In fact it's worse than that. Despite Tiffany Svensson's reassuring words to Sebastian a couple of TAG meetings ago the reality is that forever contaminated groundwater is leaking off the former Uniroyal Chemical site both into the Canagagigue Creek as well as into the deeper (drinking water) Elmira Aquifers She advised that the months of below Target Rate on-site groundwater pumping was magically not resulting in off-site leakage from the MU (municipal upper) and ML (municipal lower) aquifers . This is despite Lanxess's consultants (GHD/CRA) clearly stating in writing that they recommend that Lanxess maintain pumping rates at or above the Target Rate in order to maintain hydraulic containment on site. Regarding the "forever" contaminated groundwater that is because the Ontario Ministry of Environment among their many concessions to Uniroyal and corporate successors have never insisted on proper on-site cleanup and or source removal. All guilty parties have admitted that on site pump and treat (hydraulic containment) may need to go on forever simply to keep the groundwater mobilized contaminants in place.
Off-site pumping has also failed although we were promised that it would only take thirty years to clean up. Liars! Off-site pumping (hydraulic containment) is the slowest and cheapest cleanup possible AND is predicated upon complete on-site hydraulic containment of contaminated groundwater. You need to stop ongoing toxic chemical discharges from adding to the contaminated Elmira drinking water aquifers before you can actually reduce the overall contamination already there.
On August 23/22 I posted here about this issue as the July Progress Report once again indicated the failure to at least maintain on-site Target pumping Rates. The August Progress Report is now out and the failure continues with an average daily on-site pumping rate of only 3.8 litres per second when the Target Rate is 4.7 litres per second. Do not forget that years ago Chemtura (Jeff Merriman) promised CPAC that the daily average on-site pumping rate would be close to 6 litres per second. We were assurred that that pumping rate would keep contaminated municipal aquifer groundwater on site.
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