WATER TREATMENT IS DANGEROUS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Well if nothing else Waterloo Region residents are getting a basic lesson in both Chemistry and peripherally in water treatment. The slogan "Better living with Chemistry" is a public relations ploy that of course is only half truthful. At the Greenbrook TREATMENT PLANT and Pumping Station, a Chemistry 101 experiment blew up literally. Housewives my wife assurred me, possibly a tad condescendingly, all know never to mix bleach (chlorine) with Ammonia. Why you ask by the way did I capitolize the above words "treatment plant"? I did so because between yesterday's and today's articles in the Waterloo Region Record I can't find the words "treatment plant" in reference to Greenbrook. Very strange. Am I reading too much into that? Does the Region think that citizens are so incredibly dumb that they can't figure out what chlorine and ammonia are used for? That maybe just maybe they aren't being used to wash the floors or toilets?

Both chemicals are used at Greenbrook as part of the disinfection of water. In other words they are used to kill bacteria. There are other chemicals used including hydrogen peroxide. As well Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is part of an Advanced Oxidation Process used to remove 1,4 Dioxane a toxic chemical whose source I believe is the former Ottawa St. Landfill. Prior to its' disposal in the former landfill it came from private companies including Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira.

Therefore the point is this. Mere storage of toxic and reactive chemicals is dangerous in the first place. More dangerous however is the use of toxic chemicals in water treatment. Chlorine and ammonia combined form chloramines. Either chlorine or chloramines KILL bacteria. Think about pesticides and herbicides for a moment. DDT, 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T are all poisons by design. They kill either insects or vegetation. Unfortunately they also have killed birds, wildlife and humans via impurities within themselves (dioxins in Agent Orange). Chlorine and chloramines chemically react in drinking water and produce Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic Acids, Cyanogen Chloride, NDMA and the list goes on. These unintended by-products of disinfection won't kill as fast as E.Coli (0157) bacteria for example. But they will kill given enough time and even the slightest lack of extreme vigilance in water treatment. Whether human error as occurred on Wednesday or mechanical failures; water treatment is dangerous to our health. Today's Record article is titled "Pump station explosion inquiry in "early stages".