Reader Voices Concern Over Solar Parks and Contamination

Dear Editor,

I am writing to voice safety concerns about massive 10-plus-square mile solar parks.

If you have a well dug you have to grout the upper 15 feet of the casing usually with Bentonite. The reason for this is ground water contamination into the aquifer. When Bentonite gets wet it swells up many times its original size. This acts as a gasket between the casing and the soil, preventing any water leaching past.

One major public safety concern with solar panels is the enormous number of poles driven 12 to 15 feet into the ground. This will give ground water and herbicide a free ride into the water table. There are many wells in the areas of proposed solar farms that are 25 feet deep and water levels at only 15 feet that would be contaminated. Also since the ground water with residual herbicide will get to 15 feet without being filtered as it normally would, it can get below even a properly grouted well.

I had a 360 foot well that was not grouted properly and had it get contaminated by groundwater. Once water gets to the casing it follows it straight to the bottom. A lot of peoples’ wells are at or near their property lines. In this case the solar panels could be as close as 50 feet. We don’t want to wait and address all this after we have an increase in health problems and cancer diagnosis.

Brian Sillery
Ladoga