UNIROYAL/LANXESS SHAMEFUL PUMP & TREAT FAILURES OF THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS CONTINUE

All parties including Lanxess and the MECP now admit that they will not achieve the mandated cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. The reasons are both numerous and obvious but ignoring the researched and competent advice of both experts and local citizens for source removal of hot spots both on and off the Uniroyal/Lanxess site is a major reason. Of course none of these experts were bought and paid for consultants hired by Uniroyal/Lanxess. What a pathetic game allowed by our authorities and decision makers. The next obvious reason is Uniroyal's/Lanxess's failures to even be able to pump and treat the volume of water that they declared that they could. Their pumping failures both on and off site although mostly off site have been going on for decades. Their most recent Progress Report (July 2020) is more of the same. On site pumping has an inadequate Target pumping rate of 4.7 litres per second (l/s). Jeff Merriman many years ago promised us at a public CPAC meeting that they would pump 6.0 l/s. It's never happened. Similarily off site pumping was promised by Chemtura (Uniroyal) in November 2012 to be TRIPLED. They later reduced that to be DOUBLED. It's never happened. The total of all off site pumping wells last month was just about even with the admitted inadequate pumping rate of 53 l/s back in 2012. Lots of excuses though, as always. ............................................................................................................. Lanxess have been promised a new Control Order by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) that will reflect the reality of their 2028 failure. They are also initiating a conversation/dialogue among themselves and their "stakeholders" to decide if perhaps they should change the location of their goalposts. CPAC pressed the MOE/MECP for clarification way back in 2012/2013 as to exactly what the definition of "cleanup" was. The MOE/MECP did what they and Lanxess do best which was to bafflegab and delay and simply not give an intelligent answer to a reasoned and reasonable question from the appointed stakeholders. Now Lanxess want to redefine cleanup to mean that if part of the Elmira Aquifers near pumping wells are "clean" then that is good enough. Afterall the Region of Waterloo have been "managing" industrially contaminated aquifers (TCE, benzene etc.) in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge for decades so why not do the same in Elmira? Once again quoting the late, great Pat Potter ("They all lie").