The Chester River Hospital’s most recent attempt to clean up a 25-year-old heating oil spill may have caused the August 3 shutdown of the town’s newest drinking well on Horsey Lane, said Chestertown Utilities Manager Bob Sipes at Monday’s council meeting. He said redeveloping Well 9 could cost the town upwards of $55,000.
With approval from Maryland Department of Environment, the hospital injected 6,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, and later oxygen, into the Aquia Aquifer to grow anaerobic bacteria–in an attempt to degrade and break down any remaining heating oil.
The injections occurred between July and September of last year–but the town was only made aware of the injections this April.
Sipes said the presence of iron bacteria in the well, which caused Well 9 to malfunction, is a bi-product of introducing oxygen into the aquifer. He said the buildup of iron bacteria made the well pump inoperable.
“The purpose was to grow bacteria in the aquifer and convert the hydrocarbon (heating oil) into something else,” Sipes said. “They were trying to start a biological action in the aquifer.” He said the procedure “apparently didn’t work.”
Sipes said the town just learned of the injections in April when the town received a copy of a request the hospital made to MDE in March to end the hospital’s cleanup program, which entailed pumping contaminated groundwater into recovery wells, treating it, and discharging the treated water into the Chester River.
The town responded in June with a letter to MDE and the hospital—critical of ending the cleanup program and expressing concern of the potential unintended consequences of growing bacteria in the aquifer.
“We said “how dare you do this” because the oxygen injections put us at risk for iron and anaerobic bacteria being introduced into the aquifer and impacting our well field,” Sipes said. He also said it was the duty of MDE to inform the town of any possible impact from the oxygen injections before it was approved.
The hospital’s remediation program had been ongoing since 1991 when nearly 7,000 gallons of home heating oil spilled from an underground tank, forcing Well 8 to be shut down.
The hospital’s request to MDE this March cited a $50,000 annual cost that was reclaiming less and less heating oil. In the letter was a reference to the oxygen injections that occurred last year, Sipes said.
“That was the first we’d heard about the oxygen injections,” Sipes said in an interview with the Spy on Tuesday.
Sipes said it was not conclusive that the introduction of oxygen into the aquifer caused the buildup of iron bacteria in Well 9, but he said it was “suspicious” since it is the first time he’s ever known of a well in Chestertown to test positive for the two bacteria. He said anaerobic and iron bacteria can only be present if oxygen is introduced in the water.
He said a preliminary test on Well 9 showed resistance from 35 to 250 feet. “[We suspected] iron in the well,” Sipes said. A “Bart Test” was conducted and lab results came back positive eight days later for iron and anaerobic bacteria.
Sipes also couldn’t understand why the hospital ended the cleanup program after the hospital’s consultant, Earth Data, said that the “natural ground water flow is towards… Chestertown’s well field.”
Sipes said it is very possible the bacteria kept growing long after the oxygen injections stopped. He said vigilant testing will be needed to make sure the other wells have not been contaminated.
He said protecting Well 9 is made more difficult because it draws from an unconfined aquifer, the Aquia, where contaminated water from the hospital could potentially seep through or be drawn through permeable layers of sandy clay. The Magothy Aquifer, where the town also draws drinking water, is deeper and buffered by hard clay formations that better defend the aquifer against contamination.
The town now has to hire a geologist and a well driller to redevelop the well. Tests will have to be run every day during the redevelopment “so we can evaluate the well field,” Sipes said. He said the experts will be able to “determine if oxygen was introduced into the aquifer and caused the buildup of bacterial in Well 9.”
He said he hoped that the hospital was not responsible for the damage to Well 9 and was not looking for a scapegoat.
“We don’t want to know what we can put off on somebody else,” Sipes said. “If it’s most likely that this wasn’t caused by the hospital…we’re perfectly ok with that.”
“But a worst case scenario is [the hospital] established iron bacteria in the aquifer that stretches from the hospital to the well.”
If contamination did occur from the hospital, Sipes is concerned the problem could reoccur after the well is fixed. He said Well 9 originally cost $450,000 to install around six years ago.
The town has sent a letter to MDE and the hospital to request the hospital resume its cleanup program, which ended in July with approval from MDE.
Sipes assured the Council on Monday that the town’s drinking water is safe and was never affected by the shutdown of Well 9.
Alex Smith says
Maybe the hospital should show a sign of good faith and foot the bill for redeveloping. If they’re already used to paying $50,000 a year for remediation then paying for the redevelopment at upwards of $55,000 really shouldn’t hurt. If the hospital really they’re not at fault they can get the money from the company they contracted to do the remediation.
Brian Etterfitz says
It would seem to me that the statements/ allegations made by Mr. Sipes are not based on any fact, just mere conjecture. Why is everyone ready to hang the Hospital. we should all wait for the facts. $55,000/ year is a lot of money, why would that automatically mean that they “should pay more” when it may not be their issue??????? I would be willing to bet that iron fouling is a common issue under normal conditions! The Hospital is a convenient target.
Fred Keer says
Before everyone gets “up in arms” over this issue some statements should be corrected and additional facts brought to bare.
1. The estimated quantity of the heating oil (number 2 fuel oil) release is/was not 7,000 gallons. As of January 2006 in excess of 81,000 gallons of pure number 2 fuel oil had been extracted from the site. Additional recovery since then has increased this number. Therefore, the initial release had to be much larger than 81,000 gallons. When petroleum product is released to the soil and ground water, extraction of the release using primary recovery methods (ie, skimming of product and ground water pumping) will only recover a fraction of the original spill. The spill would likely have been in excess of 100,000 gallons. It could have been much larger. A rule of thumb in the oil industry is that only 50% of the oil in a reservoir is recoverable using primary recovery methods under ideal conditions. This estimate of the quantity of the release is important to determining additional remediation methods (secondary, tertiary etc.) and, for example, the proper amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen to inject in the subsurface. If memory serves me, this release was the largest release in the state not associated with an oil refinery/depot/tank field.
2. The well the town wishes to restart (the well near Campus Avenue) was shut down early in the remediation process back in the early 90′s. This was done because pumping of the well drew groundwater and contamination from the Hospital proper to the well. Therefore this well should show the first signs of contamination.
3. The remaining town wells (town well field below Kent Street) down gradient (if I am remembering correctly) have open hole at fairly shallow depths and might be vulnerable to contamination before contamination would reach well number 9 (newest Horsey Lane well). Since I am not privy to the well logs of the old town well field and the new well (#9) it would be difficult to comment on which wells would show contamination first. The town therefore should be very concerned about the entire well field.
4. Any information concerning the remediation of the Hospital proper is available in the public records at the Maryland Department of the Environment via a Freedom Of Information Request.
5. It may turn out that the Hospital site is not associated with the well #9 failure, however, this can not be determined without well thought out, additional investigation by an independent party.
I would now be very comfortable for those who care to “get up in arms” over this issue.
Ted Schnider says
In my opinion the town is just out to bash the hospital for their decision to merge with the University of Maryland. They did it to provide better healthcare services to this town and everyone seems to hate them for that. They spent a good amount of money trying to right an accidental leak; i’m sure they didn’t purposly dump oil out. The town needs to stand behind their hospital and try to help them succeed. There has been so much way beyond their control and they just sit there taking the blame.
I understand that Sipes says he’s not looking for a scapegoat but why mention the hospital it sounds like he’s trying to do just that.
Leave the hospital alone and let them do their business.
Brian FitzPatrick says
It appeared to me that issues was not with Wipes,although it does seem like he was pointing a finger if only in mentioning them. The point I think was being made was toward those seeking action from the hospital without facts. It would seem to me that the y we considering the hospital guilty of something that has not yet been confirmed is their issue