REGION OF WATERLOO ANNUAL DRINKING WATER REPORTS - GLYPHOSATE

On Saturday April 18/15 I posted here that Woolwich Council had stepped up for West Montrose. This was in relation to the wholly inadequate Annual Reports allegedly describing this community's contaminated raw water. A whole spectrum of issues concerning these Reports were raised by myself at the Woolwich Council meeting held on the Tuesday prior to April 18. One issue I did not raise were inadequate Method Detection Limits (MDL). A multitude of sins can be hidden when authorities use MDLs that are high enough to nearly guarantee non-detects of various chemicals. For example a MDL of .4 part per billion for toluene will absolutely detect a concentration of 3 parts per billion (ppb) in groundwater. However if the lab involved is advised that a MDL of 5 ppb is satisfactory then the very same groundwater sample will report toluene as Non-Detect (ND).

The list of industrial/agricultural chemicals that are tested for have varying MDLs from .01 ppb up to 1.0 and 1.3 ppb. There has been however one particular herbicide with an incredibly high MDL for many years. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup a nearly ubiquitous herbicide used in agriculture as well as around the home. It has been of concern to me as I basically felt that the purpose for such an incredibly high MDL was simply to mask its' ubiquitous presence in groundwater.

This winter the public were advised that Glyposate has been recently designated as a probable carcinogen. This scientific determination will have a ripple effect both through the industry as well as through regulators. Monsanto will undoubtedly attempt to attack this designation and defend their very profitable business. The Region of Waterloo have even more explaining to do with their Annual Reports having a MDL of 25 ppb. for a probable carcinogen in our drinking water.