Harrietsfield residents who are unable to drink their tap water due to contamination from a former auto salvage yard were in court Thursday in Halifax hoping to press for a cleanup of the site.

"What we want is the courts to know that the residents have been impacted. Not just our wells — our lives, day to day," said Marlene Brown, who lives about 75 metres from the former auto salvage yard.

"You just learn to deal with it. You don't brush your teeth with the water. Sadly, I still wash my dishes with the water. We shower, it's a short shower, not even five minutes."

Roy Brown, director of a company that owns the former salvage site at 1275 Old Sambro Road, went to Nova Scotia Supreme Court to appeal a ministerial order to conduct a site assessment and monitor wells. His co-director Michael Lawrence was not present.

Owner contests order

Brown and Lawrence are named in the order, as are two numbered companies — theirs, and another company which bought their assets on the Old Sambro Road property and took over operations in 2005.

Brown declined an interview, but his lawyer Andrew Christofi argued in court that Brown and Lawrence were incorrectly added to the order by Environment Minister Margaret Miller.

Christofi said the two men were added for non-payment of their company registration fee. He argued the Environment Act does not authorize the minister to consider company status when issuing an order, which made it incorrect.

'No action ever happens'

Three Harrietsfield residents — Marlene Brown, Melissa King, and Angela Zwicker — have been given intervenor status in the appeal. They are being represented by East Coast Environmental Law and the national organization Ecojustice.

"It's difficult to understand why we can go through all these court proceedings and there's never any action," said Melissa King, who owns a house near the site.

King's family wanted to move away from their home because of the water issues but was unable to sell. She declared bankruptcy in order to end her mortgage payments and move to a new home.

"So everybody's still trying to have their lives there, and carry on with their daily activities. We're in and out of court all the time, it seems to be successful in court, but then nothing ever happens," she said.

"The orders are never really enforced, no action ever happens. Nobody's bringing water to the community and life is really difficult for the people who are still living there."

Years-long fight

In 2010, the Department of Environment knew the site was having significant effects on the groundwater of the surrounding properties. The department listed boron concentrations above drinking water guidelines and also said uranium and cadmium were found in the water.

The property has gone through multiple owners and operators, beginning as Nicholson's Auto Salvage Yard in the 1960s, then as Brown and Lawrence's company RDM Recycling.

Presently a numbered company called 3076525 NS Limited has bought the assets on the site and is responsible for the site operations, although the owner of the site remains RDM.

In January 2013, HRM refused to license the facility, which shut down. The city said the company had violated environmental laws.

120,000 tonnes of contaminants

In 2010, the province ordered 3076525 NS Limited to clean up the site, but the company appealed. Earlier this year, the environment minister revoked the previous order and issued the two new orders for a number of actions, including doing a site assessment and more well monitoring. Both orders are being appealed.

The contaminants are an estimated 120,000 tonnes of unrecyclable material being held in a containment cell on the property. The estimated cost of cleaning up the site is about $10.6 million.

Marlene Brown said she wants the province to take enforcement action to get the site remediated, but she and the other intervenors will continue to observe the court process. She and some of her neighbours have been using bottled water for years.

"It's heartbreaking. But you've just got to keep moving forward," she said.

Brown said the residents will return to court on Nov. 24, when 3076525 NS Limited will appeal its part of the ministerial order.