Handling of chemical contamination near Bartram’s Garden trail draws fire

The discovery of chemical contamination near a trail at Bartam’s Garden in Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, set off a round of recriminations and finger-pointing about when regulators first knew about it and how they responded.

Since the discovery made headlines last week, state and city agencies have assured the public that the contamination, which has been preliminarily identified as chromium, did not threaten the city’s drinking water supply.

But it’s raised questions of who knew about it and when and prompted a member of the City Council to criticize what she said was a lack of communication about a potentially hazardous situation.

The story begins as far back as April, when an unidentified visitor to Bartram’s Mile Trail raised concerns with the Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about a potential contamination running across the trail in the form of a “greenish liquid,” according to the garden.

The Water Department tested the material and concluded that it was not a naturally occurring substance, such as algae, Bartram’s Garden said.

In response to the visitor’s inquiries, the DEP revealed that groundwater and soil samples from the site had been collected months earlier — between January and May. Those tests were still being analyzed but indicated the presence of total chromium, chromium III (trivalent), and chromium VI (hexavalent), the garden said.

When the garden eventually learned on July 15 of the potential chemical contamination, it immediately closed that section of the trail, it said.

The garden said the leak came from former industrial properties that are privately owned and are not in an area accessible to the public. However, those parcels are adjacent to Bartram’s Garden and its Mile Trail.

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Council member speaks out

Though testing revealed the contamination did not pose a runoff or air hazard, and it did not endanger the drinking water, how the responding agencies handled the discovery drew criticism from Jamie Gauthier, a member of the City Council who represents the Third District.

She described herself in a statement as “appalled and angered to learn that state and local agencies were made aware of the possible contamination in April but did not notify my office, Bartram’s Garden, or any Southwest Philadelphia neighbors.”

“If a constituent did not bring this to our attention, we would not have known and would have been unable to take any action,” Gauthier said.

She urged residents of the Southwest neighborhood to stay off the closed trail section and to refrain from fishing and kayaking in that section of the river.

“This community has wrongfully been the region’s dumping ground for decades,” she added. “This potential toxic chemical contamination is just the latest example in a long history of environmental harm inflicted on Southwest. The fact that for months government failed to act in any way to either understand or clean up any chemicals spilled into this beloved community resource is an injustice.”

Health effects

The DEP planned, starting on Monday, to collect soil and sediment samples and surface water samples from along the bike path and riverbank to determine whether trivalent and hexavalent chromium were present, Bartram’s Garden said in an update.

Inhalation exposure to high levels of chromium may result in nasal cavity irritation and runny nose. It may also affect the respiratory system, causing shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and asthma. Skin exposure may result in skin ulcers and allergic reactions.

The garden, citing information from the state Health Department, said that walking, biking, fishing and kayaking presented a “very low risk for exposure” to chromium and that exposure can be reduced by washing hands or the exposed skin thoroughly with soap and water. It also advised to keep children from playing in soil in the area.

“While long-term chronic exposure to hexavalent chromium can be hazardous, it is unlikely that short-term exposure to chromium at low/moderate levels found in the environment will result in severe health effects,” the DEP said.

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The DEP responds

The DEP said in a statement that it had been working with the “responsible party,” which it did not identify, for “several months to address the discharge issue,” which is coming from a former petroleum tank farm that is enrolled in a state cleanup program.

The DEP said it coordinated with the Water Department and conducted multiple inspections.

“It was observed that the responsible party acted by placing berms across a drainage ditch to reduce the potential for the stormwater in the drainage swale from leaving the site, or reaching the Schuylkill River,” it said, adding that no violations were observed in its inspections.

Once it learned of test results indicating the presence of chromium, the DEP said it contacted the responsible party, which was filing a new notice to remediate the contaminant as part of its cleanup plans.

“The DEP has not received any additional complaints regarding subsequent discharges from the site since the measures the responsible party took to secure the site,” the department said.

Owners weigh in

Alliance 51^st LLC, which owns the affected property, said in a statement that addressing the runoff into the Schuylkill was its “highest priority.”

“While we are not the cause of the problem, having purchased the site as an environmental brownfield, we have been working closely with PA DEP on a remediation strategy as required by state law,” it said. “To be clear, the issue is not the result of any recent spill, but rather a historic issue that was triggered by the recent heavy rains in the area.” It added that it would continue working with DEP experts “to stop the runoff and remediate the environmental issues in accordance with Pennsylvania law.”