Members of Water Wells First were on hand as construction on the first wind turbine of the North Kent Wind 1 wind farm project began recently off Darrell Line, just north of Chatham.
WWF spokesperson Kevin Jakubec said his group had a planned protest for the day they were told the pile driving would begin, but Samsung, the company behind the project, had trucks and equipment starting the day before.
While watching the process from an adjacent farm, Jakubec said he noticed something that concerned him.
“I sent an email to Don Burgess last Friday that drew attention to the North Kent 1 wind farm site on Darrell Line,” he said in a statement. “The company has a hammer-pile driven steel pipe acting as some sort of a support pile for the wind turbine foundation without any pile cap or means to prevent surface or rain water entering the pipe and causing bacterial contamination risk of the contact-type aquifer below at this location.
“We at Water Wells First have been vocal in the media for the past year that this aquifer is extremely sensitive to disruption. It’s the source of groundwater for the families in North Kent. Our rural families depend on this 12,000-year-old aquifer financially for their water supply.
“We cannot allow so callously a bacterial contamination risk from the very beginning of this project’s construction and allow this bacterial contamination risk spreading across our water supply in North Chatham-Kent.”
In communications with the Ministry of the Enviroment, Jakubec has asked them to investigate the methods being used by the company to build the foundation of the turbines.
“If North Kent Wind continues in this manner of shoddy material preparation and poor construction workmanship, we’ll have two problems to deal with: The spreading of Kettle Point Black Shale particles laden with heavy metals into the well water from the construction and operation of North Kent 1 and now a bacterial contamination risk brought about from failing to follow common sense in construction. No pile caps or other means to cover the pipe was seen on the Darrell Line site.”
Jakubec has lodged a formal complaint on behalf of Water Wells First, asking that enforcement actions/fines be levied against North Kent 1 for allowing ground water to enter the pipes, and the construction of the pipes themselves.
