Monday is deadline to submit comments to DEQ on Willow Springs disposal site

Calcasieu Parish, LA (KPLC) - The first commercial hazardous waste disposal site in Calcasieu Parish was BFI at Willow Springs north of Sulphur. Local environmentalists familiar with the site want to make sure the next generation knows its history.

They are trying to develop more information to persuade the Louisiana DEQ and federal EPA to require more testing to map out contamination from the site.

By boat, they travel the Houston River to the West Fork and finally to Little River where long-time environmentalist Mike Tritico suspects there may be contamination intersecting the river.

Tritico has been fighting the site for 50 years. It was a thriving commercial hazardous waste disposer, but now it’s in what they call post-closure.

“We suspect there might be a poisoned spring right here, so we’re taking some measurements. I have a meter here that measures temperature, oxygen, conductivity, and salinity,” said Tritico.

DEQ records on the site go back to the 1960s. Old-time environmentalists say that since hazardous waste disposal took place in the 1970s, they worry younger people don’t even know it’s there, and it could mean trouble in the future.

Environmentalist Cindy Robertson wants to document everything.

“Forty years ago my father worked with Mike Tritico and the others involved in this hazardous dump site and I wanted to make sure the people in the area still remember this is here and don’t let this go by the wayside,” said Robertson.

Tritico took temperature readings at different depths, hoping fluctuations might give clues about the spread of contamination.

“There’s still a data gap in the 400 feet between Little River and where the hazardous waste pits overflowed and killed Henegan’s swamp,” he said.

Tritico wants DEQ and EPA to require more testing to map out the contamination Tritico says threatens underground drinking water sands and may for decades to come.

Water in the Lake Charles area comes from the Chicot Aquifer, which was declared a sole-source aquifer many years ago.

To read the latest on what’s happening at Willow Springs, go to the DEQ online document service and look up agency interest number 276.