Opinion ID: 2536409
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: London Towne Condominium Homeowner's Ass'n, supra

Text: The trial court further found that even though the contained aquifer underneath plaintiffs' property was contaminated and some remediation may be warranted, the plaintiffs failed to prove the necessary remediation to be performed on a Class III aquifer or the costs of such remediation. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court's findings regarding the groundwater claim. Plaintiffs' expert testified that the concerns with a Class III aquifer were the effects of the contamination on the nearest receiving water and that subsurface soil contamination was the source of the groundwater contamination. The trial court already awarded plaintiffs $2,408,868 for contamination of the canal. Further, if the soil contamination is remediated, presumably the source of the groundwater contamination will be removed. In addition, witnesses testified that there are no written DNR groundwater remediation standards for non-drinkable groundwater. Austin Arabie, plaintiffs' expert on this subject, did not testify regarding cleanup of a Class III aquifer, nor the costs associated with such cleanup. In our view, it seems illogical to award the landowner money to remediate unusable groundwater, with no oversight by the DNR, when the statute enacted to classify and protect groundwater does not require a cleanup. Further, it is unclear from the record what additional damage this contaminated groundwater caused, beyond what was caused by the contaminated soil. Accordingly, we affirm the lower courts' rulings that plaintiffs are not entitled to damages for remediation of this Class III aquifer. [25]