Rush residents relying on water shipments from state after solar project drilling incident
Rush, N.Y. (WHAM) — Water issues are continuing for some residents in Rush amid the ongoing Horseshoe Solar Energy solar project more than a month after an underground drill punctured an aquifer.
BACKGROUND: Energy company under scrutiny after drilling incident sparks concerns in Livingston County
Sue Swanton lives in a historic home on the banks of the Genesee River in Rush, not far from the project site in Caledonia. She can see it through her tree line — and feel it. She described low vibrations that could be faintly heard from her home’s sunroom.
Swanton said she’s been relying on shipments of water from the state.
“I came back from vacation Feb. 15, and it’s been going for the last month-plus,” she explained.
Invenergy, the parent company of Horseshoe Solar, reported to state officials that the puncture took place during horizontal drilling activity while installing a conduit beneath the Genesee River. The company was later approved to use a hydrophobic foam grout material. Since then, the company has been providing a handful of nearby residents with portable drinking water.
Swanton had only lost water for a couple of days, but even though it’s come back, she said she’s not drinking it from the tap, saying it doesn’t look quite right.
“I still want to know what I’m feeling and why,” Swanton said. “I also want to know now that we’ve got the water sealed, the aquifer sealed, why our water is cloudy, why I get little, tiny bubbles in it that don’t go away.”
Some of Swanton’s neighbors are also living off the water shipments. They say enough is enough.
“We need a long-range solution,” Swanton said.
The State Department of Public Service and Invenergy both responded to inquiries from 13WHAM, but an explanation for the “cloudy” water was not mentioned.
A spokesperson for Horseshoe Solar said
On February 3, during scheduled drilling activity, groundwater surfaced from two HDD bore holes. While not the desired outcome, this is a potential occurrence with this type of underground construction. The water briefly spread to a limited area on the nearby agricultural field. Our Environmental Monitor was onsite and followed established protocols to stop work and notify the agencies and parties specified by our response plan. The incident was reported to the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), who visited the site shortly after the event. Following coordination with DPS, work resumed at the site shortly thereafter. Six of seven total bores have been completed to date. For the two bore holes that required grouting, Horseshoe Solar worked closely with DPS to develop and submit a grouting plan and after receiving approval from DPS, the grouting work was successfully completed over two days, concluding on Sunday, March 8. The approved grouting material is accepted by NSF/ANSI 61 as a safe drinking water system component and is commonly used as a sealant in underground construction. No water has surfaced from the grouted bore holes. In the weeks following the incident, four homes in Meadowood and one home on East River Road experienced low water levels. Horseshoe Solar promptly provided drinking water and worked quickly to install temporary potable water systems for the homeowners. Our team continues to be in close contact with those households and available to provide support services as needed. We’re grateful for the patience and engagement our neighbors have shown. Horseshoe Solar conducted all required pre-construction monitoring of private wells in the project area and voluntarily expanded the monitoring area from the 500 feet state requirement to 1,00(0) feet to provide an added layer of assurance for the community. To date, no additional water issues have been reported. The rotational drilling method we are using at the site does not use impact force. Any residual ground vibrations from the work occurring at the Horseshoe Solar site should dissipate quickly the further you get from the site. Given the drilling method used, any connection between the HDD work and reports of vibrations are unlikely.
When asked about state oversight during the project and remediation, DPS, which oversees the Office of Renewable Energy Services, said in a statement:
ORES inspectors are highly experienced in the inspection of horizontal directional drilling (HDD), which is conducted at nearly ever utility-scale renewable energy project. Encountering pressurized water during horizontal directional drilling operations is unusual. ORES inspectors have visited the site regularly throughout this project. They monitored the contractor’s site cleanup immediately following the incident, and the contractor’s environmental compliance throughout the project. ORES subject matter experts in environmental quality and engineering reviewed the contractor’s proposal to seal the holes with hydrophobic foam grout, and monitored the grouting operation. In addition to its own inspectors, ORES staff have been in frequent contact with the on-site third-party environmental monitor, as well as construction managers and the permittee’s environmental compliance representatives. Once the matter is deemed fully resolved, ORES will review the incident and identify any needed reforms or improvements.