REMAINING SAFETY-KLEEN ISSUES

Due to good work yesterday from the Region and the Township, a number of procedural and planning issues have been able to go ahead in regards to Safety-Kleen's proposed purchase and expansion onto the former Forwell property in Breslau.

Nevertheless there are still huge issues to be faced by both the Township and the M.O.E. regarding groundwater contamination. What I am about to write here is not mere opinion. It is the expert opinions of a number of hydrogeologists and engineers who have studied and reported upon this site. Firstly ever since the first load of oily wastes were dumped into the lagoons on site, both groundwater from beneath the lagoons and surface water from rain and runoff have gravity flowed overland to the Grand River as well as to the Municipal Drinking Wells K70 & K71. The shallow groundwater has discharged at surface into the onsite creek/municipal drain and then flowed to the Grand River. The shallow aquifer contaminants have also flowed vertically downwards through the silty aquitard which contains only minor clay and into the lower aquifer. This aquifer also flows westerly towards the Grand River and discharges to it.

The proposed cleanup will leave behind not only substantial amounts of residual LNAPL (light non aqueous phase liquid) but also in places up to .5 metre of free phase LNAPL. LNAPL can best be easily described as oils which float on the surface of ground or surface water. Although there is no argument that removing some LNAPL is better than none, there will be no reduction in the concentration of dissolved contaminants until after both the free phase (mobile & flowing) and residual (oil droplets held in the pore spaces between grains of sand/soil) are removed, dissolved etc. I would estimate another fourty to fifty years just to flush out the residual LNAPL AFTER the free phase is gone. If the free phase is left behind (.5 metre) then we are looking at a century or more. This is not acceptable to me nor I hope to the Township of Woolwich.