August 02, 2024
Provided image/Bartram's Garden
DEP officials detected hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing chemical, in four soil samples drawn from the public trail at Bartram's Garden. The test results were shared at a town hall following public outcry over the department's lack of communication with the Southwest Philly park.
Hexavalent chromium, a substance known to cause cancer, was found in four soil samples taken from the public trail at Bartram's Garden last week.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials shared the results on a virtual town hall Wednesday night. DEP collected 11 soil samples from along the trail on July 22 after a visitor reported a possible chemical contamination, and tested the dirt for hazardous chemicals. Four of the samples exceeded standardized levels of hexavalent chromium, in at least one case by double the limit. (The standard for residential cleanups is 37 mg/kg, a measurement equivalent to parts per million. The highest reading was 77 mg/kg.) Two samples also slightly exceeded arsenic standards and one exceeded standard lead concentrations, though DEP officials argued these readings were not unusual for an "urban area like Philadelphia."
DEP also tested four surface water samples from the nearby Schuylkill River, but none of them exceeded water quality standards. Hexavalent chromium was not detected in any of the water samples.
According to Julie Miller, a toxicologist with the state health department, health hazards from exposure to these chemicals along the trail are minimal. In modeling scenarios, health officials assumed no worker exposure hazards from soil contact or ingestion. Pedestrians walking the trail should also be safe, she said, with one exception. Children ages 1-6 with pica — an eating disorder characterized by ingesting substances that are not food, like soil — should avoid the trail while cleanup continues.
Philadelphia Water Department officials also spoke during the town hall, which was hosted by state Rep. Regina Young (D). They emphasized that, due to the distance between Bartram's Garden and the water department's collection facilities above the Fairmount dam, city drinking water was never impacted by the leak.
The contamination came from an adjacent site at 51st Street and Botanic Avenue, which was a fuel oil terminal from 1951 to 2021. The owner of the property, Alliance 51st Street LLC, has been working with DEP since 2022 to clean up the site and redevelop it for nonresidential use, following the guidelines mandated by state law. Environmental officials said they will continue to make unscheduled visits to the property to ensure the owner is complying with recommended actions, which include clearing the trail of sediment and installing additional filtration and stormwater buffers. Additional rounds of testing will also continue.
Bartram's Garden said it had also sent soil samples from Sankofa Community Farm, the site's 3.5-acre production and teaching farm, for testing, but it had not yet received the results.
The Bartram's Garden visitor who reported the chemical leak flagged the situation to DEP and the Philadelphia Water Department as early as April. The water department conducted preliminary tests that same month, while DEP directed a contractor for Alliance 51st Street LLC to test soil samples. Bartram's Garden, however, was not aware of the problem until July 15. The Southwest Philadelphia park closed the impacted section of the trail in response, as DEP officials collected its own samples for testing.
Bartram's Garden staffers and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (D), who represents Southwest Philadelphia, expressed disappointment and outrage at the lack of notice when the news broke. Gauthier pressed PWD and DEP officials for the "rationale around why nothing was said or shared with the community" at the town hall.
"We recognize that there's always an opportunity for us to perfect process," said Malik Boyd, director of communications for DEP. "We're committed to that always, and committed to working with the 28-plus agencies who also received that emergency response so that we can better understand who would be on first to ensure that the community is updated and certainly aware."
DEP officials did not clarify whether Alliance 51st Street LLC's relevant permits would be reevaluated in light of the contamination.
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