SANDY's THREE FAVOURITE C's - CORRUPTION, COLLUSION & CONSPIRACY

Yesterday's posting here indicated the two focus areas for cleanup at the moment namely off-site on Chemtura's east side (Stroh farm) as well as the downstream Canagagigue Creek possibly all the way to the mouth of the creek into the Grand River, below West Montrose. What was not mentioned was the deviousness employed by Chemtura most likely with the complicity (oops a fourth C ) of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. During 1985 massive changes were occurring on the Uniroyal Chemical site almost in preparation for the upcoming shutdown of the municipal wellfields. We the public were told by all parties in 1989 that it was such a surprise, such a shock. Who could have forseen NDMA from Uniroyal making it all the way to the south wellfield? Well for one Terreaqua saw offsite contamination clearly and said so in their 1987 Report.

A major part of Uniroyal's cleanup prior to the shutdown of the municipal wellfields entailed the disaster on the east side. The Canagagigue had been used as an open sewer for decades and served them pretty well. Part of the collusion had long been that they weren't exactly, directly dumping into the creek. Pits and ponds on both sides of the creek "held" their chemical wastes while natural processes such as evaporation and infiltration reduced the volumes. Also spills, leaks, overflows, bypasses and even intentional breeches were all very helpful to reduce volumes. The trouble over on the east side was that both overland flow and some contaminated groundwater was making an awful mess of their neighbour's low lying, swampy area. Hence around 1985 the Stroh Drain was dug running 175 metres parallel to their property line and then slightly east and south again where it snaked around the Martin swimming pond on its' way to the Canagagigue Creek. They now had a direct drain accepting their wastes while bypassing the likely monitoring from the M.O.E. sure to happen after the upcoming "Elmira crisis" occurred.

The fact that this Stroh Drain was draining chemicals and solvents originally from the Chemtura propertry into the Martin Pond (via a pipe) likely wasn't advertised to them. Nor was advertised that sometime likely between the mid 80s and early 90s some form of manmade subsurface construction took place on the east side. Google Earth as well as Waterloo GIS (Waterloo Region) provides the evidence for this. My best guess is that it is either an Interceptor Trench collecting contaminated eastside groundwater and diverting it over to the Stroh property (and into the Drain) or it's a Barrier Wall as in the "Waterloo Barrier".

The corrugated steel pipe coming out of the ground oriented north to south at the northern end of the Stroh Drain may or may not be directly linked to the proposed Interceptor Trench diverting Chemtura's east side contaminated groundwater. This alleged Trench certainly explains Uniroyal and the M.O.E.'s decision not to install an upper aquifer collection and treatment system on the east side. Afterall why bother when you can directly divert the problem downstream past your routine monitoring points. I believe that this "solution" would be much less expensive than installing the "Waterloo wall" albeit likely illegal and of course kept secret. Google Earth and Waterloo GIS were unheard of in the mid 80s so catching them would seem unlikely.

The evidence that Chemtura/M.O.E. may have faked the true location of GP1 also supports the use of the Stroh Drain to assist in moving Uniroyal/Chemtura liquid wastes downstream. If as is likely GP1 was located on the lowlying east side of the high ridge of land on Chemtura's south-east corner rather than the west side, then its' overflow would directly drain eastwards onto the Stroh property. Possibly some of its' contaminated groundwater did also although I expect groundwater flow direction changed more dramatically after the below grade Stroh Drain was dug.

Corruption, collusion and conspiracy. The Uniroyal saga is filled with it and oh so much more of you know what.