What is a swale? According to Webster's Dictionary it is "a marshy depression in a stretch of land". O.K. that certainly applies to a swale or two just off of Lanxess's extreme south-east corner . That swale actually runs into the Stroh Drain or maybe more properly into Martin's Creek . It is readily visible and could actually be fallen into if one was not walking carefully. The extreme south-east end of the swale is actually below the surface of the water as it discharges into the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB).
There are much larger and currently drier swales further north that actually run on the west side of pits RPE 2-5 . Pretty clearly these swales which are visible in various aerial and satellite photos are a result of the overflowing of all the east side pits (RPE 1-5). Why are similar swales less visible on the east side of these five pits? The reason is because the land there has been reworked multiple times including landscaping further south, ploughing and planting crops on the east side the length of the five pits as well as a gravel road being constructed between the pits and the Stroh property line. All that said, the fact is that for decades there was a clear immediate drop in the ground elevation from the Uniroyal property to the Stroh property indicating the direction overflowing liquid wastes took.
Now the swales on the west side of the pits visually end at the swampy and for decades below water surface of the former large swamp on Uniroyal's property. The purpose of the 1983 SDDB was indeed to drain this swamp and rid it of chemical alligators if you will. Clearly draining liquid chemical wastes from the overflowing east side pits that had been pumped across the Canagagigue Creek in two pipelines was the goal of the SDDB. Indeed it lowered the water table to the point that the swamp was drained on both sides of the property line. Also keep in mind that these liquid wastes mixed with the groundwater in the swamp and gravity flowed downhill! Based upon elevation contours provided by our various authorities the vast majority of the liquid wastes flowed south-east onto the Stroh property where they pooled in a low lying area. Hence the majority did NOT flow directly into the current location of GP-1 as claimed.
The problem of course with open swales in the ground is that unlike a pipe these swales do not 100% contain all their contaminants. In other words there is direct and immediate leakage downwards into the soils beneath the swales. This is where downgradient Interceptor Trenches as described a few days ago come into play. These Trenches which consist of plastic pipe that allows contaminated groundwater to infiltrate then carry the liquids via gravity in this case most likely off-site to the east where they join up with the visible sub-surface pipe that emerges to ground surface at the very north end of the SDDB. None of this was known by citizens in the mid 90s when Uniroyal somehow magically convinced the Ministry of Environment (MOE) to accept hydraulic containment of only the south-west corner of their site. I have no doubt that the Ministry did know and likely approved.
Of course none of this has ever been honestly, openly or properly discussed and debated at CPAC, RAC, TAG or TRAC. Lanxess and the Ontario Ministry of Environment are virtually terrorized and apoplectic at the possibility. This is why Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman rode to their rescue in 2015 and lied and obfuscated to have CPAC removed and a much tamer and deferential committee formed.
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