MORE DETAILS REGARDING REGION'S "MANAGEMENT" OF CAMBRIDGE DRINKING WATER

I have now drawn up a chart with approximately 26 Cambridge wells down the left side and the years from 2003 to 2012 across the top. At present I have the chart filled in for the last five years plus. What I am filling in is the number of weeks the particular well is offline during the year as well as whether the monitoring data presented is for the current year or not. The results are worrisome.

First off let me say that the Region of Waterloo may or may not be abiding by the letter of the Ontario Safe Water Drinking Act but they absolutely are not abiding by the spirit of it. Specific chemicals that were being tested for a decade ago plus and being detected in Cambridge wells are no longer being reported in the Annual Reports. This would include Dioxins, 1,1,1 TCA, NDMA, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene etc. Glyphosate which was detected years ago in well H3 (Hespeler) has had its' Method Detection Limit (MDL) dramatically raised from 2 ppb. to 25 ppb. thus guaranteeing it will not be reported again.

There are complete years of monitoring results missing from wells that are currently in use for drinking. This would include all three Hespeler wells and wells located near Ciba-Geigy (Novartis). Similarily wells located near Northstar Aerospace and Allen-Bradley as well as those further south of Ciba-Geigy are missing years of monitoring data. What seems fairly clear is that wells that have been shut down for substantial time frames do not have their routine monitoring done for a year or two or three or even for four years afterwards.

Over time the "problem" wells become obvious. For example all three wells in Hespeler have been alternately shut down for periods between one and two years. Past local manufacturers have included American Standard as well as Inglis. It seems obvious that they or others have "enriched" the groundwater which is still being used for drinking . Just over a decade ago Dioxins were found in two of their three wells. Back when Ciba-Geigy was found to have contaminated the ground with allegedly only Dinoseb, the Region and M.O.E. claimed that the contamination could never get to the deeper drinking water aquifers. That was horse manure and numerous drinking wells have since had low detections of solvents and herbicides including metalachlor. Further south wells G38 and G39 were shut down and locked out in 2006 and stayed off for two to three years. They are back in use now as well.

I suggested earlier that shut down wells weren't being monitored regularily. A more accurate comment would probably be that the Region are monitoring them but simply not reporting the results in the Annual Reports. It would be similar to car manufacturers recalling cars for mechanical faults but refusing to tell the public what they were. This deception is uncalled for and needs to be drastically improved.