CLOSING THE GATE AFTER THE HORSE HAS BOLTED

 

In this case it's after the contaminated groundwater has left the property.  Yes it is the solvent contaminated groundwater including trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride , 1,4 dioxane and more beneath the Erb St. Landfill in Waterloo.  This contamination has been in the ground and groundwater literally for many decades.  It has also been denied for most of that time so what has changed? Politics and our population keeps skyrocketing mostly from students and immigrants hence the need for more drinking water. The Region of Waterloo have a well deserved reputation as leaders in groundwater protection. May I just add a small addendum to that? They are leaders in groundwater protection "after the horse has bolted".

Two problems. There are many known "windows" beneath the Erb St. Landfill allowing  both municipal leachate as well as industrial solvents to flow downwards past the natural clay barrier into our regional drinking water aquifer. There are also likely more unknown "windows".

Secondly "management practices" required to stickhandle, delay and minimize the negative effects are already being used by the Region to protect the St. Agatha Wellfield just west of the Landfill. They are being used and strongly being recommended to keep on using them which includes limiting the volume of pumping at the nearby St. Agatha Wellfield in order to reduce the water flow from beneath the landfill towards the wellfield. 

The three solvents listed above have all been found in Elmira's groundwater courtesy of both Uniroyal Chemical and Varnicolor Chemical. Back in the day both these companies and others used each and every landfill they could to dispose of their toxic wastes. 1,4 dioxane was unknown to me back in 1990 when it was identified in shallow soils on the Varnicolor site along with perhaps 100 other chemicals.  It has since been identified beneath the Ottawa St. Landfill and necessitated improved treatment at the Greenbrook Wellfield after it migrated to there.

Good news however. Many of the players involved in the decades long cleanup failure in Elmira, Ontario are also involved in protecting the Erb St. Landfill's reputation (& the Region's?). This would include the Region themselves, consultants CRA, GHD, Wilf Ruland, and Stantec. Now keep in mind Stantec's efforts have primarily been in regards to their very problematic claim that there are no unacceptable risks in the downstream Canagagigue Creek. Oh and of course our very own and highly unesteemed Ontario Ministry of Environment clearly have some jurisdiction and interest in protecting the provincial government from more bad publicity.

Maybe the guilty parties have decided it's almost soon enough to break the bad news to Waterloo Region residents that a Lake Erie Pipeline is about to be moved to the front burner.