Yellowknife (Dec 22/06) - About 600 barrels of unidentified sludge will be under investigation at the dump this summer.

The barrels, all 45-gallon steel drums, have been languishing, somewhat forgotten, for years.

Hundreds of barrels wait at the Yellowknife dump, some completely covered in snow, to have their unknown contents identified and dealt with. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

Now they are the centre of attention at the dump. The city will spend $350,000 on them over the next three years to have their contents tested and then disposed of.

No one is exactly sure how long the drums have been at the dump.

"They were here when I got here 10 years ago," said Bruce Underhay, manager of the landfill.

Greg Kehoe, manager public works for the city of Yellowknife, said that some of the barrels have probably been there for 30 years, since the landfill opened in 1974.

This summer, the city will contract a southern company to come up and test the drums to find out what mysterious liquids lie within, said Underhay. Then the city will decide how to dispose of them.

"We're pretty sure most will contain used motor oil," said Underhay.

In those cases, the motor oil will be poured into the giant motor oil tank already at the dump. With a capacity of 45,000 litres, the tank is normally emptied once every four years and should be able to handle whatever comes out of the drums, said Underhay.

He said he doubts there will be any surprises when it comes to the contents of the drums, but that they need to be sure before they start dealing with them.

"I don't expect [anything hazardous]," he said, "but we've got to be sure so we can dispose of them properly," he said.

The work to be done on the drums is part of a bigger project to eventually close down the dump, said Underhay.

"We were coming across more and more things that should be dealt with and we thought a good place to start would be with these drums in 2007," said Kehoe.

In the city budget, approved Dec. 18, $350,000 has been set aside for the drum investigation project - all three years of it.

The work to begin next summer is estimated to cost around $75,000. However, it is dependent on what the barrel contents turn out to be, said Underhay and Kehoe.

It could be a lot cheaper if they all contain liquids that can be dealt with here in Yellowknife.

There are several concerns with the drums, said Kehoe.

There have been fires at the dump in the past, he said.

"Anytime there's a barrel or hazardous wastes around you're always very leery of trying to fight a fire," he said.

Deterioration of the drums is another worry.

"We've been watching them," said Underhay, "and there haven't been any signs of leakage."

However, leakage is always a concern with unknown liquids and that is why they want to get rid of the barrels now, he said.

Dump expert Walt Humphries said he believes most of the drums would have old gasoline or motor oil in them - it's the lack of identification that creates a problem.

"Drums show up at the dump full of stuff and no one puts a nice little label on it saying 'this is what it is'," said Humphries.

After the barrels have been identified and drained they will be crushed the next time the car-crusher makes a visit from down South, said Underhay.

Then they'll be recycled and the era of the mystery barrels at the dump will come to a close.