LEST WE FORGET: DEVELOPERS & BUILDERS INTERESTS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THOSE OF WATERLOO REGION RESIDENTS AS A WHOLE

 

Developers and builders want to make money today not tomorrow and the housing gravy train has been very good to them for many decades.  Just as they prefer to talk about building overpriced and grossly out of reach homes for the unhoused we have our Regional Chair Karen Redman  jauntily advising all and sundry that "...this is not about blame, this is about building a path forward." While I disagree with much of Kitchener mayor Barry Vrbanovic's comments which appear to show his dedication to the development industry, nevertheless he did strike a chord with his wish for all to know what happened to suddenly drop the bottom out of being ready for one million people here in the Region by 2051. 

Mrs. Puopolo and Masseo, developers, both want to believe that the water shortage is an engineering problem not an environmental or sustainability issue.  Minor (to them) facts such as low water elevation readings in a major aquifer are not setting off alarms as they should. I expect that these two gentlemen would,t conced a water shortage until the day they turn on the tap and nothing but dust comes out. Clearly freezing development permits until after the problem is both clearly defined AND if required greatly improved; is the proper action. 

Proper action also includes answering the question how did this problem sneak up on us? Obviously the Region's water department does not have an accurate handle on how much water is available from the Waterloo and Wellesley Moraines  plus from other aquifers in and around the Region of Waterloo such as Bedrock Aquifers in Cambridge, the Elmira Aquifers and more. Also I wonder just how reliable the Grand River is looking these days with the effects of greater extremes in weather upon us. 

It seems to me that often those like ex Woolwich councillor Mark Bauman and Regional Chair Karen Redman who trumpet "I won't play the blame game" do exactly that while pointing the finger at others rather than themselves.  

I SURE HOPE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS ARE PAYING ATTENTION

 

Your master is speaking and I sure as hell don't mean me or any other local citizens and residents.  Scott Higgins, President of Hip Developments Inc., is speaking and maybe he's forgotten the way of the world. You'd think that his company name would remind him though: Hip Developments as in "joined at the hip"  with our local powers that be i.e. regional government. Come on boys and girls democracy functions best when the ruled (us) can sort of believe that we have a small say in things. For that to happen the real powers of money and influence have to work together with our sort of democratically elected representatives. In other words Scott soften your approach when you blurt out "I think it's a reaction to the ineptitude in water management." Of course it is but far more than likely it's not professional water staff who are inept as much as it is non-professional, untrained for anything except shmoozing, talking and politiking regional politicians who are just trying to vote in line with the powerful and influential but sometimes they get confused.  Once you're no longer in the habit of  thinking for yourself but of simply following orders then you get into trouble.

I also enjoyed Mr. Higgins shot at our Regional Police Service. Of course their budgets are out of control and have been for decades. Again you have a bunch of twits rubber stamping police budgets with the financially challenged mayor Shantz as part of the Police Board. At least she appears to have learned how to properly fill out the amazingly simple and easy Financial Election Statements after several tries.

I will say that Mr. Marcolongo of Environmental Defence does make a strong argument to restore the Region's planning authority that was removed by Doug Ford's provincial Conservatives. Mr. Marcolongo's suggestions at least in my mind make much more sense than regional councillor Doug Craig's attempts. There is one point however that I agree with Mr. Craig on and that is that we the public should learn the history of how we got to this point in the water crisis without being notified . Of course this is dangerously assuming that it is indeed the truth that regional councillors had not been notified much earlier.

SOME WATER "SOLUTIONS" FROM THE REGION YES BUT PROBLEMS PERSIST INCLUDING INCOMPLETE ANSWERS

 

Todays K-W Record has another article by Terry Pender advising us of a staff report released yesterday. Repairs and changes to both the dormant Greenbrook water facility and the Mannheim water treatment plant are being proposed. The first would be completed by this coming September whereas the work at Mannheim will tale six to eighteen months to complete. There is also the suggestion to reallocate water from Wilmot Township to Kitchener and Waterloo. Gee I wonder how well that will be taken by folks in Wilmot Township firstly without the 700 acre land grab and secondly with that land grab included.

The Greenbrook wells have some industrial contamination in them from the nearby Ottawa St. Landfill. How extensive the "modifications" would be I do not know but wonder if they are primarily treatment issues. The Mannheim System may have it's disinfection system altered as part of their "changes" or not. Again our regional folks are being very cagey regarding chlorine versus chloramine disinfection between the two Systems as well as whether the AOP (Advanced Oxidation Process) treatment to remove trichloroethylene (TCE)  from the  Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge is problematic as well or not.

I find the so called water "surplus" in Cambridge very strange. Is this "surplus" counting all the contaminated wells and if so have they been "resting" until recently with K-W water making up the difference? Or have Cambridge residents been enjoying the thrills involved with drinking highly treated water that may have added toxic by-products of disinfection included?  For example is the alleged "stink" produced by mixing Mannheim water with Cambridge (Middleton wellfield) water merely the result of so much chlorine in both systems making the chlorine stink worse than we all ready know? Or is it something totally different and if so what is it? Also how exactly are the proposed new pumping station and watermains supposed to integrate these two systems? Pumps and watermains are not treatment facilities, they are parts of the distribution system whether internal distribution during treatment or external distribution from house to house or city to city. Once trust has been lost by authorities either gilding the lily or outright lying to citizens, then their word means nothing.

P.S. I particularly enjoyed the reporter's shots at the Mike Harris family who have done so much for the Conservative Party and so little for Ontario citizens.  Thank you for your service and goodbye.

THIRTY-SIX WASTED "CLEANUP" YEARS HERE IN ELMIRA - FOR WATER WE DESPERATELY NEED

Last Thursday Julian Gavaghan and the Woolwich Observer published the following story titled "Region left scrambling after water shortage poses development challenges".  Overall it is an excellent article and I say this despite recent criticism from myself aimed towards both the Observer and particularly the K-W Record. In the Record's case it had to do with multiple errors in a November 15/25 Record article describing the Elmira Water Crisis and the failed 2028 cleanup. Last Thursday's Observer article delineates the sensitive jurisdictional areas shared between the Region and the Townships and cities in regards to development growth. 

I am somewhat concerned when mayor Shantz suggests that "We will have to work with our development community to ensure new neighbourhoods have the services they need." Woolwich's priority right now should be sustaining services including water and sewage to our established neighbourhoods who have been paying the freight through taxes for many decades. Secondly at least mayor Shantz suggested that Woolwich is working "with" not "for" the development community because it often looks like that. 

The Region of Waterloo has approximately 100 groundwater wells however lots of them are contaminated with industrial pollution including Trichloroethylene, benzene and NDMA. The Region have always found it politic NOT to discuss those MAJOR boo boos. Besides the industrial pollution there is also agricultural pollution from nitrates and Glyphosate as well as salt from our roads. Gravel pits are also a threat to our groundwater although they are rarely denied permits to either expand or dig new ones even closer to potential markets saving transportation costs to the aggregates industry.  

The Observer article also points out the very negative effects our current Conservative Premier has had upon our water sources with less oversight and Ministerial Zoning Orders. There was also discussion of the huge costs of building a pipeline from Lake Erie to Waterloo Region. I might suggest that perhaps further discussion around the alleged impossibility of mixing the two water systems with their different disinfection systems (chlorine vs. chloaramines)  would be appropriate.

THE REGION OF WATERLOO IS TAKING A PUBLIC SHELLACKING

 

Thank God they are because politicians who don't fear the public unfortunately often hold them in contempt. In a perfect world there would be a constant level of mutual respect but that world if it ever was, no longer is. Our local papers here include the Woolwich Observer and the Waterloo Region Record (K-W Record).  I think Cambridge still have a weekly newspaper (Cambridge Times?) and Waterloo (the Chronicle). Certainly the papers here in Elmira have been all over the Region for their missteps from kicking homeless people out of their tents, to amassing a 700 acre industrial site from agricultural lands in Wilmot to screwing up assessing our water supply.  There are lots more including too much money to local police and too little to social agencies and mental health supports for the population. 

According to Luisa D'Amato's Opinion piece in today's Record there will be further answers provided at this Wednesday's Regional council meeting. Luisa is also advising that an Open Town Hall meeting is needed to regain and restore public trust. It would certainly help if it is done properly versus otherwise. A couple of points I must raise from Terry Pender's article in last Saturday's Record: Why is the Greenbrook wellfield still shut down after the ammonia/chlorine explosion there a few years back? If it is simple failure to purchase or repair damaged equipment then shame on the Region. On the other hand if it is due to the long known contamination plume being drawn from the Ottawa St. Landfill to the west, contaminating the wellfield, then fess up. Both Uniroyal and Varnicolor and God knows how many other industries dumped their toxic wastes into that landfill whether legally or illegally. Varnicolor got caught at least once illegally dumping liquid solvents  in drums into that landfill. Secondly we are advised that the aquifer that the Region found last summer to have low water levels was AFB2. Now if that is accurate that is a huge problem. Just look at the conceptual drawing included in Mr. Pender's article.  If AFB2 water levels are low then according to that drawing probably so are AFB1 located above it with only a partial aquitard between them.  This makes AFB2 a semi-confined aquifer versus a fully confined aquifer. Having two aquifers with a direct hydraulic connection would indicate that low water levels in the lower one probably also means the same with the one above. Unless... the Region are back playing games just like CRA did here in Elmira for decades picking and choosing inappropriate monitoring locations in order to fudge groundwater elevations.

A skeptic might also suggest that giving answers to most regional politicians is a waste of time based upon their past useage of data and information supplied to them by staff. Perhaps in the current critical climate they might focus their attention a little better. 

 

GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS REGARDING WATERLOO REGION'S WATER SUPPLY

 

Firstly water table (i.e. shallow aquifer) aquifers are far more likely to exhibit dramatic changes in elevation in shorter time frames than deeper aquifers. They are also generally more susceptible to contamination as they generally have so much less ability to filter out contaminants if they are only a metre or two below the ground's surface. Much deeper aquifers 25 feet to 90 feet not only have much more sand and gravel to filter out surface contaminants but they also often or usually have less permeable clay/silt aquitards between themselves and the ground surface which dramatically slow down contaminant downward flow. It is also very possible that the shallow aquifer (water table aquifer) could be dry due to  lower than usual rainfall with only a small lessening of water levels in the deeper aquifers.

Now of course  a long drought combined with for example high pumping of drilled wells will certainly decrease even the deeper aquifers water level. If as the Region state they know that they pumped their wells during 2023-2024 as well as in 2025 at unsustainable levels then it's obvious that they know what the sustainable pumping levels are and they must NOT exceed them. Ever again for ANY reason whatsoever. This is also known as "mining" your water supply and is a recipe for long term disaster.

Hence drilling more wells into the same aquifer certainly appears like a stupid decision. Other than the Region's long ago decision to artificially recharge aquifers using treated Grand River water; you generally can not increase aquifer capacity. It turns out that for whatever reason the Region's attempts to do so through artificial recharge have not been successful. I don't know the reason why but if they know then get at it and get it working. If the subsurface or other conditions make it unlikely or impossible then move on to other options and solutions. 

There is some good news. For example my house sump pump water levels (shallow aquifer again) has been much lower over the last few years.  Lower to bone dry. Well guess what? We had a serious 1 1/2  day thaw up to 12 degrees Celsius a couple of weeks ago and my sump has been full since. Plus with the increased rain we had in October combined with tons of snow since early November I can see the shallow aquifer levels being very high from here through to maybe May or June. Yes that water does slowly move both horizontally as well as vertically . This vertical flow eventually does hit those deeper aquifers and recharges them. That is good news although I don't know yet if increased rainfall will be a further regular phenomenon of Climate Change or not.

There was an excellent conceptual model/picture of the Waterloo and Wellesley Moraines along with today's K-W Record article titled "Drying wells and Dying wetlands". Kudos again to the Record and their reporter for keeping citizens informed. Now if only that would rub off onto the Region of Waterloo. 

BETWEEN IGNORING CALLS TO DEFUND THE POLICE & FURTHER WARNING CALLS ABOUT INTEGRATING OUR WATER SYSTEMS WATERLOO REGION AREN'T LOOKING TOO BRIGHT

 

O.K. The calls to defund the police were in line with the Black Lives Matter protests and many have suggested that it was as much of a request to transfer funding from police to social agencies dealing with poverty, homelessness, mental health etc. There is much merit in that as obviously police training is more along the lines of dealing with criminals, violent people and perhaps even emergency situations such as car accidents and the like.

Today's K-W Record has two Letters To The Editor dealing with Waterloo Region's water crisis. Neither is particularly sympathetic with those in charge due to past warnings being ignored combined with equipment breakdowns that one would think to be considered normal over time.  The one warning came two decades ago from Harry Swain who wrote a report on our water system making suggestions that certainly in light of today's development freeze were right on the money. I am one of those who is quite angry to find out in hindsight that our so called INTEGRATED Urban System is nothing of the kind. In fact having a surplus of TCE (trichloroethylene) contaminated water from the Middleton Wellfield being unavailable for Kitchener-Waterloo and Elmira isn't all bad. Meanwhile there are dozens of other drinking water wells and perhaps the Region needs to share with residents as to what the other problems are. 

I must also add that I am not remotely upset that there currently is a freeze on development. Funny how all the folks making money from Growth such as developers, builders, landlords, real estate are always full on in favour of Growth, Growth and more Growth. I and many others are not. Water is but one of our problems that increasing populations have brought us. Health care and sewage treatment are two others. Lets make sure BEFORE we remove the development freeze that we are not jumping from one crisis to yet another.