FIELD TRIP TO THE CEMETERY

A week ago yesterday I took a little environmental field trip over to the cemetery beside Uniroyal's (Lanxess) Envirodome/Toxidome/Mausoleum. I reported here in the Advocate that as of that date there appears to be absolutely zero start of the promised shallow excavation on the Stroh property along Lanxess's eastern property line. With the benefit of binoculars one can clearly see at least a couple of fairly new groundwater monitoring wells installed on the Stroh property. All of this of course, is about thirty years too late. While contaminated ground and surface water that flowed from Uniroyal has been diluted and migrated southwards, eastwards, and vertically downwards, likely the hydrophobic compounds such as DDT and Dioxins/Furans are still in the soil at various depths both shallow and deep.

The Ontario MOE (MECP) have recently advised Lanxess that they want more wells and groundwater monitoring on the Stroh property. While this is a good thing per se it is also no more than a red herring. The groundwater amazingly still has some very high concentrations around OW-36 located within both BAE-1 (Burial Area East) and RB-2 (Reburied Drums) right beside the Stroh property. Otherwise most of the dissolved solvents including 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, benzene, NDMA etc. have migrated far and wide likely including into crops grown on the Stroh property over many decades. This elephant in the room is but one of many conveniently ignored by our authorities. After all they surely don't want to arouse the masses to the point of running politicians and polluters out of town on a rail.

I expect that the MOE are helping Lanxess by focusing on dissolved contaminants in the groundwater rather than the hydrophobic (water fearing) compounds mentioned above which sorb onto soils. The higher the organic carbon in the soil the more these compounds cleave onto them versus say onto sand or gravel. It is my belief that this area of the Stroh farm along the property line with Lanxess and further south in and around the Stroh Drain is a major "Sink" of Dioxins, DDT and possibly other of these compounds.These compounds will continue to slowly erode by wind, rain and flood moving down the Stroh Drain and into the Canagagigue Creek and Grand River forever if they are not removed. Also the shallow or surficial (5.9 inches) soil removal that still hasn't started yet should in fact be called a superficial soil removal not a surficial one. Mobilized by solvents, DDT and Dioxins can and have penetrated two and three metres below the ground surface but with future development, construction, ploughing, landscaping etc. can again be exposed at surface.