A recycling firm based in West Windsor is proposing to do just that at a 22-acre plant in Falls Township, Bucks County, hauling an estimated 175,000 tons of hazardous materials by train and truck every year to a site that is in downstream from the drinking-water supply for thousands of people.
It's an alluring concept: turning industrial liquid waste into clean water.
A recycling firm based in West Windsor is proposing to do just that at a 22-acre plant in Falls Township, Bucks County, hauling an estimated 175,000 tons of hazardous materials by train and truck every year to a site that is in downstream from the drinking-water supply for thousands of people.
What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, warns the Philadelphia Water Department, which recently completed a computer simulation that found that a chemical spill at the treatment plant Elcon Recycling Services is looking to build could have a disastrous effect way beyond the perimeters of the proposed building.
Actually, the term the analysis used was "catastrophic."
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"The water department's computer simulation makes it clear - chemical leaks, a spill or an accident so close to the Delaware River could threaten the drinking water for millions of people in Philadelphia and South Jersey," Fred Stine, citizen action coordinator of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said in a news release.
The advocacy group, established in 1988, raises awareness about environmental issues affecting the 330-mile waterway.
Stine's organization and others have joined to urge the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to deny Elcon's request for a permit to build the plant, citing concerns that the legacy of a possible spill at the facility would linger for days, if not longer.
"Where are those hazardous chemicals in the river in four days - Wilmington? Salem?," questioned Betty Tatham, vice president of Issues and Action with the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. "That cannot be acceptable to PADEP."
Not only drinking water, but also jobs and recreation would be imperiled, Tatham warned.
In Elcon's defense, company advisor Rengarajan Ramash said earlier this year that the facility under consideration will be a completely sealed system, "to the point there are no odors coming out."
But we're sobered by the water department's blunt warning that "the Elcon facility will be attracting regional hazardous waste via railways and highways into one of the most densely populated areas on the East Coast."
The water department has requested that Elcon provide more information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials via regional waterways. That's a reasonable demand, given the enormous risk involved.
Accidents happen. Spills happen. Leaks are a constant danger. We don't think anybody is over-reacting by pointing out the very real threat posed by placing a hazardous treatment plant so close to a potable water source.