SOME OF THE CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENTS IN OUR WATERLOO REGION GROUNDWATER

TCE is very popular.  Trichloroethylene  can be fatal as a number of persons in the Bishop St. community of Cambridge have learned the hard way. Usually however it leads to years of sickness and ill health first. Dinoseb is some sort of pesticide that we were advised caused the contamination in the northern part of Cambridge. Plasticizers and phthalates have been found in the Grand River and the groundwater at the south end of Cambridge. TCE is also in the same groundwater right beside the Grand River. 1,1,2 Trichloroethane has been found in the groundwater between Bishop St. and the Grand River also throughout the Bishop St. community.

Waterloo has been blessed with TCE in their groundwater and the major wellfield near the downtown. Obviously with coal tar constituents nearby it's difficult to believe that some of them (PAHs?) haven't also been dissolved and mobilized into the wellfield. The same goes for the coal tar found on Gaukel St. in Kitchener by the very old post office. 

Speaking of Kitchener we have TCE in a number of wellfields. It is combined with some other VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that freshened the air inside a former local tire factory. Many workers paid the price for working there. More exotics include P.C.B.s which are better known as floaters on the water table i.e. LNAPLS or light non aqueous phase liquids. Nevertheless they have a small solubility in order to add spice to the groundwater's flavour. Chlorinated solvents as well as oil and gas PHCs (petroleum hydrocarbons) also add to the groundwater mixture between Fountain St. and the Grand River near Breslau.

Elmira literally has dozens to hundreds of chemicals in their groundwater although our authorities have only focused on NDMA, chlorobenzene and ammonia. Lots more PHCs in Elmira as well as Heidelberg. Probably low levels of DDT and Dioxins are also dissolved in the groundwater here.

This is but a sprinkling of the variety available in our groundwater. Let's not forget Glyphosate (Round Up), salt and Nitrates. Lots for everybody  

IS IT RUDE TO SUGGEST PUBLIC HANGINGS IN OCTOBER INSTEAD OF AN ELECTION?

 

Well at least Canada is civilized enough (so far) to cause abhorrence and shock at the title above. That said I just bet that by the end of this post there may just be a few who think it's not that bad of an idea. A little radical and a lot permanent, regardless.

Yesterday's post painted the broad strokes. We have way too much salt, nitrates, pesticides and solvents in our groundwater.  Yes it is fair to suggest that the Region of Waterloo are trying to educate the public about the health threats from two of them namely salt and pesticides. Good but nitrates is at least a little verboten (forbidden) to lecture about because after all it's our farmers who feed us and the world. Politically a no-no. Nitrates are very bad for our older citizens especially those with heart problems. Have we forgotten cryptosporidium I wonder. That's a virus I believe found in cattle crap (dung).  It actually killed several people here in Waterloo Region in the early 1990s. Cattle doing their business in and along rivers and creeks introduced it into the water supply eventually through the Grand River at Mannheim which golly gosh our authorities hadn't considered that special treatment was needed.

The really big one however is solvents which also could include some chemicals also used in pesticides although the Region's focus on pesticides has been primarily garden and lawn overuse. Back to solvents. The following wellfields have measurable, concerning levels of toxic chemicals from industry in them. By the way if you think going after agriculture/farmers is a political no-no; Waterloo Region would prefer to cut off your heads rather than point the SHAME finger at our local industrialists and major polluters. Here goes:    Greenbrook, Parkway, William St., Strange St., Pompeii, Erb St., Middleton, Elmira still!, plus one or two more in Cambridge which have temporarily slipped my mind.  

The business/corporate names include  Ciba-Geigy, Northstar Aerospace, Cnd. General Tower, Canbar, Sunar, possibly the former Seagram's, likely the former Uniroyal Tire on Strange St. (Kit.), Kaufman, Budd Automotive, Safety-Kleen (Breslube), Uniroyal Chemical/Lanxess Canada (Elmira), Strauss Fuels (Elmira), former Strauss service station (Heidelberg),  Kitchener Gas Works (Gaukel St.), Varnicolor Chemical (Elmira), Regina St. Waterloo (coal tar).

Now I've reviewed this list in my memory banks and I'm sure that I've missed several others and as well  I'm wondering now about Kaufman Rubber. Let me transfer Kaufman Rubber at least for now onto the suspected list only, along with B.F. Goodrich formerly at the corner of King and Victoria St. in Kitchener.    

Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the Grand River. Our municipal, regional and provincial politicians have all been grossly negligent in protecting our groundwater mostly originating from the Waterloo Moraine on the west side and a little north of the tri-cities and actually partially extending under them. In reference to yesterday's Blog post let me just say that nitrates are very bad in Wilmot Township presumably due to commercial fertilizers used to grow crops. The other problems in Wilmot include the Region's admitted over pumping in the Mannheim West Wellfield (Wilmot) AND the hydrogeological connection between the Erb St. wells (Wilmot) and the Erb St. Landfill.    

Speaking of landfills how smart do you have to be to locate a landfill anywhere near a drinking water Wellfield? The Region have done it at least twice maybe more if you look carefully in Cambridge.  The second one is the Ottawa St. landfill in Kitchener which has donated 1,4 Dioxane to the Greenbrook Wellfield causing it to be shut down in 2005.  Engineering solutions translate into more and more expensive treatment of our groundwater. By the way reading the Rules & Regs for all of these landfills means very little. Back in the day I exposed mostly Varnicolor Chemical dumping 45 gallon drums of liquid solvents, illegally, into the Ottawa St. Landfill. That did make the K-W Record at the time.

Our groundwater isn't what it used to be and some of the perpetrators are listed here.  

WILMOT'S WATER IS GOING TO BALE THE REST OF US OUT????? OR MAYBE A PIPELINE IS THE PLAN

 

Who are they kidding? At some point in time there will be another water crisis in Waterloo Region. It's a given. This one however won't mostly consist of developers and builders demanding their profits keep on increasing. This next one will be citizens being told that they are on water rationing. They will be told that there will be so many hours per day when their taps will not provide water. Regional Councils and municipal councils are going to want to fortify their council chambers and administrative buildings. Citizens will be outraged as well they should be.

Here is the good news, sort of.  The Region will vehemently protest that it's not their fault. It's Global Warming & Climate Change. Their staff are world class leaders in water protection, water conservation, water distribution and all that. They will go to great lengths to suggest that anyone and anything other than themselves have caused this catastrophic shortage. They might even blame the Federal government and ...holy crap...actually suggest that maybe, just maybe 1,000,000 people in Waterloo Region by 2051 wasn't such a hot idea afterall. Perhaps we should have found more water first. Perhaps we should have built more sewage treatment plants before the influx. Perhaps hospitals, doctors and nurses shortages should have been remedied first. And on and on.

Here however is the reality. We and by we I mean our politicians at all levels have given business and industry a free ride for the last century. Frankly they have done the same thing with our farmers and agriculture in general. We are now reaping the rewards of exempting those two industries from environmental laws, environmental enforcement and environmental stewardship. Perhaps cars and roads are also culprits with he alleged amount of salt now in our aquifers. Agriculture has contributed Nitrates en masse to our groundwater. Industry have contributed solvents including TCE, NDMA and chlorinated solvents. Oil and gasoline are also big culprits whether from service stations leaking tanks or other sources. 

The Region of Waterloo have talked a good game. Unfortunately they started way too late and they've continued heavier with the talk and the reports and studies while ignoring enforcement. They haven't even had the backbone to stand up to the impotent and incompetent Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP). Contaminated soils and aquifer remediations are a pathetic joke even when they do happen. Underfunded for decades, the MECP get pushed around in and out of court by large industry at will. 

Our aquifers are a mess from all these mentioned contaminants. Never fear because the same folks who made money polluting them will now jump on the PIPELINE bandwagon and invest in bringing polluted Lake Erie water here to Waterloo Region. Money will be made just not by you and me. That is not our purpose in life. We, the public, are here to pay the bills via our taxes. The price of water and water treatment will continue to rise until it's a great excuse to build a pipeline. Taxes will still go up but at least we'll have a secure supply of crappy water for a while. God bless democracy.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IT'S A MIRACLE! WE MUST ALL BOW DOWN TO THE MAGNIFICENCE OF OUR REGIONAL POLITICIANS & WATER PROVIDERS

 

There are two articles in today's K-W Record. The first is by Joe McGuinty and is on the front page. The second is by Luisa D'Amato and is on page A4. Mr. McGuinty's front page article is dishonestly and deceptively titled "Region finds "significant " new water capacity, easing constraint". While I usually don't begrudge a little literary flexibility in headlines, this one grates me. Absolutely no "significant" new water capacity has been found whether "significant" or "new".  What has been found is a catchall word used by professional liars namely "optimization". It was used up here in Elmira more than twenty years ago and despite serious criticism then and a demand for a clear definition all we got was mumbo jumbo combined with assurances that we, the credentialed suits, know best. In fact  in that case optimization ended up meaning less on-site pumping and treating of highly contaminated groundwater at Uniroyal Chemical's  (Crompton) expense and more off-site pumping and treating which is 50% paid for by the taxpayers.

I might add that the alleged "new" water capacity is the exact same water from the exact same aquifers allegedly being pumped a little harder at one well and perhaps a little lighter at other wells. I have long referred to this regional water management practice as "musical chairs". In Waterloo Region's case they have done it with contaminated wells in order to affect the direction of contamination plumes. As the plume approaches a particular well you shut down pumping and go to another well instead. The contaminant plume will slowly revert to it's natural flow direction under non pumping conditions. Other terms for this practice include "Interceptor Wells".  These are wells that are drilled in front of a contaminant plume and are then pumped to waste hopefully protecting other wells further downgradient.

Not only is there absolutely no new, significant water capacity but in fact what the Region is doing is taking old decommissioned wells due to industrial contamination (solvents mostly) and recommissioning them. I call that retreading them and as I wouldn't put retreaded tires on my car/motorcycle I also don't want to drink water from retreaded wells. 

Ms. D'Amato deserves credit for her article titled "The water crisis is over. Now it's time to ask: Why?" She states that she does not understand what "optimization" really means and : "I'm not a hydrogeologist (and there wasn't one at Tuesday's news conference to ask) but I didn't understand how that worked to increase the overall supply. I wanted more specific answers, and I think the public does, too. "  Ms. D'Amato may be smelling the same horse manure that I am. Apparently yet another "study" is underway that sometime down the road will clarify all this. That is most likely even more bull (or horse) as far too many "professional" studies are simply credentialed suits selling their clients own opinions back to them under the guise of third party, independent and unbiased parties. It's all about credentialism and fooling the general public who are not experienced or knowledgeable on the matters under "study".

IS THE K-W RECORD NO MORE THAN CONTROLLED OPPOSITION FOR THE WEALTHY, POWERFUL AND INFLUENTIAL?

 

I hinted at this yesterday here when I advised that they have full knowledge of  the contamination downgradient from the current Safety-Kleen site and hence should be demanding the release of various hydrogeological reports done decades ago on the area. Secondly on a totally different topic don't you find it strange that despite the Federal government threatening to charge perhaps as many as two million Canadians criminally and then seize their legally acquired private property from them; hardly so much as a tsk tsk out of our local papers. Are they now being financed by federal government handouts in order to survive and at least give the appearance of a strong media standing on guard for Canadian rights and values?

Thirdly is the Elmira Water Crisis. I originally bought the storyline that this is no longer news. It's old hat. It's allegedly not of interest to Waterloo Region citizens, residents and  water drinkers. If perhaps both the Record and the Observer would get off their butts and do their jobs they might just find that this is a huge unfolding story. It's even more than that. It's a coverup of huge magnitude including ALL our local politicians (O.K. only 95%) . Making excuses as they are now doing as the 2028 deadline is looming is one thing. Pretending however that gee willikers there are parts of the Elmira Aquifers that are much less contaminated than they used to be so grab a glass, turn on the tap and we promise you won't die immediately. Honest Injun. Oops! Make that Honest Indigenous because politically correct language including gender pronouns is far more important than minor matters of poisoning (slowly?) Canadian residents and citizens.

  Yes it does go back on us to some degree. If I am virtually the only person ringing alarms and raising red flags locally then we are certainly done. Just mail in your independence, free thinking and rights to demand better from our governments and be done with it. 

IS LUISA D'AMATO BLOWING SMOKE OR JUST PARROTING THE REGION'S LIES?

 

Before expounding upon the title above which is relevant to Luisa's article in today's Record ("Here's the way out of the region's water crisis") I would like to add that I do give Luisa credit for her last Friday article in which she strongly advises the Region not to leave some Wilmot citizens behind as they suffer from well interference issues caused by increased regional pumping of water for our major cities. She makes it clear that the quoted R.J. Burnside 2025 Water Report categorically states, contrary to the regional position, that increased pumping from the Wilmot Centre Wellfield (Shingletown K50/K51)  has lowered the water levels in those wells and in the specific aquifer involved (AFB2).

In today's article however Luisa appears to have swallowed various regional lies . One I would claim is what Luisa calls "Optimization". Here in Elmira we were sold that same big word as if it's official sounding nature immediately makes it true. It does not. In Elmira it eventually meant that rigorous conditions put on the cleanup were relaxed which merely reduced Uniroyal Chemical's cleanup costs and did nothing for the cleanup itself. In fact it may have actually hurt it. 

The second bigger issue is the use of the "river wells" as they used to be called. Luisa stated that these wells on the west side of the Grand River were removed from service because due to water conservation they were no longer needed. HORSE MANURE !  First of all the wells were on both sides of the river with some K80 wells on the west side and wells K70 and K71 on the east side. K by the way stands for Kitchener. The Region I believe lied then when they claimed they were shut down because algae in the very nearby Grand River was causing both odour and taste problems. The reality also consisted of gross soil and groundwater contamination immediately upgradient of these wells located between Forwell Sand & Gravel right next to the river and Safety-Kleen further upgradient (east). The contamination consisted of oils, fuels, solvents and PCBs likely released during the Forsythe or Breslube days prior to Safety-Kleen's purchase of the contaminated property.  

Luisa D'Amato and the Record already know this because I have told them so in writing months ago but perhaps they have a conflict of interest going on. 

REGION OF WATERLOO RACING TOWARDS MORE HUMILIATION & LOSS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

 

Maybe they've already decided that there isn't anyone left in Wilmot who supports any of them hence they may as well throw a tiny group, population wise, to the wolves than to even suggest the tiniest cutbacks on water for the tri cities and the rest of the Townships. By throwing to the wolves I am suggesting that the Region really don't care if every single family in Wilmot Township have to remortgage their homes in order to either drill new, deeper wells or simply to extend their current wells to a greater depth. That might at least partially explain their ridiculous stance on well interference claims. This of course only applies to those rural properties on private water systems. 

The recent R.J. Burnside report is an eye opener in that it clearly states that municipal aquifer levels (AFB2) in Wilmot have been declining for the last six years and that this corresponds to climatic effects AND to increased pumping for use in the rest of the Region. In a nutshell the regional councillors are a bunch of cowardly bullies hiding behind the law, lawyers and Wilmot citizens good nature. That is a long term recipe for disaster and I only hope when the payback comes that it is focused on regional politicians.

The Region are also counting on citizens being preoccupied with families, jobs, climate change (heat domes etc.), health (cancer especially) etc. Distracted citizens work best for a perverted democracy such as we have that refuses to look after all their citizens and in fact plays one group off against another. How many of these Wilmot citizens remember the map that the Record published last January showing the various aquifers and aquitards? That Figure or cross-section is a subsurface conceptual geological model of the Wellesley and Waterloo Moraine and more which clearly indicates how wells need to be drilled deeper as the aquifer levels (AFB2) subside. 

Frankly only liars and sociopaths could continue denying the facts. No politician will ever vote in favour of criminal charges for politicians proven to be liars. Guess why.