April 3. 2010

Backgrounder for the
Waterloo Regional Committee Meeting Tuesday April 6, 2010

In 1992 the Ontario Ministry of the environment and the Region of Waterloo publicly and repeatedly offered Phillip Environmental of Hamilton an Indemnity or Guarantee in exchange for Phillip purchasing and remediating the Varnicolor Chemical site in Elmira. This indemnity or guarantee was to protect Phillip both legally and financially from “unknown” ie. deeper contamination that might be found later at the Varnicolor site. Allegedly the deal was in the best interests of the citizens and taxpayers. They wouldn’t have to pay for the shallow aquifer cleanup and the most immediate exposure routes to the toxins, namely the air and the shallow aquifer would be eliminated.
Interestingly enough that deal was put together after the Uniroyal/ M.O.E. deal that was done in the summer of 1991. While in the middle of the 2nd Environmental Appeal Board hearing with multiple parties including the Region of Waterloo, Woolwich Township, and myself as a member at that time of APT Environment; the M.O.E. and Uniroyal bilaterally negotiated an agreement. Those two parties then pronounced the Appeal as over and advised the Appeal Board of Ontario that they had no further jurisdiction and the other parties that they were also out of luck.
Both of these deals were what is known as “sweetheart” deals. While one party (M.O.E.) were supposed to be representing the interests of the citizens of Ontario and especially the citizens of Elmira and Waterloo Region; in fact they were looking out for Number One: themselves. Uniroyal from November 1989 when the south wellfield was shut down, had loudly and consistently pounded home two themes: firstly they would pay their fair share of the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifer and secondly that they were not the only source of contamination to the Elmira Municipal Drinking Water Aquifer. Suddenly in September 1991 they fell mute. They had a deal , financial and otherwise, which included them no longer proclaiming even partial innocence.

Safety-Kleen purchased Breslube Enterprises in Breslau in 1988. With hindsight it is clear that again the R.M.O.W. and the M.O.E. made a deal with Safety- Kleen regarding the purchase. In 1988, allegedly the presence of P.C.B.’s in the natural environment at Breslube was not known. By 1991 , three years later, they were “discovered” mixed in with the thousands of gallons of oil floating on the water table. By 1993 the Forwell series of wells 700 metres downgradient of Safety- Kleen were closed and have remained so until the present time. Both the Region of Waterloo and the Ontario M.O.E. claim they were shut down due to bacteria. Apparently these “bacteria” are so tough that chlorination won’t kill them. Apparently these “bacteria” are much stronger around Breslau than everywhere else in the Region including downriver at Hidden Valley where they are effectively treated by chlorination and or ozonation. The lower drinking water aquifer beneath Safety- Kleen and flowing down to the Grand River and Regional Wells K70, K71 is, according to dozens of hydrogeological reports, contaminated with Phenols, Phthalates, TCE, Benzene and P.C.B.’s. Yet the Region steadfastly maintains they were closed due to “bacteria”.

Next we have Canadian General Tower in Cambridge. This site some day will be the mecca for contaminated sites on the Region of Waterloo’s Environmental Tours Program. We may have Dioxins and Agent Orange in Elmira and P.C.B.’s at Safety- Kleen in Kitchener, but at C.G.T. we’ve got it all. We’ve got Dioxins, P.C.B.’s, Trichloroethylene, Phthalates, Toluene and oh so much more. As in real estate , location is everything. C.G.T. is located right on the banks of our Canadian Heritage River, the Grand. Even better it is literally the width of a roadway , away from the Middleton Wellfield which supplies Cambridge with water. Much to my surprise the 2009 Annual Report for the Cambridge Water Supply System, shows chemical contamination in these wells. I’m not remotely suirprised that the toxins are there, what surprises me is that this provincially mandated program, with it’s inherent weaknesses and flaws in methodology and reporting, could not more successfully hide all the contaminants. Trichloroethylene is the only one which consistently is detected . That being said, through the scientific miracle of dilution, TCE is only reported up to 4.4 ppb., which as any politician could tell you is below the drinking water standard of 5 pp.. Now again clearly there are miracles involved here. With twenty or thirty solvents and toxins in C.G.T.’s groundwater, mere yards away from the Middleton pumping wells, how is it that only one chemical shows up? One method is don’t test for all the other chemicals in the groundwater. Similarily what are known as high Method detection Limits can hide a multitude of sins.

So what is the bottom line here? Apparently we are having some kind of plebiscite in October regarding Fluoridating the drinking water. I do not claim to an expert on the merits or otherwise of Fluoridated drinking water. I do however claim to have seriously studied contaminated sites in Waterloo region for two decades and have read and understood literally hundreds of technical hydrogeological reports. I say to you Regional Council that some of your personnel have intentionally and grossly misled the public for at least two decades regarding the permanent damage done to our drinking water by polluting industries. Furthermore I say to you that the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has also routinely aided and abetted polluting industries in this Region, to avoid both penalties and blame for their toxic messes. Now at this critical juncture for citizens to make an informed decision, it would be far too easy to listen to the allegedly professional opinions of the Region and the Ontario M.O.E.. There are other professional groups weighing in on this issue whose opinions and expertise merit very serious consideration. The Region of Waterloo and the M.O.E. are not and have not been honest brokers , information wise, for decades, and hence their opinions are worthless .

Alan Marshall Elmira Environmental Hazards Team