GUELPH DRINKING WATER

Lip service has been paid to many recommendations of the Justice O'Connor Report produced after the Walkerton water tragedy. Justice O'Connor stated that a multi barrier approach was required to ensure that water at the end of the pipe was fit for human consumption. These barriers included source protection at the very beginning of the whole water treatment process. It meant not just protecting ground and surface water from future contamination at source but if necessary removing or remediating existing contamination. If that was not possible then the source intake for surface water or the source wells for groundwater had to be relocated. This is not rocket science it is just plain commonsense. That apparently puts it out of reach for our politicians.

Trichloroethylene is a DNAPL chemical. That stands for Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid. It is heavier than water (Dense) and has a very finite ability to dissolve in water. Therefore it can and does co-exist in the subsurface both in the dissolved state and as a separate phase (Non Aqueous Phase). DNAPLS can and do dissolve slowly in groundwater and literally can take decades to centuries to fully dissolve. Throughout that time period although they dissolve slowly nevertheless the concentrations can easily exceed the drinking water standard of 5 ug/litre for TCE (trichlorothylene).

It is quite obvious that there is a subsurface source or sources of TCE upgradient of the Smallfield, Emma and Membro wells. As is usual these reports go to great lengths not to identify guilty industries which have contaminated the public's drinking water. Nevertheless they are known to both the Ministry of the Environment as well as the local politicians. There is no excuse to not have remediated this source decades ago. Somebody or bodies with political and financial pull have managed to avoid being held accountable for these serious health risks put upon the citizens of Guelph.

TCE in the groundwater is not the only problem. It breaks down into Dichloroethylene (DCE) as well as into vinyl chloride (VC). DCE has already been found and measured in some of these wells. While the identification of these longstanding contaminants and their health risks in the Grand River Source Protection Area is a good thing; it begs the question what is the M.O.E. going to do about it. The most likely answer is precious little unless your municipal politicians get off their asses and demand removal of TCE and metabolytes from your drinking water.