Health Consultation: Snowflake Ski Area Wells, Duluth, St. Louis County, Minnesota

摘要

In July, 2003 staff from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Duluth regional office contacted Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) staff in the Site Assessment and Consultation (SAC) unit to discuss unusually high levels of heavy metals found in a water supply system serving the Snowflake Ski Area in Duluth, Minnesota. The Snowflake Ski Area is a recreational facility located at 4348 Rice Lake Road, approximately five miles north of downtown Duluth, and is used for camping, disc golf, hiking and biking, and soccer in the summer months, and cross country skiing and speed skating in the winter months. The facility is popular with area residents, families, youth, and school groups, and is operated by a former U.S. Olympic Ski Team member. The MPCA staff collected water samples from the system, and the two wells that serve it, as a part of the continued monitoring of groundwater and surface water contamination at and around the former Duluth Dump No. 1 site. This 24-acre dump site operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, and contains approximately 260,000 cubic yards of municipal and industrial wastes, demolition debris, and potentially hazardous wastes. The Duluth Dump No. 1 is a state Superfund site (MND981529795), and is located approximately 2,000 feet northwest of the wells at the Snowflake Ski Area. Remedial actions completed at the dump site included consolidation and covering of wastes, relocating former on-site residents, and performing groundwater and surface water monitoring around the former dump site.