WERE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE ELMIRA WATER CRISIS TOO HOT TO HANDLE FOR LOCAL POLITICIANS?

Were the long term health implications minimized in favour of maximizing the long term survival of both past and present municipal and regional politicians? Never has there been a public release of a health study nor even of population wide health statistics.  Never has there been a formal comparison of say the Elmira population with the rest of Waterloo Region. Never has there been any comparison of downstream Canagagigue Creek Mennonite farm families health with that of other rural farm families in Waterloo Region or elsewhere. Why Not?

Why have I suggested that municipal and regional politicians are very afraid of the truth not to mention provincial ones? Is it because all the facts and data were well known literally two decades prior to the alleged "discovery" of NDMA in Elmira's drinking water in November 1989? These facts included that the aquifers under Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira were directly connected to both the North and South Wellfields. These facts included that NDMA was prevalent, in fact ubiquitous, in and around rubber and chemical manufacturing facilities. These facts included that both on land burial of chemical wastes and river disposal had been known to contaminate drinking water miles away as well as river systems for hundreds of miles downstream in Europe since the 1880s. Other facts included that NDMA which according to Uniroyal's Wally Ruck "was not in our vocabulary" had been found in Uniroyal Chemical's wastewater in the 1970s as well as in the air around their plant for just as long. 

All of this speaks to incompetence or worse approaching the level of gross negligence. This was a multi national, multi billion dollar chemical company. They owned and had the chemical expertise. Their background included knowledge of European chemical manufacturing. They knew the risks and the probabilities of serious environmental and human health damage in Elmira, Ontario. As did any local politicians who did five minutes worth of due diligence. And yet it was full speed ahead with minimal proper safeguards and maximum puffery and obfuscation towards concerns and criticism.