DEEPER ANALYSIS OF CANAGAGIGUE CREEK TOXIC RESULTS

To date I've been talking about the number of total detections of DDT, DDE, DDD and Dioxins/Furans above the criteria in creekbank Soils and the much lower criteria which have been exceeded in Sediments in the bottom of the creek. Today we are going to examine the actual exceedances of the Ontario Ministry of Environment's Table 8 criteria by specific chemical. That is however only the chemicals that Lanxess/M.O.E. have designated as Contaminants of Concern (COC). There are many more unmeasured in this report, toxic chemicals in the creek.

The 22 exceedances of criteria in creekbank Soils in the Northfield Dr. area consist of six for 2,4 + 4,4 DDT, five for 2,4 + 4,4 DDE, and four for 2,4 + 4,4 DDD. There were seven exceedances for Dioxins/Furans measured as the TEQ (toxic equivalency) exceeding 7 parts per trillion (ppt). These 2,4 + 4,4 designations are the total of the different breakdown products of DDT (ie. DDD, DDE) as well as the total of DDT itself. In the upcoming paragraphs I will simply state the exceedances for DDT, DDE and DDD thusly rather than continue the 2,4 & 4,4 designations. There were a grand total of 96 soil samples analysed. Therefore 23% of samples analysed exceeded the criteria.

There were 17 exceedances in creek Sediments of which one was for DDT and the other 16 for Dioxins/F. Therefore 18% of the 96 samples analysed exceeded the specific criteria for each contaminant.


Next upstream was the New Jerusalem Rd. location (ie. east side of the road). There were 88 Soil exceedances of which 22 were for DDT, 30 for DDE and 18 for DDD. Dioxin/F concentrations exceeded the criteria 18 times. Thus of the total of 192 samples, 46% exceeded the criteria.

There were 85 Sediment exceedances at the New Jerusalem Rd. location. Nine were for DDT, 16 for DDE and 12 for DDD. There were 48 exceedances for Dioxins/F. Thus 6% of the total number of 1,372 Sediment samples had exceedances.


At Station 21 just barely upstream of the New Jerusalem Rd. samples there were 75 Soil sample exceedances namely 20 for DDT, 24 for DDE and 10 for DDD. There were 21 exceedances for Dioxins/F. Therefore out of a total of 144 Soil samples, 52% exceeded the criteria for these toxic chemicals.

There were a total of 93 exceedances for Sediments at Station 21. These were 19 for DDT, 22 for DDE and 15 for DDD as well as 27 exceedances for Dioxins/F. Thus 33% of the 280 total samples at this location exceeded the criteria.


Downstream of Station 20 we had 115 Soil exceedances of the criteria. 28 were for DDT, 36 for DDE and 24 for DDD. Dioxins/F had 27 exceedances. Thus 60% of the 192 Soil samples exceeded the criteria for DDT, DDE, DDD and Dioxins/F.

Sediments downstream of Station 20 had an even higher number of exceedances. There were 138 exceedances consisting of 24 for DDT, 25 for DDE and 35 for DDD. Dioxins/Furans had 54 exceedances. This is a total of 38% of the 365 samples analysed exceeded the various criterias.


Lastly we have the Lanxess property itself. There were a total of 69 Soil exceedances in the creekbank Soils consisting of 13 for DDT, 15 for DDE and 14 for DDD. There were 27 Dioxin/F exceedances in these creekbank Soils. This is a total of 24% of the 288 Soil samples exceeded the various criteria for these chemicals.

Creekbed Sediments had 60 exceedances consisting of 13 for DDT, 9 for DDE and 14 for DDD. There were 24 Dioxin/F exceedances. This is 35% of the 172 Lanxess property Sediment samples exceeding the criteria for these chemicals.



As stated earlier by a Commenter here in my Blog, these sample totals are quite astounding. It is unfortunate in my opinion that the sample locations were not chosen more appropriately to cover the entire 7.5 kilometres of the creek from Uniroyal/Lanxess all the way down to the Grand River. Any claims by GHD/Lanxess that they had M.O.E. approval for their Workplan are likely honest. Any claims that they consulted with all the stakeholders and the general public are just plain disingenuous and dishonest.