U.
Florida faces health claim over dump site
By
Tracy Swartz
Independent Florida Alligator
GAINESVILLE,
Fla. (U-Wire) -- The news hasn't been good
lately for the University of Florida Environmental
Health & Safety Department, the office
that handles disposal of campus hazardous
waste.
Two
former UF students said last week that they
contracted potentially fatal illnesses from
a university-run landfill that they said
has been used as a dump site for chemical
and radioactive waste. An environmental
report released Friday linked groundwater
contamination to the landfill.
But
Bill Properzio, director of the department,
said his office always has cooperated with
inquiries from state agencies about the
landfill. He said UF has been diligent in
evaluating the site since 1985, and the
recent environmental findings show no new
information.
"I
don't think we're hiding anything, because
there hasn't been anything going on,"
Properzio told the Alligator on Tuesday.
But
Gay Webster and Catherine Good Duncan said
UF polluted the groundwater near a trailer
they rented while attending UF in the mid-1970s.
They notified the Department of Environmental
Protection last week that they plan to sue
UF unless the DEP takes "appropriate
action."
"What
we're looking for is for [UF] to be a responsible
steward of the environment," said Jim
Alves, attorney for Webster and Duncan.
"They should not minimize the problem.
They should discover the full extent of
the problem and clean it up."
Webster
has been diagnosed with a rare recurring
tumor and Duncan has suffered from breast,
cervical and thyroid cancer. At this time
Webster and Duncan are not seeking monetary
compensation.
In
their 30-page complaint, Webster and Duncan
urge UF to identify the type and volume
of chemicals dumped in the landfill and
determine the scope of contamination.
But
Properzio disputes the claims. "[By]
my understanding of the facts, I don't think
there's any connection between their particular
illness and the landfill site," Properzio
said. "Am I shocked someone's trying
to collect from a lawsuit? Probably not."
Properzio
said UF used the landfill for dumping paper
waste and other domestic refuse from about
1964 to 1968. He said disposal of chemical
waste was not the primary use for the site,
now partially covered by the commuter parking
lot behind the UF Hotel & Conference
Center.
After
UF closed the landfill, the Physical Plant
Division used that area to compost leaves
and clippings and mix it with soil. Sometimes
wood and concrete from sidewalks would be
disposed of there, Properzio said.
But
Alvin Boning, a chemist for the UF Department
of Animal Sciences, told the Alligator two
weeks ago that he discarded waste chemicals
in the landfill from 1970 to 1971 when he
was a student assistant in the UF Department
of Chemistry. Properzio said he wasn't aware
of that chemical dumping until Boning told
him a few years ago.
"That
was before this
office was even established," Properzio
said about the Environmental Health &
Safety Department, created in 1974 to deal
with biological safety and hazardous material
disposal. "Today we know a lot more
about what we shouldn't do than we did back
in those times."
When
suspicions arose about the site in 1985,
Properzio said his office contacted the
DEP, hired an outside consulting firm for
a groundwater-monitoring program and started
to sample nearby aquifers.
Some
low-level contaminants were found in the
wells when water was sampled quarterly from
1985 to 1988, he said. When nothing seemed
to change, Properzio said the DEP agreed
UF could stop quarterly testing.
The
DEP tested its monitoring wells in 1997
and June 2003, and the agency found no violations
of drinking water standards. But groundwater
wells showed the presence of benzene, arsenic,
iron and manganese. Benzene, a carcinogen,
was at 24 times the safe level.
"We're
concerned as anybody else is about the fact
that there's contaminant in the groundwater
out there, and the university's going to
take all steps necessary," Properzio
said.
But
Alves said Webster and Duncan have been
waiting for too long.
Last
month Webster's longtime college boyfriend,
Lewis Hurley, died of liver cancer and a
large tumor in his chest. Hurley and his
brother William lived on a property near
Webster's trailer. William Hurley was diagnosed
three years ago with cancer.
"One
of my college friends died last month and
my best friend is now fighting for her life.
Others of us who lived near there have also
been very sick over the years. And it all
may be due to the university blatantly dumping
terrible poisons into the ground and water,"
Webster said last week. "Even more
terrible than that is the fact the university
has lied about it all these years, [it has]
done nothing to clean it up. That's enough
to make anyone sick."
|
