THOSE WHO IGNORE HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT

Or at least the quote regarding history is something like the title above. Back in October 2004 Woolwich Council in all its' splendor decided that they needed to pass a by-law banning any private use of Elmira's groundwater for personal consumption. Allegedly they felt that local, provincial, national and international attention to Elmira's contaminated groundwater just wasn't adequate. There were one or two local households in Elmira who had their own wells and were allegedly still drinking the water from them. The whole rationale seemed very bizarre to me at the time.

Also that month Crompton (Uniroyal) announced that they were going to be excavating contaminated creekbanks and part of an island in the Canagagiogue Creek where it flows through the Crompton property. The idea was to remove Dioxins and DDT that were adhering to the soil particles and which could be mobilized via heavy rains or flooding in the creek. The initial source of the Dioxins and DDT to the creekbanks was disputed with Uniroyal/CRA's usual logic. No they hadn't been transported there via groundwater. They had been put along the banks via dredging the bottom of the creek. So how exactly did these Uniroyal signature chemicals get into the bottom of the creek in the first place? Well they were transported overland via storm water from various waste pits on the west side. The reality of course is that these hydrophobic compounds can be readily mobilized by solvent contaminated groundwater as well as by heavy surface water flows.

In December 2004 Crompton went back to the well one more time trying to get the Region of Waterloo to agree to again treat their ammonia contaminated groundwater in the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant. The Region did this from 1998 till July 2001. At that point they advised Crompton to get the lead out and build their own damn treatment system. It is now in the works with Yara (Nutrite) agreeing to shoulder some of the costs of the significant upgrade at the Crompton on-site treatment facility. Until then however summer time treatment of the contaminated groundwater is inadequate as warmer water levels are less able to assimilate the ammonia.

Good news for Crompton came late in December 2004. They were able inappropriately to achieve the *Responsible Care" verification. Up until then they had tried unsuccessfully but appropriately on four separate occasions to achieve the standards. Part of the reason may have been the change in leadership with Ron Lackner taking over from David Ash as head honcho at Crompton. In hindsight Ron was simply window dressing and a change perhaps in style from David Ash.

Also somewhat peculiarly a Provincial Officer's Order was handed down to Crompton as well in December. Even more peculiarly, Crompton appeared not to object. Once again for me this is just one more example of private, behind the scenes ongoing negotiations between the two guilty parties (Uniroyal/M.O.E.). The order primarily clarifies details around the proposed new Ammonia Treatment System affecting the treatment of both on and off site groundwater.