Hamilton International Airport president and chief executive officer Richard Koroscil and Environment Hamilton officials agreed to share information to determine where toxic contaminants are leaking from the airport and into the Welland River tributary system.

The verbal agreement was made April 22 after Dr. Joe Minor a biologist and director of Environment Hamilton, revealed a test on a sediment sample taken near a water outflow near the airport beside Airport Road that found “extremely” high levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Minor, who collected the one sample April 9, and had it tested by a private firm, Maxxam, found the sediment contained 170 parts per billion of PFOS. Minor said the result is more than three times the highest recorded levels in sediment that have been found in Lake Ontario. It cost EH $300 to conduct the sample, said Minor.

“The PFOS contamination coming off the airport property is active as we speak,” said Minor, speaking to reporters at the site of where he took the sample, with the airport property in the background.

“This is an active and on-going spill.” He said the surrounding land is in a sensitive groundwater recharge area, so it’s possible that the PFOS could “easily” seep into the groundwater.

“This is a major concern that needs to be addressed,” said Minor.

Minor said once he received the test results, they were “so alarmingly high” he immediately informed the MOE.

But he remains critical of the ministry, saying they “move at a snail’s pace” when it comes to investigating and testing contaminate material.

“The MOE hasn’t done much of anything,” he said.

“And in the meantime this material continues to flow off the airport, continues to contaminate the groundwater.” PFOS has been used in firefighting foam and was added to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in May 2009 due to its persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic nature.

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and the Ontario environment ministry has been monitoring fish in the Binbrook Reservoir for toxins since 2009.

The province’s sport fish contaminate monitoring program revealed in its annual fish guide for 2011-12 that high levels of PFOS have been found in largemouth and smallmouth bass, black crappie, brown bullhead and common carp in the reservoir. The chemical has also been found in turtles.

Spokesperson Jennifer Hall confirmed the MOE has not conducted any testing for PFOS until this year. The MOE is scheduled to begin testing the tributaries of the Welland River, including the headwaters in Mount Hope starting in early May.

Minor urged Koroscil and other airport officials to “come clean” on the PFOS source of the contamination.

Based upon the test, and other ancillary data, Minor said it is “clear” the airport is the source of the PFOS that has contaminated Binbrook Reservoir. He said the water that was flowing from the airport land into the culvert, will find its way into the Welland River, and eventually into the reservoir.

MOE officials have refused to identify where the source of the PFOS is coming from until after they conduct further tests.

Koroscil, who attended the media conference, said he didn’t know why the airport was the source of the PFOS. He said the airport fire department no longer uses foam containing PFOS, and firefighting exercises are not conducted off site.

“We know that for certain,” he said. “We don’t store (PFOS). If it was here, it may have been before then. We don’t know. That is what we are trying to find out. I’m not trying to hide anything.” Hamilton public health officials will begin “as soon as possible” to test some private wells and irrigation ponds in the Glanbrook area.

Minor said he was prompted to conduct the test at the airport after the MOE refused to do the test.

via HamiltonMountainNews.com: News: Story: Test finds “on-going spill” from airport.