OH ERIC, TELL ME YOU WERE MISQUOTED!

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Water wells closed in Cambridge following jet fuel spill on Hwy. 401". Eric Hodgins is quoted as saying "We've shut off any wells that potentially could be impacted, and our system is free and clear of this spill". O.K. fair enough. I can believe that. Groundwater moves slowly and certainly one heck of a lot slower than surface water therefore the groundwater supplying the drilled wells on the north and east sides of Cambridge is not yet impacted by a huge spill of jet fuel onto and into the ground and nearby surface water of Mill Creek. It will of course be impacted eventually. Right now that groundwater is impacted and has been so for decades by spills that are thirty to fifty years old from sites such as the former Ciba-Geigy plant.

Secondly Mr. Hodgins is correct in shutting off any wells "...that potentially could be impacted...". As Dr. Gail Krantberg advised CPAC here in Elmira six years ago, any contaminants released into the natural environment will migrate whether by soil vapours, dissolved in groundwater, dissolved in surface water or even by air. Pumping of wells increases the groundwater gradient towards the wells thus speeding up the migration of contaminants towards them.

At the end of the story Mr. Hodgins suggests that "It's a material that's lighter than water, so it will float on the surface and doesn't dissolve into the water". Ooh boy but that's a hard one to swallow. Oils, gasolines and fuels in general (diesel, jet fuel etc.) are simply chains of hydrocarbons (Carbon & Hydrogen). Most fuels do float on water because their density is less than one, the density of water. They are therefore called LNAPLS for Light Non Aqueous Phase Liquids versus chlorinated hydrocarbons such as chlorobenzene, trichloroethylene etc. which have chlorine that is heavier than water thus causing these DNAPL (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids) chemicals to sink in water.

Regardless of whether they float or sink they do indeed dissolve in water albeit slowly over decades. That is why the Elmira Aquifers have chlorobenzene dissolved in them (DNAPLs) as well as Benzene and Toluene (LNAPLs) which are typical components of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel etc. I think a clarification is in order for that statement Mr. Hodgins.