REGION'S ANNUAL REPORT- MORE CAMBRIDGE WELLS

Today we're going to discuss wells G4, G5, G6 and G9. The G stands for Galt and G4 is located in the Blair area, G5 up near the former Ciba-Geigy, G6 further south along Franklin Blvd. and G9 much further south basically as far south as the Middleton wellfield only further east.

The G4 well supply consists of two wells namely G4 and G4A. Exactly as per 2014, G4 was again shut down for the entire year in 2015. No explanation is given. Several Cambridge wells have had sleeves installed in recent years allowing the wells to be drilled deeper into less contaminated zones. Both wells G4 and G5 were augmented by wells G4A and G5A in 2013. Since then well G4 has been shut down.

Well G4A found no industrial/agricultural contaminants above their Method Detection Limits (MDL). There are no results published in this report for either Chloramines ot Trihalomethanes (THMs) which are by-products of disinfection. This is despite the form having the THM column state ("Note: show latest average).

Well G5 consists of both G5 and G5A which came on-line allegedly in 2013 the same time as G4A. Here however it is the newer well G5A which is shut down constantly. While it is stated that only one well runs at a time, again there is no explanation as to why there are two wells at the same location and why they aren't sharing the duties. Sodium is at a ridiculously high level of 183 mg/l (parts per million) but wait a minute that's a 2013 reading. With a reading that high they should have up to date data not two year old data. Similarily the industrial chemicals are all 2014 test results. They are all below the MDLs which again are elevated for approximately a dozen compounds.

Well G6 also has test results from 2014 which may be legal but is disgraceful. Seriously why produce these "Annual Reports" if you're simply repeating the test results from the year before. The range of results for Chlorine was from .54 to 4.46 mg/l which is far in exceedance of the standard. That said it did not trigger an Adverse Incident Report allegedly because it was merely an "8 minute spike". Metalachlor was detected at .42 ppb which is not considered an exceedance but again this result was from 2014. It should be tested for annually as it has been found for years in this well most likely from the upgradient former Ciba-Geigy.

Well G9 is in a similar position as their test reults are mostly from 2014 and they too have an industrial compound for years in their water namely trichloroethylene (TCE). It is at 2 ppb and is coming from either or Rockwell, Allen-Bradley or possibly Long Mfg.. This too should be tested at least annually.

Both THMs and chloramines results should be published in each of these reports and is not. Similarily annual testing should be the rule not the exception. Ubiquitous compounds in groundwater such as Toluene and Xylenes should be included. NDMA should also be routinely tested for and results published. Finally all upgrades and significant expenditures on wells should be fully explained including the rationale for so doing. Lastly Method Detection Limits also require detailed explanation when they rise. This is our drinking water and these reports hide far more than they show. The provincial government through the Ministry of Environment are claiming transparency while doing the opposite.