HOW MANY OF WATERLOO REGION'S "BIG SHOTS" ARE POLLUTERS ? SHANLEY ST. KITCHENER

The headline above came to me as I read the glowing report of the family who owned the Electrohome building on Shanley St. in Kitchener. Apparently the Pollock family of Electrohome fame also were involved with CKCO-TV and in founding the University of Waterloo. Carl Pollock was the first member of the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. You know including a former polluting Woolwich mayor (gas & diesel), perhaps there should be a Waterloo Region Hall of Shame for all our world class polluters. Rubber companies, chemicals, furniture, automotive parts, municipal gasworks, service stations; the list is quite extensive. Could you get right on this please Ken?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following story titled "Former Electrohome site hitting market". Just for the record this former Electrohome site is not the only one that has polluted both soil and our groundwater. To this day there are low level solvents (TCE) in the Kitchener Parkway Wellfield located near a former Deilcraft plant.

Electrohome's Shanley St. site is contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons as well as with Trichloroethylene (TCE). TCE is a common parts degreaser and solvent used for industrial cleaning of machinery, metals and apparently in some paint and finish shops. It was the culprit which caused mass poisonings in the Bishop St. community in Cambridge a decade ago. The Ministry of Environment are apparently involved in indoor air sampling in nearby homes around the Shanley St. area. I wonder how many residents there know how far away from the source that TCE via vapour intrusion through basements can enter homes and cause toxic effects?

In Cambridge residents suffered long term negative health effects and some even lost their lives due to TCE vapours in their homes. The cleanup is still ongoing. Shanley St. residents with questions should contact Debbie Vitez of Cambridge. She also runs the Cambridge Advocate website (See the link, above right).