Large ditch drains from former sewage plant through Bridges Golf Course and then directly into Starkweather Creek (see above photo)
MEJO’s Earth Day Starkweather Creek report highlights gaps in tracking toxic contaminants discharged into Starkweather Creek from nearby polluted sites, including several in Truax Field on Madison’s North Side (see news coverage here).
New PFAS data from one Truax Field site, the former Burke Wastewater Treatment Plant, was recently released. The data supports our report’s conclusions and recommendations, showing significant levels of PFAS compounds in groundwater–total PFAS levels of over 111 parts-per-trillion (ppt) in one well. [1]
Oddly, just one PFAS data table was posted, without any report–so we have no maps of where the wells are, their depths, etc.–and no explanation of why this data was gathered or what will be done next to investigate and clean up the site.
Burke sewage lagoons drain to Starkweather Creek
A large ditch (often called the “golf ditch”) drains from the site into Starkweather Creek [2]. While the sewage plant was in operation, water was discharged from the sludge lagoons into this ditch. The sludge lagoons were never fully remediated.
PFAS aren’t the only contaminants at the former sewage plant and other Truax Field sites. After finding toxic metals, petroleum compounds, chlorinated solvents, and “fluorinated compounds” there, a 1989 Department of Defense study scored Truax Field high enough on the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) to be considered under Superfund. But this report was buried until we found it in spring 2018.
A UW study done in 2005, and a nearly identical study done by consultants in 2016, found that the part of the creek where the “golf ditch” discharges is more toxic than any other area of the creek.
But as our report highlights, PFAS and other toxic chemicals found at Truax Field have not been tested in Starkweather creek water, sediments or fish. Why not?
Golf ditch flowing into Starkeather Creek
How far could the PFAS travel? Who is exposed?
People in the adjacent low income Truax apartments and neighborhoods, especially children, walk and play along the creek near the golf ditch area. Some catch and eat fish along the creek and downstream where it flows into Lake Monona. PFAS can build up to levels in fish that are thousands of times above the levels in the water.
PFAS compounds are extremely mobile in water—especially PFBA, one of the compounds found at significant levels at the Burke site. In Minnesota, PFBA was found well over 20 miles away from landfills that received wastes from 3M, which manufactured PFAS. The Minnesota 3M PFAS plume has spread over a 130 square mile area. See this powerpoint (pgs 16, 19).
Some PFAS compounds are volatile and have been found in air above landfills and sewage lagoons. Are people in homes, businesses and schools next to the former Truax Landfill and sewage plant—including a Montessori School—breathing PFAS?
MEJO requested PFAS testing at Truax Field and Starkweather Creek in 2018
High levels of PFAS were found at the Truas Air National Guard base in late 2017 and first publicly reported in early May 2018. Since last spring, MEJO has asked city, county, and state officials repeatedly about testing PFAS and other toxic chemicals in Starkweather Creek water, sediments, and fish. See the May 16 2018 MEJO post and emails here and here).
Although our advocacy eventually convinced alders to secure $5000 in city funding to test some Starkweather fish (which may happen sometime this year), our requests that the creek’s water and sediments be tested have been dismissed by government agencies.
On May 9, 2018, I emailed Darsi Foss, then the Director of DNR’s Remediation and Redevelopment Program, recommending that all sites in Truax Field (which includes the ANG base, Truax Landfill, and former Burke Sewage Treatment Plant) be tested for PFAS. On July 2, 2018 I received a response from DNR, dismissing these requests.
In July 2018, MEJO members asked the Lakes & Watershed Commission to test Starkweather Creek for PFAS. See testimonies here (supporting map here), here, here, and here. Our recommendations were ignored. We also asked that a Starkweather Task Force be created. Though members supported this in the meeting, the Chair Pam Porter later said they had other priorities.
In July and November 2018, in meetings with city, county, airport, water utility, and public health officials, we and other citizens asked that Starkweather Creek be tested. Our requests were again dismissed.
Where did the PFAS at the Burke site come from?
The former Burke sewage treatment plant has a long and convoluted history. The PFAS found in groundwater at the site could be from any number of industrial, commercial, and domestic wastes and sludges processed at the site. It is likely from a combination of sources.
Burke sewage plant “trickling filters” (built around 1916)
Below is a timeline and some highlights from previous investigations of the Burke sewage site (most info is from here):
1912-1914: Land was purchased from farmers by City of Madison and Burke plant built.
1914-1933: City of Madison used plant to treat domestic sewage.
1933-1936: Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) used plant to treat domestic sewage.
1942-1946: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) took over plant during WWII to treat military base/domestic sewage.
1947-1950: MMSD re-acquired plant from DoD, again treated domestic sewage.
1950-1978: Oscar Mayer used plant for pretreatment of meatpacking waste because pretreatment capacity at its Commercial Ave. factory site had reached its capacity. Oscar Mayer also manufactured pesticides and plastics there.
1970-1978: An un-licensed landfilling experiment by City of Madison and University of Wisconsin (with funding from EPA) was carried out at the site. Some but not all of the waste was removed from the site (see link below).
1981: Reynolds Company (later Reyco) bought the property from MMSD, hoping to develop it, unaware of the City/UW experiment that had been done there and the remaining wastes.
1980s-early 1990s: Most sewage treatment facilities were razed and buried onsite. Fill material from downtown Madison construction sites was placed in some of the former sludge lagoons.
1995-2000: Some sludge lagoons were still not filled in at this point. Copps Food Center was constructed on a filled sludge lagoon. Bridges Golf Course was constructed to the north and east of the former sewage plant on areas where sewage effluent was spread.
2011: Reyco consultants discovered City of Madison/UW landfill experiment wastes on the site.
2017: Poynette Development LLC purchased site from Reyco.
2018: As of December 2018, remaining waste from City/UW experiment had not been removed.
2019: PFAS testing in February done by SCS Engineers (not clear why).
What Oscar Mayer did when it leased the Burke sewage plant…
° Seven sludge lagoons were constructed on the site, along with settling tanks, digester tanks, trickling filters, and various other structures for meatpacking waste sludge pretreatment.
° Oscar Mayer planted about 50 acres of reed canary grass (now targeted as an invasive species and treated by the city and county with pesticides) on land east and northeast of the sewage plant site (extending north to Anderson and east to Pearson St.).
° The 50 acres of canary grass (where the golf course is currently) were irrigated with wastewater from the Burke plant, so Oscar Mayer could save money on their MMSD bills.
° Sludge was placed on adjacent land (in addition to in sludge lagoons).
° In the 1970s, “sulfur bacteria somehow got into the sludge lagoons at the subject property and caused a stench of sulfur gas. A perfume system was then installed in an attempt to mask the sulfur smell. The system consisted of pipes and vaporizers which were attached to the chain link security fence at the property” (older neighborhood residents remember this stench and the perfume; could this have been related to the Madion/UW experiment?)
° Ash from the coal-fired boilers onsite was buried at the site and used to build roads there.
° Hog hair and toenails from the company’s “hog-killing operation” buried on the northeastern part of the site.
“Imhoff” sewage tanks at the Burke site (built around 1914)
Many other toxic chemicals found at the Burke sewage plant, Truax Landfill, and Oscar Mayer sites
Previous reports from the Burke site (see links below) show that it is contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and other metals, fluorinated and chlorinated compounds, and petroleum chemicals. The Truax Landfill just to the north of the site is also contaminated with a plethora of similar toxic compounds—see 1989 report below.
Though PCBs are almost certain to be present in sewage sludge, past PCB testing was extremely limited and detection levels were too high.
Further, though earlier investigations found significant levels of chlorinated solvents such as tetrachloroethyelene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE) and vinyl chloride (VC), later investigations only did very limited testing for them and recent investigations don’t appear to include them.
PCE and TCE are detected every year in Truax Landfill leachates, but reports dismiss the relevance of these findings by stating that “Low concentrations of [PCE, TCE] are fairly ubiquitous in the deeper aquifers in this former industrial area of Madison and these detections are not related to former disposal practices at the Dane County Truax Landfill.”
Hmmm, everyone is to blame—so nobody is to blame?
In the end, who pays? Us
U.S. military entities that operated at Truax Field since 1942 used significant quantities of chlorinated solvents such as PCE and TCE (and still likely do)—and their wastes went to the Truax Landfill for some time. During WWII, the Department of Defense took over the Burke sewage plant for treatment of the Truax base wastes.
Significant levels of vinyl chloride, the highly toxic, carcinogenic breakdown product of PCE and TCE were found in the past in groundwater under the former Oscar Mayer plant, which sent its wastes to the Burke sewage plant for many years. These chemicals could be from the company’s past pesticide and plastics manufacturing, and various operations that required solvents.
PCE and TCE are “dense non-aqueous phase liquids” (DNAPL), which means that they sink deep into aquifers. Only relatively shallow groundwater and landfill leachates were tested at the Truax Field sites and Oscar Mayer. These shallow tests will not detect higher levels very likely to be found deeper down in the aquifer.
Chlorinated and fluorinated compounds can travel miles in groundwater. Eventually, if they haven’t already, they will be drawn into our municipal drinking water wells. When they are detected, all of us (local ratepayers) will have to pay to filter them out. (Well 15 already has a multi-million dollar filter for PCE—which likely came from the Truax Air National Guard base, though the Water Utility and other public officials will not admit that or hold the U.S. military accountable to pay for the filter.
People who eat fish from Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and downstream Yahara Lakes will be eating these toxic chemicals for decades to come, as they slowly make their way from sediments up the food chain.
By that time, the polluters—giant corporations like Kraft Oscar Mayer, and the U.S. military—have profited or fought horrific overseas wars, and are long gone and unaccountable.[3]
Is this really how things should work?
Reports with existing contaminant data from Burke site are below.
-1989: Envirodyne report (excerpt discussing contaminants found at Burke is here)
–2002: Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Investigations
–2018: October and December site investigation work plans here and here (no new data– summarize 2002 Phase I and II data).
–2019: SCS Groundwater PFAS data (whole report was not posted on BRRTS)
[1] Some results: PFBA (15-33ppt), PFOA (3.1-25ppt), PFOS (5.1-23ppt), PFHxS (1.8-50ppt) and more. Total PFAS levels in wells were: TW1: 111.8 ppt, TW2: 43 ppt, TW3: 55 ppt, TW4: 89.4 ppt (TW means “test well,” totals include J and B flags). The DNR did not post a map of where these wells were or their depths. This very limited data isn’t adequate to understand the range of PFAS levels under the site, and certainly doesn’t define the extent of the PFAS plume under the site.
[2] Dane County owns this land but leases it to Bridges Golf Course, a private commercial enterprise. The “golf ditch” flows through the golf course after draining the former landfill and sewage lagoon areas.
[3] Manganese and iron have also been found at levels exceeding standards at the Truax Landfill. Well 7 had high enough levels of both of these metals that a filter was put on the well several years ago. The Water Utility tells the public these metals are from “natural” sources.
