City removing eight buried drums from Wellington Street construction site

Press release.

Construction crews have discovered a total of eight 170-litre (45-gallon) drums while working on a construction site north of Wellington Street. Preliminary chemical analysis shows the drums contained solvents or petroleum-based substances. The City will begin removing the drums for disposal as requested by the

Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC)
.

“The liquid and contaminated soil have been contained, and we will begin removing the liquid today,” said Majde Qaqish, project engineer.

The City is monitoring air quality in the area and performing further chemical analysis to identify the liquids.

The City conducted geotechnical scans before starting excavation on the site. A more detailed radar scan was completed yesterday. The area is a former landfill and the radar scan shows more debris buried underground.

“We’re treating the matter very carefully to ensure there’s no risk to people’s health and safety,” added Qaqish.

The City will continue posting updates about this project at

guelph.ca/construction