Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure spokesperson Jeff Knight said the work underway at the former ministry works yard at 51 Francois Lake Drive is part of the on-going remediation process.
He said, "Small areas of the site that were identified as having the potential for having contaminated soil have been excavated and the soil that was removed is undergoing a bio-remediation process. The soil near the water table has been replaced with clean pit-run gravel and water testing will continue."
As reported in the Lakes District News edition of Dec. 14, 2011 the eight acre site is now being administered by the Ministry of Citizens Services on behalf of the province.
The site was found to be contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, which can include hexane and benzene as well as other constituents of petroleum products.
Site investigation undertaken in 1993 first identified the contamination, however since then, remediation efforts have been undertaken including soil excavation and the installation of a groundwater containment system.
During 2010 the system was reevaluated and as a result, additional groundwater monitoring wells were installed, the system design was modified and the permit was modified in February 2011 to reflect the changes. The updated system has been in operation since July 2011. The site is one of three brownfield sites targeted by Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs Tourism and Innovation as a potential for tourism related industry as part of the Ministry’s economic recovery initiatives for the area.