Field notes, Feb 20, 2002

Field notes, Feb 20, 2002
by Eric Mattson

I Left Wolfe Island early to get to Brockville to pick up Dave Dillenbeck. The E.B.I. felt it was time to get an expert biologist’s opinion on the Montreal site and use his report to add to our upcoming brief which we will be presenting to Environment Canada.

We arrived in Montreal without any problems even thought the weather had been calling for freezing rain in the area that we were driving through. This was Dave’s first visit to the site and he was curious to see the place that he had read about from us and our sample results. The situation was the same as it had been the last time we had visited. The Booms that they had in the water last summer, which really did not impede the leachate from going into the water in the first place were not there. We were told the last time that Environment Canada had removed them so that they would not be taken away by the ice.

The colors in the water were very visible and it was obvious that the leachate was flowing freely into the St Lawrence.

Dave and I walked on to the platform where a pumping station used to suck up what was being trapped inside the boom. There we found the same black concentrated leachate on the shore being washed into the river. The booms that remained in place around this area were still not capturing all the leachate and it was obvious that the current was pulling it into the river.

We walked back up to the road way and I pointed out to Dave the Technoparc site and all of it piezometer wells.

Walking back along the shore we stopped were another strong staining was occurring in the water. There were a lot of animal tracks, high traffic area I guess, Dave also noticed that there had been perhaps a beaver in the area as the trees were downed in that kind of way.

We both took clear notes and I documented everything that we saw with pictures. We left the site to meet with Daniel Green and then drove back home later in the afternoon.