Existing Contaminants

If you have a private well and live in the vicinity of the gravel pit at 19000 Yew Way in Maltby, it would be prudent to have your well water tested as soon as possible for heavy metals, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium.

	March 19, 2004	The Snohomish Health District sends a memo to Rinker Materials to reaffirm that they are not importing inert waste at either the Maltby site or the Proctor Creek site. The memo then reminds Rinker Materials that if the situation changes and either operation accepts materials such as concrete, asphalt, contaminated dirt, or other waste deemed a solid waste or hazardous waste as fill material, then a solid-waste handling permit will be required. download the memo (1.4 Mb)
	October 28, 2005	The Snohomish Health District observes several unusual truckloads of a brownish-red viscous material with a fish-like odor being deposited into Rinker Material's Inert Waste Landfill at 6300 Glenwood Avenue in Everett. The Snohomish Health District employee is told that the material originated at the Tolt Treatment Facility near Duvall, and the material is apparently the backwash solids from the treatment facility's water filters. The material is being deposited at Rinker Materials as reclamation fill. It is also disclosed that this same material was deposited about two years ago at the non-permitted landfill at Yew Way in Maltby.
	December 7-9, 2005	American Water Services conducts tests at both the Everett and Maltby facilities. It appears that Rinker Materials is the "client" for the tests at the Everett facility and the Snohomish Health District is the "client" for the tests at the Maltby facility. Tests at both facilities clearly exceed accepted standards in one or more categories. Please see our matrix near the bottom of this page since it will help you interpret the test results. download the test results (0.1 Mb)
	December 12, 2005	The Snohomish Health District formally advises Rinker Materials of the October 28 event at the site at 6300 Glenwood Avenue in Everett. The memo goes on to discuss how the Snohomish Health District contacted American Water Services for clarification. The memo then discusses that approximately 1,660 tons of the backwash solids have been deposited at the Everett facility. The Snohomish Health District advises Rinker Materials that the waste material must be removed within 45 days, and that the District is still reviewing the situation for the Yew Way site in Maltby. download the memo (0.1 Mb)
	December 30, 2005	Rinker Materials responds to the Snohomish Health District, stating that based on the results of the Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procecure (SPLP) tests and results of the Total Organic Carbon testing, removal of the material in question is not necessary. download the memo (0.1 Mb)
	February 3, 2006	The Snohomish Health District formally responds to Rinker Materials' memo of December 30, 2005. Rinker Materials is advised that the Snohomish Health District does not agree with their analysis, and that the Department of Ecology agrees with the District's interpretation. Rinker Materials is ordered to submit a plan for removal and abate this violation from both sites within 60 days (approximately April 1, 2006), and is advised that an inspection will be conducted on April 4, 2006 to determine compliance. download the memo (0.1 Mb)

I placed the December 9, 2005 test results (for the 19000 Yew Way gravel pit only) into a matrix here for ease of reading. The abbreviation ppm is parts per million, and the abbreviation ppb is parts per billion. I assume that the abbreviation SPLP refers to the Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure.

	Arsenic	14.3 ppm	Tolerance level is 20 ppm.
	Arsenic SPLP	2 ppb	In exceedance of Department of Ecology's Ground Water Contaminant Levels. Tolerance level is 0.05 ppb.
	Cadmium	4.94 ppm	In exceedance of Model Toxic Control Act (MTCA) Method A Soil Cleanup Levels for Unrestricted Land Uses. Tolerance level is 2 ppm.
	Cadmium SPLP	no data?
	Chromium	31.5 ppm	In exceedance of Model Toxic Control Act (MTCA) Method A Soil Cleanup Levels for Unrestricted Land Uses. Tolerance level is 19 ppm for Chromium VI and 2,000 ppm for Chromium III.
	Chromium SPLP	no data?	Tolerance level is 50 ppb (total).
	Lead	23.2 ppm
	Lead SPLP	0.015 ppm	Tolerance is 50 ppb.

We had record rainfall this Winter, and it appears that any of the heavy metals, arsenic, cadmium, or chromium are quite capable of leaching into the soil. Moreover, there is an aquifer in the Maltby area that may span as far West as the Little Bear Creek area (just West of SR 9). I have been told that there was an incident at the Yew Way gravel pit in the 1980's where someone broke through to the water table.

In addition, there are two previous court cases that would seem to establish a trend/history of contaminents at the gravel pit.

• In approximately February of 1988, court case #88-2-00197-7 in the Superior Court of Snohomish County. "...defendant has authorized dumping black gelatinous material into the South pond, which included diesel oil and other wastes. The pond is the surface expression of the local water aquifer."
• In approximately 2001 to 2002, court case #01-2-10297-2 in the Superior Court of the State of Washington. "Plaintiffs' investigation into past uses of the Maltby Pit revealed that the contamination, including oil, diesel fuel, petroleum hydrocarbons and PCBs, was located in the area of the Maltby Pit where an old mechanic's shop building used to stand". This case indicates that a remediation plan was executed at the gravel pit.

How does the possibility of contaminated soil relate back to MXGP's