Only a handful of citizens showed up for a public hearing June 9 on groundwater quality at Hidden Rock Landfill.

The hearing, a required part of the county’s response to the discovery in February 2003 that vinyl chloride and another substance exceeded acceptable levels at two monitoring wells, was held in response to a March 2008 letter to the Utility Department from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Director of Community Development Don Charles said he acted on the request as soon as he became aware of the letter, which was addressed to former County Engineer Doug Harvey.

Charles has been overseeing the Utility Department since Harvey’s departure.

A Proposal for Presumptive Remedy (PPR) was prepared by Draper Aden Associates, Inc.  and submitted to DEQ in October 2005.

The 2008 letter requested additional information to complete the Proposal for Presumptive Remedy program to deal with the contaminated groundwater, along with holding the public hearing.

“It’s our assumption that the presumptive remedies for vinyl chloride are effective,” said Anthony W. Creech of Resource International, Ltd., who conducted the sparsely attended hearing.

Creech said testing of wells showed that contaminated water has not moved out of the landfill area.

“I live east of the landfill,” said Carol Salmon, who lives on Fairgrounds Road. “Is the groundwater contaminated at the landfill?” she asked. “Should I be concerned?”

Creech assured her that testing to this point showed no contamination of groundwater beyond the landfill area.

Ben Slone asked if Resource International had done a physical verification of the data submitted to DEQ. Creech responded that only a review of the documents had been done.

Charles said he became aware of the letter in March, when DEQ’s Dean Starook and Heather Weimer came out to the landfill.

During their visit, they inquired about the lack of a response by the county to the year-old letter.

“I faxed it to Bob Hundley [of Resource International] the same day,” said Charles, once he got a copy of the letter that Starook gave Goochland Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Cecile H. Youngblood. during the March 17 visit.

Charles also called Starook the same day to tell him the county was moving as fast as possible to address DEQ’s requests.

Charles said complying with the additional requests from DEQ would cost the county about $15,000, provided nothing else is required. The county is not being assessed any penalties for the delay in complying with DEQ’s requests, said Charles.

A public comment period on the issue is still ongoing. Comments may be sent to Creech at acreech@resourceintl.com or Dean Starook, DEQ groundwater remediation specialist at destarook@deq.virginia.gov or to the county until June 19.