DEVELOPERS & HOMEBUILDERS NOT CONCERNED ABOUT PROFITS ($$$); IT'S ALL ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING

 

Furthermore to my title above I must inform readers that I am smarter than Bill Gates, stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger ever was, and better looking than either Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise at their best. In other words my title above employs literary exaggeration to the maximum.

Today's K-W Record carries the following article by Bill Jackson titled "Case being made to give small developments green light amid water shortage". The usual suspects are quoted by the reporter such as Larry Masseo and Ryan Mounsey. The former representing the Waterloo Region Homebuilders' Assoc. stated that his association is not in agreement with the region "in terms of the extent of the seriousness of the issue at this point,".  Nowhere in this article does his position seem to be backed with data supporting his opinion.  Mr. Mounsey also advises in one statement that he only works with developers "...that have small infill, gentle density housing with a modest - the smallest - impact" on water useage. Then he advises that these clients range anywhere from one lot to 1,400 units for a total of 2,500 units in the Region of  Waterloo. In my opinion adding 2,500 units (approx. 5,000 people ?) all requiring water on a daily basis is significantly exacerbating the water shortage. 

At the moment operational resiliency within our water system will not be restored until 2027. Until or unless that determination is changed the ban on new building permits should remain. This coming Wednesday regional council are to revisit staff recommendations to add capacity to the system from wells in Wilmot Township as well as to have regional council ask the province to halt water taking permits for golf courses, gravel pits and other large industrial/commercial enterprises. Depending upon the results of those two recommendations the ban on new building permits might need to be extended even further down the road. It is conceivable that neither Wilmot Township nor the Doug Ford government may be in the mood to comply to the requests.

INTERESTING CHOICES & OUTBURSTS BY PREMIER DOUG FORD

 

This post today is supposed to be about Susan Koswan's excellent Opinion piece in today's K-W Record titled  "Water and nature need protection from politics".  Essentially the politics she is describing are the politics of our current Conservative government led by Doug Ford. I am of two minds right now. Or maybe even three or four. Yes Doug Ford and his merry band have been awful for the environment and Ms. Koswan  clearly describes his gaffes, errors and plain bad thinking and behaviour on the environment file. 

Meanwhile back on the first page there is Doug Ford blustering about how a homeowner recently shot one of four home invaders. Four on one in the middle of the night is hardly a fair fight especially as at least one of the home invaders was caught on video with a gun in hand. Undaunted the homeowner shot one of them and they all fled. Doug Ford meanwhile was quoted as saying that the homeowner should have shot him a few more times for good measure.

Doug of course is pandering to the public's discomfort with firearms legislation that essentially for decades has stated that citizens may own guns to shoot unarmed animals and or harmless paper targets that have never attacked anybody. But by God any use of a firearm to defend oneself from physical attack is beyond the pale. Under no circumstances are Canadian citizens supposed to have the right to readily and quickly defend themselves from robbery, assault or worse. Being even blunter I expect that our police, prosecutors and courts will cheerfully advise women that mere rape also doesn't justify shooting someone. For our justice officials that would be a case of using disproportionate force to defend oneself. Well! Let me simply suggest that if any of either Harvey Weinstein's or Frank Stronach's alleged victims had been armed, their criminal activities would have been nipped in the bud.

So I like Dougie for standing up to the stupidity of our judicial system and the temerity of all participants within it to expand the legal rights of citizens to defend themselves from unprovoked attacks. At the same time I am appalled at his biased and self-serving environmental behaviour in this province. He is a one man environmental wrecking machine and needs to be cut down (only at the polls please).

WATERLOO REGION RESIDENTS ARE LONG OVERDUE FOR A DIOXIN REVIEW

 

One of the terms used in past reviews and studies concerning dioxins has been that it is a non threshold contaminant. In other words there simply is no safe level of exposure for human beings. Now that is very concerning particularly when one realizes that human beings throughout the world have already accumulated body burdens of dioxins. Amounts mentioned thirty plus years ago were in the 4 to 6  picograms  range per day exposure for Canadians. At the same time that Canada had a guideline maximum of 10 picograms per day per kilogram of body weight, our American cousins had a guideline of only .006 picograms.  Now it is entirely possible if not probable that either concentrations or body burden guidelines have changed since 1994. Personally I have found the silence in the media on the matter to be nearly deafening.

It is also possible that up to date science may very well have decided that the only safe guideline number is zero especially for vulnerable populations. This would include pregnant women, young children and those with compromised immune systems. Regardless it is next to impossible for citizens to either stop or reduce their exposure to these now ubiquitous contaminants. While the simplest expression of the source of dioxins is chlorinated substances being burned the fact is that they are in our food, water and the air we breathe. Yes polluting industries such as pulp and paper  as well as chemical companies are major contributors but there are many more including hospital and municipal incinerators.  

Instead of studying, monitoring and sometimes ignoring them as we have done for the last thirty-six years here in Woolwich Township (Elmira), what is needed is proper removal. It can be done but for profit industries are willing to sacrifice human life in exchange for millions of dollars and our local, regional and provincial politicians are only too willing to accommodate them. Now lets be clear.  No politician will ever admit to this. It's about them finding ways to weasel word their way around the reality. It's about them finding ways to disparage the science, the data and if necessary the scientists themselves. Isn't it ironic that unqualified, sometimes dyslexic, sometimes illiterate and most times mathematically challenged politicians when pressured to stand up for their own constituents will run and hide behind criticism of those far more qualified than they to come to conclusions and make decisions.     

PROMISES & OTHER LIES BY UNIROYAL CHEMICAL/SUCCESSORS AND THE MOE/MECP

 Jeff Merriman promised us six litres per second of on-site Municipal Aquifer pumping in order to maintain hydraulic containment and stop off-site migration of Uniroyal's groundwater. For a number of years the total from two or three on-site pumping wells was around 5.3 to 5.5 litres per second. Close although not quite there. In November 2012 after Conestoga Rovers admitted that their off-site pump & treat wasn't going to complete the job by 2028, they and Chemtura promised a TRIPLING of the volume of off-site pumping. Oddly no mention was given of increasing on-site pumping at the same time in order to avoid the increased off-site pumping from dragging on-site contaminated water along with it as the groundwater levels were lowered off-site. That in hindsight should have been our first indication that we were being lied to yet again.

Since about 2017 the on-site municipal aquifer pumping  has been slowly dropping until it's at about 3.3 to 3.6 litres per second. As serious as that is, the problem is only exacerbated as the off-site pumping has indeed been increased. Now that increase certainly never achieved  even a DOUBLING much less a TRIPLING of the off-site volumes from 2012 (around 53 l/sec) as promised.  It did increase however to often achieve 65 l/sec and occasionally as high as 70 or 71 l/sec. This has been going on for years now with nobody including TRAC so much as raising questions directly about increasing off-site pumping while lowering on-site pumping.  This practice we were advised for years while on CPAC absolutely would cause the Uniroyal site to lose hydraulic containment and further increase off-site contamination. 

There has never been an iron clad test to prove to citizens that hydraulic containment was being kept. Promises and assurances from proven liars that groundwater levels here and there "prove" containment aren't worth the paper they are or aren't written on. More, louder and shriller exhortations of integrity and honesty from Lanxess Canada and or the MECP also mean less than nothing. They and their predecessors have never stopped lying to us.  

SO WHEN EXACTLY DID UNIROYAL/CROMPTON/CHEMTURA/LANXESS THROW IN THE CLEANUP/REMEDIATION TOWEL?

 

Or put differently was there ever a time when anybody in authority seriously believed that they had a viable plan to restore the Elmira aquifers to drinking water standards? By those in authority I'm referring to the Min. of Environment (MOE/MECP), the four companies listed above, Waterloo Region or Woolwich Township. These are not idle or spurious questions. Hindsight being 20/20 gives one an entirely different flavour and view of what has gone on. Certainly over the intervening decades there have been significant changes in the surface water of the Canagagigue Creek, the air over Uniroyal/Lanxess and the groundwater beneath the town.

At one time decades ago the Ontario Ministry of Environment was derided as the Ministry of Lumps and Colours in reference to surface waters in the province. In other words the Ministry were satisfied the moment rivers and streams stopped routinely being discoloured by industry  discharges and even solids and sludges being dumped into them. Yes the Canagagigue has far fewer solvents and dissolved toxins in them than they used to have courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical. Unfortunately there has been an extremely limited reduction in Persistent Organic Pollutants with the likes of DDT and dioxins topping the list. These are present whether as suspended sediments (as Dr. Dick Jackson thundered repeatedly) or even as low concentration dissolved contaminants in the water.

The bad old days even as recently as 1998 to 2000 when air discharges sent the "Duke St. rowdies" out of town in the middle of the night seeking refuge  hopefully are done forever.  To many including myself these air discharges simply reinforced our belief that the company (Crompton) were long on talk and awfully slow on action including spending money and time to remove the biggest and baddest air discharges.

It would appear that both the concentrations of contaminants as well as the volume of the various plumes underneath Elmira have been reduced. To what effect however? If the two most obvious targets, NDMA and chlorobenzene still aren't at drinking water standards do you think any of the dozens to hundreds of others are? 

If one has ready access to the on and off-site pumping records as I do then it is obvious that years ago the various polluting companies began cutting back on their pumping and treating volumes just when  they most needed to increase them and when they had publicly promised to do so. They did no such thing nor did they even seriously try to. It was all a scam simply buying time and wasting time as they and their consultants talked and bamboozled both lay citizens and even educated, credentialed members of RAC, TAG and TRAC into deferential submission. The last gasp chance to turn the ship around died in 2015 under the pathetic and woefully uninformed guidance of Sandy Shantz at the Woolwich Township helm. Frankly success was already in huge jeopardy but her embrace of all pleas and lamentations from Chemtura and the Min. of Environment sealed the deal. Lots more talk and lots more hot air but it's all been window dressing and less. 

THE K-W RECORD ARE ALL OVER THE WATERLOO REGION WATER CRISIS

 

Frankly I am impressed. I have very good reason to be angry with the Waterloo Region Record (aka K-W Record) but geez it is difficult to stay mad at the twits when they are currently so fulfilling their mandate of keeping the public informed on serious issues. Take note of that Woolwich Township. Decades of bias towards filthy polluters may never be forgotten but it could be mitigated possibly even to the point of forgiveness. Of course that requires some immediate, heartfelt changes in both attitude and behaviour on your part. 

It appears as if the Record along with others are embracing the over pumping of our groundwater as fact not possibility. The Record once again in today's article titled "52 billion litres of water too much, and not enough" goes through the litany of errors and miscalculations of water supply and demand by the Region's water staff.  It is almost to the point of slapstick comedy if it weren't so serious. Yes both developers and home builders' groups are still on the bandwagon of it's not really a case of too much growth or of water supply. They are all too willing to throw both regional staff and councillors under the bus in calling the crisis a "management issue". 

Personally I can embrace both the idea of a finite water supply as well as to a certain extent management issues.  The particular "management issues" that I find so offensive are the lying and blatant disinformation over a period of decades. Items such as the Inter Urban System (IUS) supposedly allowing water from anywhere in the Region to flow wherever it is needed has turned out to be nonsense. Allegedly that is, because I can no longer trust that the Region are telling us the truth. Also the fact that they have lied to Wilmot Township for years as they've been taking their water surreptitiously for use in the cities while the water table has dropped significantly in parts of Wilmot.

I still would like to see both past and current groundwater elevation data from throughout the various moraines and aquifers to confirm that the Region have been inappropriately  "mining" those aquifers and significantly lowering the water levels.   

LOCAL MEDIA COMMENT ON REGIONAL COUNCIL'S DECISION TO HIRE OUTSIDE EXPERTS TO STUDY REPORTING & COMMUNICATIONS ON WATER ISSUES

 

Overall Luisa D'Amato seems pleased with the direction that the Region are taking by hiring an outside consulting firm.  While she does state that "This is a good start." she has a number of suggestions to make it even better. That said what I noticed was her very first sentence in which she suggested  "Finally we may get some answers to the question of why the water supply crisis we are in was allowed to happen, and how the news came as such a complete shock." Hence I was a little taken aback to read that the final report is due within a year. A year !  I'm sorry but that for me does not jive with "Finally we may get some answers...". Citizens deserved honest and confirmed answers a couple of months ago not hypothetically a year down the line. Is this simply more bureaucratic and political gamesmanship to delay and deflect our attention?

Ms. D'Amato raises good points and suggestions. She would like to know why both the Mannheim treatment plant for Grand River water and the Greenbrook pumping station are still in disrepair. Why weren't both of them repaired promptly? Somewhat oddly to me she hasn't repeated her comments about the possible rehabilitation of the Parkway Wellfield or the Woolwner/Pompeii wells along the Grand River . Could she herself have signed some sort of NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with the Region? Perish the thought! She is a professional reporter.

Ms. D'Amato also advises that here in Ontario we had a public inquiry after the following major public system failures namely the Walkerton water crisis, the light rail debacle in Ottawa and the fatal mall collapse in Elliot Lake. Oddly enough somehow the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis with its' now failed remediation never was subject to a public inquiry. That was ridiculous then and even more so now when we realize how much more desperately Elmira's water is needed.