Fire at the Polyrheo factory: tons of potentially rejected pesticide

Nearly three tonnes of concentrated Malathion were on the site of the Polyrheo company in Bolton-Est, when an important fire completely destroyed the factory, on March 28, according to official documents from the Ministry of the Environment obtained by Radio-Canada.

What pesticides very toxic for insects, including useful insects, such as beesaccording to the definition of the Regulatory Agency for the Antiparasitic Watch (ARLA), has been burned or was poured into the environment, according to the ministry.

We really have a mass of pesticide which is exceptional. If there are really two or three tonnes of pure product that spilled, it is particularly worrying.

It is clear that aquatic insects will be in bad shape [si le produit a atteint les milieux humides]. The effects could be very severeadds Sébastien Sauvé, who analyzed, at our request, the inventory list of chemicals which were stored on the factory site.

On his website, theARLA indicates that it is necessary to avoid Any excessive application or any drift in aquatic environmental areasin order to reduce the impacts on organisms as much as possible.

It is also recommended to limit the rate of application of Malathion in urban areas to 0.23 kg per hectare, because higher rate can damage cars. There were 2800 kg on the Polyrheo site.

Difficult to determine the long -term effects … for the moment

The Ministry of the Environment estimates that a concentration of more than 100 nanograms per liter of Malathion can have harmful effects on long -term aquatic organizations.

These are really low concentrations [pour avoir des impacts sur l’environnement]supports the chemistry professor at the University of Sherbrooke Pedro Alejandro Segura, who also analyzed the documents obtained by Radio-Canada.

To date, the ministry has no detailed results of samples of surface water samples taken from the site, including in the Missisquoi Nord river on March 28. Once obtained, these results will make it possible to know the concentrations of contaminants at the time of the fire, and will therefore not be representative of the current state of the site.

An unknown quantity of contaminants reached the riverreplied by email the Ministry of the Environment, which refused our request for an interview. The deadline to obtain all the complete analysis results is unknownspecifies the spokesperson Ghizlane Behdaoui.

And the water table?

The two experts consulted consider relevant to continue the analysis and monitoring of the site, in particular to verify the effectiveness of the decontamination work ordered by the ministry.

The extinction waters were pumped and there was excavation of contaminated soils. [Il faut] Make sure that there is not storage somewhere of these substances, as in the soils, which can retain certain contaminants then release them over timeexplains Professor Pedro Alejandro Segura.

Sébastien Sauvé indicates that it is also possible that contaminants have deposited in the sediments at the bottom of the river. Contamination which could theoretically migrate to the water table, and therefore potentially towards the water supply wells of residents of the sector, still according to the professor.

The Ministry of the Environment also mentioned by email to have asked the site manager A groundwater decontamination ratio of surface. He is, can we read in this exchange, of his responsibility for carry out the recovery of any contaminated material without delay in addition to ensuring the defrosting of groundwater, if [elles sont contaminées].

The ministry tells us that it will not analyze the water quality of the wells of residents of the sector. The owners of private wells are responsible for the quality of the water made available to occupants and visitors.

The owners of the site did not follow up on our interview request.