSI Environ-ment Steve MacEachern, Sylvain Robidas, the driver for Jean-Guy Perras, Inc., Clifford
"Butch" Lane of JNL Construction, and Ms. Hinds.
Mr. Sweatt reported that on Monday, two to three inches of topsoil were removed, the remainder of the
spill site was limed and clean fill was brought in. Sludge-covered vegetation and soil that was removed
from the embankment was replaced with clean loam. Grass seed was planted and covered with hay to
prevent erosion.
Did the hauler immediately take action and contain the spill? Mr. Sweatt's answer was "yes." But the
manager of the Residuals Management Program, Dick Flanders, said that an immediate response to the
site was not made because the hauler, Jean-Guy Perras, Inc. of Fleurimont, Quebec, was looking for
authorization. "It wasn't clear in this case," Mr. Flanders said. "There seemed to be a concern that they
needed somebody's permission to start the cleanup."
The sludge, which comes from the wastewater treatment facility in Portland, is normally hauled to
Quebec to be processed, bagged and resold as fertilizer. A July 31 letter from the DES to the Jean-Guy
Perras company and GSI Environment stated that more tests would be completed on the site to ensure
that the spill was cleaned properly. The letter also included the proposed N.H. Code of Administrative
Rules for Sludge Management.
These proposed rules, Mr. Flanders said, constitute a revision of the DES's current rules on sludge
management. "We realized that we didn't have a lot of details in the rules and that we needed to tighten
up some things," he said. "It's a long process."
In hindsight, he said, the mess should have been cleaned up sooner. "I can understand her concern," he
said, referring to Mrs. Hinds. "Whatever kind of spill you have, you want to get it out of there as soon as
possible. That didn't happen until Tim Sweatt went up there on Monday. I talked to the dispatch up there
on Saturday about getting some lime put down. My main concern was pathogens and odors, but from
what I could tell, that (placing lime) wasn't done until Monday either."
Mr. Flanders went on to explain that there is no time constraint-12 hours or otherwise-dictating when a
site should be cleaned up, but he did admit that this site may have sat for too long. Mr. Sweatt returned to
the site yesterday (August 5) to test the soil and conduct an independent test on the Hinds' water supply,
as requested by Jackie Hinds. The site will not be classified as "cleared," he said, until the fecal coliform
sample that he retrieved is tested as clean.
Tested or not, Jackie Hinds said that she will continue to worry about her water supply. She explained
that she was told by the home's former owner, Bob Andrews, that a vein travels to the home's water well
from the wetlands where the sludge landed. The point well is under the home and only 18 feet deep. "I'm
going to worry about this for years," she said. "I don't want this to happen to anyone else. DES in
Gorham (Rick Treiss) said that if this had happened in Berlin or Gorham it would have been cleaned up
within 12 hours. The North Country needs to be taken care of, too. We need to be covered and know
that we're going to be okay."
(Issue of August 6, 2003)
