SDDB - STROH DRAIN, DITCH & BERM - NEW INSIGHTS

Lying works. I may have said that both recently and years ago. The total amount of knowledge we the public have on the former Uniroyal Chemical site in Elmira, Ontario is not thirty years worth i.e. since the Elmira Water Crisis in 1989. It is about three years worth merely dragged kicking and screaming from each and every new owner of the site. Often the knowledge isn't from what they've told us it's from what they've failed to tell us. For example the Stroh Drain is a huge one affecting the Canagagigue Creek. UPAC, CPAC, and the general public were never told about it by either the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE), Grand River Conservation Authority, Region of Waterloo, Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura or Conestoga Rovers. Just must have slipped their wee minds.

Nearly five years ago I discovered it while looking for shooting locations for the CBC Documentary titled "Canada's Shadow War" which dealt with Canada supplying war materials to the U.S. military for use in Vietnam. Agent Orange was one of the nasty supplied items and just yesterday I was verbally advised that Canada supplied napalm as well. Holy crap that particular nasty compound hasn't come up for discussion in regards to Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira. Is that one more piece of carefully omitted information over the decades?

I have two new insights. Firstly the Stroh Drain has dropped the water table between one and one and half metres on Uniroyal/Lanxess's south-east side by directly draining it through the Ditch (SDDB) into the Cangagigue Creek. Among other effects this does temporarily increase the holding capacity of the soil during spring floods versus the flood waters flowing across already saturated wetlands.

The second insight is in regards to the north-west end of the ridge of high ground oriented in a NW to SE direction. The GRCA flood plain map shows this ridge having a distinct and connected "hook" on the end of it. Strangely that hook is not continuous in Conestoga Rovers 2013 reports and their drawing C-02 titled "Existing Conditions". Hence there is an opening at the extreme north end of the high ridge of ground which would more readily allow overland flow of Uniroyal waste waters to enter into the current alleged location of GP-1. This of course is somewhat self-serving for Chemtura/Lanxess as it gives slightly more credence to their claims that the overland flowing waters from the north-east pits (RPE 1-5) ended up in GP-1 first and then into GP-2.

So there are a number of alternatives here. Number one is that the ridge was discontinuous during the 1950s to 1970 allowing some direct inflow into GP-1 but the opening was later filled in thus the current floodplain maps are accurate. Alternative two is that the ridge of high ground was continuous until around 2013 when Chemtura/CRA opened it up to give support to their nearly impossible theory that all the waste waters conveniently flowed into GP-1. Alternative three is that it's always been a continuous ridge of high ground and that CRA simply fudged their 2013 map (C-02). There may well be other alternatives but the fact that none have been offered for this anomaly once again lessens citizens' confidence in Lanxess, GHD and the MOE.