HOO BOY ARE WE (RMOW) IN BIG WATER TROUBLE! DEVELOPERS, BUILDERS & POSSIBLY EVEN REPORTERS SIMPLY HAVE NO IDEA

 

I've been following all the articles, opinion pieces and Letters To The Editor carefully. Overall K-W Record reporters are doing a great job bringing the facts as they know them to the public's attention. The trouble is that the Region have been much less than forthcoming for many decades now hence neither the public, the developers, builders, politicians or the media truly understand the mess we are in. The bottom line is that having read Luisa D'Amato's TWO page article titled "Will we have enough water ?" the answer is an unequivocal no. Luisa among other things advises readers about the steps to increase our water supply both immediately plus over the next four or five years and I find that terrifying.

Why is it terrifying? It is terrifying because the Region clearly are desperate to avoid litigation from developers and builders who have sunk large amounts of time and money into proposed new developments whether they be detached homes, townhouses, condominiums or office buildings. How desperate you ask? They are so desperate they are pardon the pun "Going back to the well" in order to increase their water supply. Some of these "wells" have been shut down for years and in some cases decades. Why were they shut down in the first place, you ask. Because they were CONTAMINATED. This includes trichloeoethylene (TCE) in the Parkway wells (Deilcraft), benzene in the Greenbrook Wellfield (courtesy of Ottawa St. Landfill), multiple solvents and industrial chemicals with PCBs floating in oil (LNAPL)  upgradient of the Woolner and Pompeii Wellfields along the Grand River (Breslube). Other problems with these river wells as they are called is odour issues that do not occur in groundwater wells located away from surface water. Speaking of surface water the Middleton Wellfield is in the south end of Cambridge right beside the Grand River. The wells however are screened in the Bedrock Aquifer and likely would be separate from the river water however they are not separate from the free phase (DNAPL) TCE in the fractured bedrock fissures and pores.

Also pumping more water from the Middleton Wellfield which supposedly can be then pumped uphill to Waterloo and Kitchener will likely draw out more dissolved TCE from the Bedrock Aquifers. As it is there is a special and very expensive TCE treatment system called AOP (Advanced Oxidation System). The other allegedly still unresolved problem is the different bacterial disinfection system used at the Middleton Wellfield versus the Mannheim Service Area.  My guess is that we are talking a chlorine system versus a chloramine system.

Wilmot Township have been picked to supply water to the Mannheim Service Area almost immediately. That combined with the loss of recharge due to the 700 acre proposed industrial megasite should go over well with Wilmot residents and politicians. Gravel pits, industrial megasites, plus supplying water to K-W  should be a fairly explosive mixture for the Region.

So let's summarize. We (developers, builders, politicians) want one million people here by 2050. Do we also want more contaminated water being mixed with what clean water we have left to keep us at least technically below the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS)? Are we so desperate for growth that we will continue to revive old, shut down contaminated wells to boost our water supply? Meanwhile our river water source (The Grand) will continue receiving increasingly larger loads of treated (hopefully) human sewage as we approach one million people. WHAT POSSIBLY COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS SCENARIO?

"HEADS SHOULD ROLL AT REGION FOR NOT PROTECTING WATER"

Not coincidentally the title of this posting is identical to the one in the K-W Record's Letters To The Editor today. That Letter is written by John Waylett on behalf of the Property Taxpayers Alliance. While Mr. Waylett takes umbrage with MPP Aislinn Clancy's recent article criticizing Premier Doug Ford's environmental missteps, I feel that there is room to agree with both of them.  Yes Doug and the provincial Conservative government have behaved towards the environment exactly as is to be expected by a Conservative government. In other words badly. 

At the same time clearly our regional government have been leading us down the garden path for many decades as they blithely swallowed the Federal and Provincial Growth mantra without conditions or proper preparation.  Did we learn nothing from the 30,000-40,000 influx of Indian students attending Conestoga College? The Region did not have enough housing, jobs, food banks, healthcare, sewage treatment or drinking water facilities to keep up to the demand. 

Mr. Waylett is also correct in that the Region need to disclose to taxpayers how we got into this latest crisis involving water supply. Remember this is after the influx of students has been dramatically reduced. Does anyone really believe the Grand River, as a depository of our many sewage treatment plants, is ever going  to be the same after we hit 1,000,000 people living and working here? I for one do not.

My last point is this. Ultimately regional senior planners and water managers will do as they are told by a multitude of uneducated and woefully ignorant "professional" politicians. The word "professional" does not refer to their academic or technical qualifications it refers to their abilities to fib, gild the lily and weasel out of accountability and responsibility. When in trouble they will hire more credentialed staff (to hide behind and ignore) and form more committees (citizens' preferably) to insulate themselves from crises and blame of their own making.

DEVELOPERS & BUILDERS WIN AT REGIONAL COUNCIL

 

Well I'd sure be keeping an eye on Barry Vrbanovic as well as all the other regional councillors who voted to ignore their own third party report which stated "..in 2023, 2024 and 2025, unsustainable levels of water was pumped from the Waterloo Moraine, lowering aquifer water levels faster than they can be replenished.." . This quote was read to them by Kevin Thomason vice-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network (GREN). Despite this regional council decided to earmark 50% of new water capacity to support future development.

Today's K-W Record carries the following article by Bill Jackson titled "Up to half of new water capacity to support future development".  Some interesting (for me)other points in the article include the name Amy Shaw. Oh boy unless I'm losing it that would be Amy Shaw former Ministry of Environment employee for many years. I can't say much bad about her other than her choice of employer although the name does not give me any confidence but maybe she got out of the M.O.E. for a solid reason such as they are all talk, hot air and deception. Kudos to Geoff Moroz of the Region (staff) who confirmed that the region has been producing (i.e. pumping) more water than it can sustainably take. 

Clearly both his and Kevin Thomason's words and knowledge were given little weight by our clearly pro growth, pro development regional council. Remember that folks when you turn on the tap at home and get nothing but a big "Truck You" echoing down the pipe.

UNDERMINING, LYING, CHARACTER ASSASSINATION AND FOR WHAT?

 

You know I have far more respect for the Ruby Weber's of the world with their right wing, pro business positions and opinions then I do for the local, former, psuedo environmentalist Elmira residents who have cut and run. This is because I think that Ruby is a true believer whereas the others are simply opportunists looking out for number one and if that means switching sides mid stream then so be it.. Ruby was a Woolwich Council member for many years and very sympathetic to Uniroyal Chemical. She never forgot that they provided local jobs and tax revenue despite the mess they've made environmentally. In fact if she were still involved herself with TRAC and the former TAG I expect that she would have expressed her horror at how Uniroyal's promises have turned out to be nothing but wind. I also got to know her through a couple of other local issues and was pleased with her common sense as well as of her ethics of fair play. Quite possibly her, what I view as right wing, pro business attitudes, may very well have been due to her husband Amsey who I understood to be a self-made man. A self-made man who was an astute businessman who did well for himself and family.  

It is that lack of ethics, decency and fair play which have appalled me in regards to Sylvia Berg, Susan Bryant and Pat Mclean. Their modus operandi is not to declare war on someone they view as a threat or a risk to their plans but to claim friendship and collegiality along with common interests. They do not want their intended victim to even see coming their assault of lies and deceptions all intended to lower that individual's status, standing and positions be they environmental or otherwise. It is my opinion based upon personal experience that there is no room in their lives to treat others as well as they've been treated. Their incredibly self-centered approach is to slowly undermine while pretending the opposite. It does not matter that the intended victim doesn't even know that they are in the cross- hairs of their sights. The victim does not have to be intentionally undermining goals and plans that he/she are totally unaware of. In fact if asked they would likely, honestly respond oh no those self-centred goals can not be their's. 

Further thoughts have come to mind. Susan Bryant did not like Bill Strauss at all. She claimed to me that his speaking and education were an embarrassment to Woolwich Township. On the other hand both Pat McLean and Sandy Shantz liked Bill Strauss because as mayor he worked with them on Council or perhaps Pat thought she was manipulating him as she attempted with others. At first Pat made her dislike of Sandy clear based on losing her council seat to her. Later they were best buddies as both Susan and Pat worked on Sandy's election campaigns. In the scheme of lying manipulators I would rate Susan as number one, Sylvia as number 2 and Pat as number three.  

It has been specific Woolwich Council members working mostly through Susan and Pat that have enabled Uniroyal and successors, in harmony with the Ontario Ministry of Environment, to give Woolwich residents a totally inadequate and unsuccessful cleanup of their groundwater, surface water and soils and sediments.

A CULTURE OF LYING & DISINFORMATION: CAN IT BE OVERCOME TO SOLVE WATER PROBLEMS?

 

Some politicians might even admit quietly that lying to the public is an art form. They might suggest that every lie requires a fallback position. That fallback position might be new information that the public generally don't have. It might be scapegoating another political party for "obstructing" your legislative agenda. It might be blaming a higher tier of government such as the provinces blaming Ottawa and the Federal government for environmental failures. When in great trouble relying on "acts of God",  weather emergencies, outside influences, immigrants, the radical left whatever is the hot button issue of the day helps. Unions and labour unrest used to be a great scapegoat for corporations and businesses to blame when their outdated  products or technologies were no longer competitive. All in all accepting responsibility and taking blame for mistakes and failures is not the preferred option.

So according to today's K-W Record the Region of Waterloo are planning on using another $15 million dollars of taxpayers money to bring in a type of "workaround" technology.  This technology is referred to as container filtration systems.  A quick on-line check shows that several companies sell prefabricated water treatment systems generally for smaller applications including mining camps, isolated small locations involving using surface water (creeks & rivers) versus wells and even industrial plants. Yes they do claim that they can properly treat river water which in the case of the Grand River includes high turbidity (murkiness), pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, heavy metals, industrial discharges (legal or otherwise), parasites from cattle including cryptosporidium and less than perfect treatment of human wastes.  Lets not forget nice things like dead fish and animals that end up in the river not to mention the odd human body found immersed.

These new units apparently can produce 25 litres per second of clean water hence you would need at least eight of them to up our water supply by a whole 200 litres per second.  Boy that's not very much and certainly tells me that this is simply a workaround or maybe even a bandaid approach. Now I did the math on a couple of commercial units and they claim a somewhat higher volume of water produced than 25 l/sec but maybe the Region are simply being conservative in their estimates. Regardless based upon this one article and half an hour of research I am a little underwhelmed. 

But then again our local developers and builders want results yesterday and maybe that's exactly what they are going to get. Remember no problem is so serious and so bad that rushed, panicked decision making can not make it worse. Are our regional politicians up to the challenge? Hey we all elected the buggars so we get what we deserve.  

TECHNICAL REMEDIATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE (TRAC) MEETING ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19/26 AT 6 P.M..

 

It looks to me as if they have over time changed their process for Delegates to speak at this meeting of Woolwich/Lanxess vetted citizens.  Apparently if a Delegate is speaking to a new item not on the agenda, one must register eight days prior to the meeting. Now of course the fricken Agenda doesn't come out until one week before the meeting hence potential Delegates have no way of knowing if their specific TRAC related/mandated speaking topic is or isn't on the Agenda until after their deadline (8 days) is passed. So in other words you'd better register eight days beforehand unless of course you have an inside track to TRAC and can get tipped off early about the Agenda topics. I view this as a valid metaphor for the efficacy and honesty of this committee, which blame does not lie with individual members but with Woolwich Council.

This meeting may be observed silently and reverently from the chairs in the gallery or on Zoom. For those of us with twitchy stomachs and concerns about speaking out of turn (i.e. at all) then it may be safest to watch it by video a few days later on the Township's website (under Council Calendar). This I usually do and then post here both the good and the bad. The good may contain some kind words about restoring our groundwater and the bad may be the feeble excuses made and reasons allegedly out of their control as to why they have failed to do either that or to clean up the Uniroyal Chemical gross downstream contamination in the creek soils, sediments and floodplain soils. The other bad part is the unwillingness or inability for the members as a whole to stand up and call out Lanxess and the MECP for their never ending bullshit and junk science. There simply is no hard questioning as to why this project goes on and on for decades (36 years) without successful completion.

 

ZERO RESPONSE TO ANY WATER QUESTIONS TO THE REGION DESPITE REGIONAL CHAIR & COUNCILLORS RECEIVING THEM IN WRITING

 

It really is beyond shameful. Yet not surprising when you look at how deceitful either councillors or somebody has been to the public regarding our water supply (& quality) for decades. To me it would seem that that is the councillors' job to respond to serious questions whether from uninformed citizens or even better informed citizens such as myself. Having read their Annual Water Reports for many years I've learned where the opportunities are for gilding the lily and where and how likely problems with certain wells are hidden or camouflaged. All of those questions have been sent directly to multiple regional councillors plus the Chair Karen Redman.  No response.

Today's K-W Record has a very interesting article by Aislinn Clancy, Green Party M.P.P. for Kitchener Centre titled "Who's protecting Waterloo Region's water?". She appropriately takes aim at the provincial Doug Ford (Conservative) government for numerous offences against the environment including water supply and quality. Her article ends with "Water is life and we cannot take it for granted."

SO HAS THE MAYOR OF WILMOT TOWNSHIP SOLD OUT HER CONSTITUENTS TO THE REGION?

 

Or in the alternative has she extracted meaningful concessions or favours from the Region beneficial to Wilmot residents? As is usual citizens and voters likely will be left in the dark about that. What caught my eye in yesterday's K-W Record article titled : "Humane society project at standstill due to water crisis" was the mention of the 1980 Regional policy restricting the transfer of water from Wilmot production wells into other areas of the Region such as Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. There was a good reason for that policy back in 1980 as Township farmers and city residents had concerns even then about the security of their water supply. They realized that the growing cities were already eyeing their water supply and they the Township were having none of it. I think it should be a public matter as to what has been proposed in exchange for mayor Salonen handing over water access to the Region. Just off the top of my head I have to wonder if the removal of the Region's 700 acre shovel ready land acquisition was the sweetener.

Not for the first time Kitchener mayor Barry Vrbanovik has suggested that 50% of planned and unbuilt water capacity coming online within the next five years should be directed to support development approvals. Wow but he is sure signaling his expected financial and other support at the polls by our local development groups and lobbies by pushing that idea. Gee using mayor Vrbanovic's logic maybe I can get a million dollar interest free bank loan based upon my planned and unreceived monies from my 2019 book : " Elmira Water Woes: The Triumph of Corruption, Deceit and Citizen Betrayal".  

As my wife tells me, wait to buy my superyacht until AFTER the money is in the bank not before. Maybe the same should happen with the PUBLIC'S water as well.

$81 MILLION EXTRA WOULD BE MORE PALATABLE AFTER WE LEARN WHO MESSED UP AND HOW

 

Was there an element of "act of God" or even bad luck involved? Has climate change caused greater more subtle effects than we ever imagined? Did a senior, regional employee experience a heart rending personal tragedy that totally flattened them? Could there be an element of sabotage involved whether by hire or personal? Did group think and personal loyalty overcome common sense and good decision making? Region of Waterloo citizens deserve answers to these questions and others. Now is not the time to be protecting individuals or groups from the consequences of bad decisions no matter how well intentioned they might have been. This most especially includes local region councillors. Could there be a group of councillors with far too much influence over the rest who need to step back somewhat?

In today's Woolwich Observer we are advised by reporter Julian Gavaghan that spending $1.2 million for nine new hires is the first step and top priority for regional council. Or at least Chair Karen Redman says that is so.  Apparently that conclusion is based upon a staff report dated January 29/26. Hmm now I wonder who on staff wrote the report.  I also wonder if this is an old report with a new date or if it is actually something new. If it's a recycled old report then the first question has to be why didn't Council act sooner? Were they too much in awe of local developers and builders or even of Premier Doug Ford to take any controversial steps for fear of enraging powerful local interests? 

Then of course there is the simple issue of institutional lying. "Officials stressed the issue is not related to water quality...". Really? If the Grand River either had fewer or better Sewage Treatment Systems  would its' treatment costs be lower? If more cattle were kept out of the Canagagigue Creek, Conestogo River, Nith River and Grand River would Grand River water quality improve markedly without expensive treatment? Then of course we have salt washed into our creeks and rivers both from our cities and our highways. All of these reasons are why Grand River water treatment is so expensive. 

Regarding our groundwater a number of wells in Cambridge have been drilled deeper to get by industrial contaminated zones. Other wells have been shut down and not just in Elmira. Wells as shown in the Region's Annual Water Report that each year are shut down for significant periods of time likely are being "managed" via intermittent pumping of contaminant plumes to lessen the amount of contaminated water being put in the system. Routine mixing of cleaner wells with dirtier, more contaminated wells has also been going on for years. All of these factors affect treatment costs as well as operating costs. Sorry folks but today's quantity problems are directly related to ongoing quality problems affecting the operation of the system.

Then finally there is the big question. Actually how much water is available from  our local moraines and aquifers on a sustainable basis? Without that knowledge everything else is just political hot air and wishful thinking. 

BACK IN 2004 DR. HENRY REGIER WROTE AN ESSAY ON MODERN RISK ASSESSMENT (RA) AFTER RESEARCHING CHEMTURA'S RA OF THEIR SITE

 

I remember being shocked and flabbergasted by the shallowness and apparent amateurishness of Chemtura's results. Their RA was to determine if their site somehow was a threat to either human beings or wildlife. According to their scientific study the only human beings at risk were trespassers and the only wildlife at risk were shrews. Now the shrews ate worms contaminated with dioxin which explained their health risks but nary a word about predators of shrews . Keep in mind that both DDT and dioxins bio-accumulate in concentration as they move up the food chain. So what about hawks, owls, foxes, mink, weasels, coyotes and other consumers of shrews?  

Trespassers wandering aimlessly on their site allegedly were at risk. Perhaps these trespassers were kind enough to wear large signs distinguishing themselves from employees, contractors, invited visitors etc.  This would of course explain why only errant and  occasional trespassers were more susceptible to any of the hundreds of various manufactured poisons as well as poisons produced as by-products of fungicides, herbicides, pesticides, insecticides etc. Also from personal experience I can testify as to the noxious odours and fumes emanating from the two east side consolidation pits prior to their removal from the sub-surface.

Dr. Regier along with myself and others were members of CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee). Chemtura explained their various RA rationales and assumptions to CPAC although not particularly in detail or with specifics. Dr. Regier made it his business to professionally investigate the process and procedures around this Risk Assessment (RA). He by invitation and in person talked to a number of Ministry of Environment personnel with expertise in RA as well as other professional sources. He then later synthesized what he was told and advised into an essay which he provided//published in 2004.

I enclose merely the first several sentences of it as follows: 

"In recent years the environment agencies of the Canadian and Ontario governments have implemented a bureaucratic process of Risk Assessment ostensibly to satisfy a commitment to the Precautionary Principle, inter alia. In effect the process abstracts, truncates and devolves difficult issues from the political arena to a conventional bureaucracy with limited competence on these matters. A costly, junk science version of a shell game may result. Whether or not it was the subversive intention of political operators "unfriendly to the environment" to do so, the process of Risk Assessment actually implemented seems designed to cripple a commitment to effective precaution or clean-up. In addition to treating this subject generically from a perspective of post-normal science, personal experiences with Risk Assessment related to contamination of a creek in Elmira will be described. An alternative participatory process for making decisions in such cases was published by officials of Ontario's environment ministry some years ago, but seems to have been ignored."

Dr. Regier thankfully is still alive and kicking and recently passed this essay and words onto some academic colleagues as well as myself.  These words as well as my personal experiences with TWO Risk Assessments, one by Chemtura and one by Lanxess Canada have formed my opinion of the second RA regarding the downstream Canagagigue Creek. To call that most recent RA a "...costly, junk science version of a shell game..." is far too kind.  The TRAC and TAG committees of Woolwich Council have either forgotten or never understood the criticism and concerns of myself and some committee members. One former member, Joe Kelly, was both accurate and clear in his descriptions of shovel sediment sampling versus using core samplers. Other issues included a plethora of Non-Detect (ND) results due to lab Method Detection Limits (MDL) in excess of health criteria. Locational sampling biases were but another flaw in the field work surrounding a RA which claimed that there were 

                              "...NO UNACCEPTABLE RISKS "  in the downstream Creek.

No proper, independent health studies combined with junk sampling and junk science. I mean Woolwich Township will happily throw their own volunteer citizen committee members under the bus as they have in the past (2008 & 2015). That is your eventual purpose TRAC. Do you think professional politicians are dumb enough to take the blame both after the 2028 groundwater failure and professional, unbiased academic papers begin to condemn decades of Elmira/Uniroyal junk science?   

HAS A WILMOT GRAVEL PIT EXPOSED AN ONGOING SOURCE OF SALT IN OUR GROUNDWATER?

 

Remember the groundwater contamination in Waterloo Region is not only TCE (trichloroethylene), benzene, chlorinated solvents, NDMA; it's also nitrates, glyphosate (Round Up) and salt.  The salt of course comes from our roads and sidewalks in the winter to reduce slips and falls as well as auto accidents. In today's K-W Record however we learn that a new gravel pit in Wilmot Township, situated above the Waterloo Moraine has been accepting truckloads of snow this winter.  The title of the article by Terry Pender is "Ministry shuts down snow dump in Wilmot Township". One estimate is 50 truckloads of snow in the past two weeks being dumped at the surface of the Waterloo Moraine in the groundwater recharge zone.  The likelihood of this snow being contaminated with salt either from roads, driveways or parking lots is extremely high. 

Snow dumping is not permitted at this gravel pit under the license issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) hence the owner was ordered to cease and desist. Allegedly the MNR. conduct regular inspections to ensure compliance with the terms of their gravel pit license however just like their sister ministry the MECP (Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks), that is highly unlikely especially in the winter time. This case like many was initiated by local citizens' complaints. 

The timing of course is exquisite as just last week the Region of Waterloo announced that more water would be diverted from the Shingleton Wellfield in Wilmot Township to K-W and Elmira. Kudos to Rory Farnan and Samantha Lernout of "Citizens for Safe Groundwater"  for their vigilance and action. 

I too in decades past have reported gravel pits for illegal dumping up here in Woolwich Township. Unfortunately there wasn't at the time a very public water supply crisis and absolutely nothing was done by our unesteemed Ministry of Environment (MOE) . Unfortunately gravel pits especially near the end of their gravel production time are prime areas for burying stuff you can't (or shouldn't) take to the Waterloo Region, Erb St. Landfill. I would think that dirty snow from our streets and highways is a prime candidate for illegal dumping in multiple Regional gravel pits in the winter because come spring the evidence literally melts away. 

Closer to home let's not forget our own snowdump here in Woolwich Township. It's right above the former First St. Landfill which is actually sitting upon reclaimed ground that used to be below the Canagagigue Creek before it was straightened in 1963 or 64 to allow the building of the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant. Where exactly do you think all the salt, debris and contaminants end up every spring after snowmelt?  

Quoting Rory Farnan "All this talk of protection, but no teeth." He is correct and it is done intentionally by our politicians at all levels. They pass legislation allegedly to protect their citizens but rarely include serious enforcement provisions because afterall our developers, industrialists, gravel pit operators and employers are all well organized into lobby groups and who also financially support political parties while demanding relief from onerous and strict enforcement of many laws. Finally is it not likely that politicians themselves are reluctant to see laws affecting themselves and their duties being enforced rigorously? Hypothetically perhaps this might even include laws around election financing and reporting. 

WILL "WATER BANKRUPTCY" BE THE END OF THE WILMOT LAND GRAB AS WELL AS OF THE NON-CLEANUPS IN ELMIRA & CAMBRIDGE?

 

It may be too much to hope for. Our politicians do best looking at short term problems not long term ones. Federally that would also apply to crime which by its' nature tends to be quiet and at least somewhat hidden from most of our views especially depending upon where we live. I expect that illegal drug use and petty crime go hand in hand in our inner cities and organized crime more obvious in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Vancouver with unfortunate hot spots in Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and economically disadvantaged cities. Our federal government's response is to confiscate legally acquired firearms whose owners are licensed from the very same federal government. My understanding is that convicted criminals plus those with a history of serious mental illness can not obtain firearms licenses. So the federal government's crime fighting consists of disarming those proven to be law abiding.  That plan should work by fooling the public for what ten minutes, ten days, ten months ?

On January 26, 2026 the K-W Record published an article by a Director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Mr. Kaveh Madani. His premise is that "Many natural water systems are no longer able to return to their historical conditions. These systems are in a state of failure - water bankruptcy." He further states "Despite these problems, nations continue to increase water withdrawals to support the expansion of cities, farmland, industries and now data centres." He has many other suggestions including respecting the science that tells our politicians when enough is enough. In other words don't keep growing and expanding population and economic growth blindly believing that engineering can solve all problems including water shortages. On its' own it cannot.

I'm still waiting for Wilmot Township to respond to the Region's plans for taking more water from their groundwater to satisfy Kitchener, Waterloo , Elmira etc. Why shouldn't the mayor of Wilmot, Natasha Salonen tell Woolwich to clean up their own act? Clean up our Uniroyal, Nutrite and Varnicolor Chemical contaminated groundwater so that we can once again be self-sufficient in water. When Cambridge finally admit their issues with TCE (and more) contaminated groundwater and actually seriously attempt to remove it at source rather than at their treatment facilities (Middleton Well Field etc.) then they might actually have enough reasonably priced water to send to K-W. The failure to clean up Breslube (now Safety-Kleen) decades ago assisted in shutting down two Kitchener wells, K70 and K71. Does Ms. Salonen think building a massive 700 acre industrial facility on top of agricultural land, combined with pumping groundwater on behalf of Kitchener-Waterloo  actually solve anything?

Difficult decisions in the PUBLIC interest need to be made now.   

REGION'S WATER SUPPLY CRISIS GETTING NASTY: THANK GOODNESS

Why do I say "Thank Goodness" above regarding our water crisis getting nasty? I say it because history has shown that when all the stakeholders get together, hold hands and sing from the same choirbook; the public get it in the ear. In fact it's almost a given. The prime local example is the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis.  As long as the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) and Uniroyal Chemical were at each others throats in front of the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB), then the public were learning all the dirty environmental secrets of a multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation . The plan was for the M.O.E. to then take the stand for examination and cross-examination after Uniroyal were finished. It never happened because Uniroyal knew that they had the dirt and the goods on the M.O.E. who were more than willing to sell out the public interest in order to save their own credibility and reputations. This the M.O.E. did by offering a sweetheart deal which allowed Uniroyal to save hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs. These saved cleanup costs included both the downstream Canagagigue Creek as well as not forcing Uniroyal to remove as many DNAPLS as possible on and off their site.

The hoped for nastiness today is between local developers & builders  against the Region of Waterloo. It's even possible that we might see some sort of Region versus the province nastiness if we are very lucky. Do not be fooled by peace, love and harmony between essentially hard nosed, play it close to the line parties with vastly different interests. The developers and builders will quite happily build homes and commercial buildings to our very last drop of water as long as they get paid to do so. Regional Council politicians want status, recognition and when possible legacy projects to cement their reputations. Unfortunately most of them aren't remotely smart enough to actually be able to understand water systems or for that matter anything technical at all. including financing and budgets. This they do not want exposed hence they too will do almost anything to escape close scrutiny for the water crisis including selling out their constituents. Melissa Durell Executive Officer at Build Urban threw the first grenade when she suggested that the development freeze/water crisis was a "manufactured crisis".  

Both articles in today's K-W Record by Luisa D'Amato and Terry Pender suggested that regional staff and councillors might face civil and or criminal liability. Hallelujah it's about time. Generally speaking politicians like police officers have way too much immunity from prosecution or even accountability.  Throw all the stones you want and let the chips lay where they fall. If regional councillors have been ignoring staff water warnings for years and going full speed ahead on development then they need to be charged for putting all of us at risk of water shortages. The problem is there usually is enough mutual blame for the stakeholders to stop throwing stones, make nice, lie to the public and cobble together some kind of second class deal to stave off the worst of the consequences all while removing blame from the equation exactly as they did in Elmira. 

LEST WE FORGET: DEVELOPERS & BUILDERS INTERESTS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THOSE OF WATERLOO REGION RESIDENTS AS A WHOLE

 

Developers and builders want to make money today not tomorrow and the housing gravy train has been very good to them for many decades.  Just as they prefer to talk about building overpriced and grossly out of reach homes for the unhoused we have our Regional Chair Karen Redman  jauntily advising all and sundry that "...this is not about blame, this is about building a path forward." While I disagree with much of Kitchener mayor Barry Vrbanovic's comments which appear to show his dedication to the development industry, nevertheless he did strike a chord with his wish for all to know what happened to suddenly drop the bottom out of being ready for one million people here in the Region by 2051. 

Mrs. Puopolo and Masseo, developers, both want to believe that the water shortage is an engineering problem not an environmental or sustainability issue.  Minor (to them) facts such as low water elevation readings in a major aquifer are not setting off alarms as they should. I expect that these two gentlemen wouldn't concede a water shortage until the day they turn on the tap and nothing but dust comes out. Clearly freezing development permits until after the problem is both clearly defined AND if required greatly improved; is the proper action. 

Proper action also includes answering the question how did this problem sneak up on us? Obviously the Region's water department does not have an accurate handle on how much water is available from the Waterloo and Wellesley Moraines  plus from other aquifers in and around the Region of Waterloo such as Bedrock Aquifers in Cambridge, the Elmira Aquifers and more. Also I wonder just how reliable the Grand River is looking these days with the effects of greater extremes in weather upon us. 

It seems to me that often those like ex Woolwich councillor Mark Bauman and Regional Chair Karen Redman who trumpet "I won't play the blame game" do exactly that while pointing the finger at others rather than themselves.  

I SURE HOPE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS ARE PAYING ATTENTION

 

Your master is speaking and I sure as hell don't mean me or any other local citizens and residents.  Scott Higgins, President of Hip Developments Inc., is speaking and maybe he's forgotten the way of the world. You'd think that his company name would remind him though: Hip Developments as in "joined at the hip"  with our local powers that be i.e. regional government. Come on boys and girls democracy functions best when the ruled (us) can sort of believe that we have a small say in things. For that to happen the real powers of money and influence have to work together with our sort of democratically elected representatives. In other words Scott soften your approach when you blurt out "I think it's a reaction to the ineptitude in water management." Of course it is but far more than likely it's not professional water staff who are inept as much as it is non-professional, untrained for anything except shmoozing, talking and politiking regional politicians who are just trying to vote in line with the powerful and influential but sometimes they get confused.  Once you're no longer in the habit of  thinking for yourself but of simply following orders then you get into trouble.

I also enjoyed Mr. Higgins shot at our Regional Police Service. Of course their budgets are out of control and have been for decades. Again you have a bunch of twits rubber stamping police budgets with the financially challenged mayor Shantz as part of the Police Board. At least she appears to have learned how to properly fill out the amazingly simple and easy Financial Election Statements after several tries.

I will say that Mr. Marcolongo of Environmental Defence does make a strong argument to restore the Region's planning authority that was removed by Doug Ford's provincial Conservatives. Mr. Marcolongo's suggestions at least in my mind make much more sense than regional councillor Doug Craig's attempts. There is one point however that I agree with Mr. Craig on and that is that we the public should learn the history of how we got to this point in the water crisis without being notified . Of course this is dangerously assuming that it is indeed the truth that regional councillors had not been notified much earlier.

SOME WATER "SOLUTIONS" FROM THE REGION YES BUT PROBLEMS PERSIST INCLUDING INCOMPLETE ANSWERS

 

Todays K-W Record has another article by Terry Pender advising us of a staff report released yesterday. Repairs and changes to both the dormant Greenbrook water facility and the Mannheim water treatment plant are being proposed. The first would be completed by this coming September whereas the work at Mannheim will tale six to eighteen months to complete. There is also the suggestion to reallocate water from Wilmot Township to Kitchener and Waterloo. Gee I wonder how well that will be taken by folks in Wilmot Township firstly without the 700 acre land grab and secondly with that land grab included.

The Greenbrook wells have some industrial contamination in them from the nearby Ottawa St. Landfill. How extensive the "modifications" would be I do not know but wonder if they are primarily treatment issues. The Mannheim System may have it's disinfection system altered as part of their "changes" or not. Again our regional folks are being very cagey regarding chlorine versus chloramine disinfection between the two Systems as well as whether the AOP (Advanced Oxidation Process) treatment to remove trichloroethylene (TCE)  from the  Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge is problematic as well or not.

I find the so called water "surplus" in Cambridge very strange. Is this "surplus" counting all the contaminated wells and if so have they been "resting" until recently with K-W water making up the difference? Or have Cambridge residents been enjoying the thrills involved with drinking highly treated water that may have added toxic by-products of disinfection included?  For example is the alleged "stink" produced by mixing Mannheim water with Cambridge (Middleton wellfield) water merely the result of so much chlorine in both systems making the chlorine stink worse than we all ready know? Or is it something totally different and if so what is it? Also how exactly are the proposed new pumping station and watermains supposed to integrate these two systems? Pumps and watermains are not treatment facilities, they are parts of the distribution system whether internal distribution during treatment or external distribution from house to house or city to city. Once trust has been lost by authorities either gilding the lily or outright lying to citizens, then their word means nothing.

P.S. I particularly enjoyed the reporter's shots at the Mike Harris family who have done so much for the Conservative Party and so little for Ontario citizens.  Thank you for your service and goodbye.

THIRTY-SIX WASTED "CLEANUP" YEARS HERE IN ELMIRA - FOR WATER WE DESPERATELY NEED

Last Thursday Julian Gavaghan and the Woolwich Observer published the following story titled "Region left scrambling after water shortage poses development challenges".  Overall it is an excellent article and I say this despite recent criticism from myself aimed towards both the Observer and particularly the K-W Record. In the Record's case it had to do with multiple errors in a November 15/25 Record article describing the Elmira Water Crisis and the failed 2028 cleanup. Last Thursday's Observer article delineates the sensitive jurisdictional areas shared between the Region and the Townships and cities in regards to development growth. 

I am somewhat concerned when mayor Shantz suggests that "We will have to work with our development community to ensure new neighbourhoods have the services they need." Woolwich's priority right now should be sustaining services including water and sewage to our established neighbourhoods who have been paying the freight through taxes for many decades. Secondly at least mayor Shantz suggested that Woolwich is working "with" not "for" the development community because it often looks like that. 

The Region of Waterloo has approximately 100 groundwater wells however lots of them are contaminated with industrial pollution including Trichloroethylene, benzene and NDMA. The Region have always found it politic NOT to discuss those MAJOR boo boos. Besides the industrial pollution there is also agricultural pollution from nitrates and Glyphosate as well as salt from our roads. Gravel pits are also a threat to our groundwater although they are rarely denied permits to either expand or dig new ones even closer to potential markets saving transportation costs to the aggregates industry.  

The Observer article also points out the very negative effects our current Conservative Premier has had upon our water sources with less oversight and Ministerial Zoning Orders. There was also discussion of the huge costs of building a pipeline from Lake Erie to Waterloo Region. I might suggest that perhaps further discussion around the alleged impossibility of mixing the two water systems with their different disinfection systems (chlorine vs. chloaramines)  would be appropriate.

THE REGION OF WATERLOO IS TAKING A PUBLIC SHELLACKING

 

Thank God they are because politicians who don't fear the public unfortunately often hold them in contempt. In a perfect world there would be a constant level of mutual respect but that world if it ever was, no longer is. Our local papers here include the Woolwich Observer and the Waterloo Region Record (K-W Record).  I think Cambridge still have a weekly newspaper (Cambridge Times?) and Waterloo (the Chronicle). Certainly the papers here in Elmira have been all over the Region for their missteps from kicking homeless people out of their tents, to amassing a 700 acre industrial site from agricultural lands in Wilmot to screwing up assessing our water supply.  There are lots more including too much money to local police and too little to social agencies and mental health supports for the population. 

According to Luisa D'Amato's Opinion piece in today's Record there will be further answers provided at this Wednesday's Regional council meeting. Luisa is also advising that an Open Town Hall meeting is needed to regain and restore public trust. It would certainly help if it is done properly versus otherwise. A couple of points I must raise from Terry Pender's article in last Saturday's Record: Why is the Greenbrook wellfield still shut down after the ammonia/chlorine explosion there a few years back? If it is simple failure to purchase or repair damaged equipment then shame on the Region. On the other hand if it is due to the long known contamination plume being drawn from the Ottawa St. Landfill to the west, contaminating the wellfield, then fess up. Both Uniroyal and Varnicolor and God knows how many other industries dumped their toxic wastes into that landfill whether legally or illegally. Varnicolor got caught at least once illegally dumping liquid solvents  in drums into that landfill. Secondly we are advised that the aquifer that the Region found last summer to have low water levels was AFB2. Now if that is accurate that is a huge problem. Just look at the conceptual drawing included in Mr. Pender's article.  If AFB2 water levels are low then according to that drawing probably so are AFB1 located above it with only a partial aquitard between them.  This makes AFB2 a semi-confined aquifer versus a fully confined aquifer. Having two aquifers with a direct hydraulic connection would indicate that low water levels in the lower one probably also means the same with the one above. Unless... the Region are back playing games just like CRA did here in Elmira for decades picking and choosing inappropriate monitoring locations in order to fudge groundwater elevations.

A skeptic might also suggest that giving answers to most regional politicians is a waste of time based upon their past useage of data and information supplied to them by staff. Perhaps in the current critical climate they might focus their attention a little better. 

 

GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS REGARDING WATERLOO REGION'S WATER SUPPLY

 

Firstly water table (i.e. shallow aquifer) aquifers are far more likely to exhibit dramatic changes in elevation in shorter time frames than deeper aquifers. They are also generally more susceptible to contamination as they generally have so much less ability to filter out contaminants if they are only a metre or two below the ground's surface. Much deeper aquifers 25 feet to 90 feet not only have much more sand and gravel to filter out surface contaminants but they also often or usually have less permeable clay/silt aquitards between themselves and the ground surface which dramatically slow down contaminant downward flow. It is also very possible that the shallow aquifer (water table aquifer) could be dry due to  lower than usual rainfall with only a small lessening of water levels in the deeper aquifers.

Now of course  a long drought combined with for example high pumping of drilled wells will certainly decrease even the deeper aquifers water level. If as the Region state they know that they pumped their wells during 2023-2024 as well as in 2025 at unsustainable levels then it's obvious that they know what the sustainable pumping levels are and they must NOT exceed them. Ever again for ANY reason whatsoever. This is also known as "mining" your water supply and is a recipe for long term disaster.

Hence drilling more wells into the same aquifer certainly appears like a stupid decision. Other than the Region's long ago decision to artificially recharge aquifers using treated Grand River water; you generally can not increase aquifer capacity. It turns out that for whatever reason the Region's attempts to do so through artificial recharge have not been successful. I don't know the reason why but if they know then get at it and get it working. If the subsurface or other conditions make it unlikely or impossible then move on to other options and solutions. 

There is some good news. For example my house sump pump water levels (shallow aquifer again) has been much lower over the last few years.  Lower to bone dry. Well guess what? We had a serious 1 1/2  day thaw up to 12 degrees Celsius a couple of weeks ago and my sump has been full since. Plus with the increased rain we had in October combined with tons of snow since early November I can see the shallow aquifer levels being very high from here through to maybe May or June. Yes that water does slowly move both horizontally as well as vertically . This vertical flow eventually does hit those deeper aquifers and recharges them. That is good news although I don't know yet if increased rainfall will be a further regular phenomenon of Climate Change or not.

There was an excellent conceptual model/picture of the Waterloo and Wellesley Moraines along with today's K-W Record article titled "Drying wells and Dying wetlands". Kudos again to the Record and their reporter for keeping citizens informed. Now if only that would rub off onto the Region of Waterloo. 

BETWEEN IGNORING CALLS TO DEFUND THE POLICE & FURTHER WARNING CALLS ABOUT INTEGRATING OUR WATER SYSTEMS WATERLOO REGION AREN'T LOOKING TOO BRIGHT

 

O.K. The calls to defund the police were in line with the Black Lives Matter protests and many have suggested that it was as much of a request to transfer funding from police to social agencies dealing with poverty, homelessness, mental health etc. There is much merit in that as obviously police training is more along the lines of dealing with criminals, violent people and perhaps even emergency situations such as car accidents and the like.

Today's K-W Record has two Letters To The Editor dealing with Waterloo Region's water crisis. Neither is particularly sympathetic with those in charge due to past warnings being ignored combined with equipment breakdowns that one would think to be considered normal over time.  The one warning came two decades ago from Harry Swain who wrote a report on our water system making suggestions that certainly in light of today's development freeze were right on the money. I am one of those who is quite angry to find out in hindsight that our so called INTEGRATED Urban System is nothing of the kind. In fact having a surplus of TCE (trichloroethylene) contaminated water from the Middleton Wellfield being unavailable for Kitchener-Waterloo and Elmira isn't all bad. Meanwhile there are dozens of other drinking water wells and perhaps the Region needs to share with residents as to what the other problems are. 

I must also add that I am not remotely upset that there currently is a freeze on development. Funny how all the folks making money from Growth such as developers, builders, landlords, real estate are always full on in favour of Growth, Growth and more Growth. I and many others are not. Water is but one of our problems that increasing populations have brought us. Health care and sewage treatment are two others. Lets make sure BEFORE we remove the development freeze that we are not jumping from one crisis to yet another.

MORE WATER WOES FOR BOTH WOOLWICH & THE REGION ARE THE PRICE FOR FASTER, SMOOTHER TRAFFIC FLOW THROUGH ELMIRA

 

It doesn't have to be that way however as both the Region of Waterloo and Woolwich Township favour the east side route for the By-Pass it's pretty much guaranteed. This development (road & commercial development) on the east side of Elmira will run through and over contaminated lands curtesy of Uniroyal Chemical and all their fellow travellors.  These contaminated lands will then slowly over decades or longer discharge into the Canagagigue Creek and flow into the Grand River which is one of the sources of water for Kitchener-Waterloo and Elmira residents. With to date no acknowledgement much less treatment for dissolved Dioxins and more we here in Elmira will be on the forefront of recycling via discharging NDMA, chlorinated solvents, PAHs, dioxins and DDT into the Creek and then after inadequate treatment having it pumped back up to us for household use. 

Again the obvious way to avoid this is by taking the cheaper and faster By-Pass route on the west side from Listowel Rd. to Floradale Rd., straight through the roundabout and then right on Reid Woods Dr. and then left (north) onto Arthur St. N..  This route also avoids having to build a major bridge over the Canagagigue as well as avoids all the low lying floodplain on the east side which routinely floods. 

If the process were honest which is a joke these questions about DDT and Dioxin contamination would have been honestly investigated and addressed many years ago. This however is Woolwich Township and Waterloo Region and they are masters at manipulation and deceit, especially when it comes to "investigations". Just look at both the phony Elmira groundwater "cleanup" as well as the MECAC (Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee) "investigations" of Scot Hahn and Sandy Shantz.  Pathetic jokes both of them.

IN YOUR FACE WATERLOO REGION CITIZENS: OUR WATER SUPPLY IS FOREMOST FOR DEVELOPERS TO MAKE MONEY NOT FOR US TO SURVIVE

 I believe that is becoming apparent as we read in the K-W Record about Waterloo Regional economic committees attended by local developers and builders as well as in today's paper that our regional councillors are attending meetings for example of the Waterloo Region Home Builders' Association.  From regional councillor Colleen James to mayors Barry Vrbanovic and Dorothy McCabe, they apparently feel the need to stroke the egos or wallets of the Homebuilders' Association. What I find interesting is that I've sent e-mails of my Elmira Advocate Blog to all three asking for help and assistance in remediating the Elmira Aquifers which would be of direct benefit to the constituents of all three regional councillors. Zero response thank you very much. Maybe they are afraid to raise the ire of our beloved mayor Sandy Shantz.  Kitchener mayor and regional councillor Barry Vrbanovic solicitously told the Homebuilders "We remain open for business," and Ms McCabe Waterloo mayor and regional councillor added "We continue to process planning files.".  Isn't that sweet. No offers of a cup of water to parched citizens in either Kitchener or Waterloo however.

Regional Councillor Colleen James also advised the Homebuilders Association that trust must be rebuilt between themselves and the Region.  O.K. maybe it's a cheap shot when you're attending their meeting and you don't suggest some sympathy and concern for the rest of us who have worked and lived here our whole lives but darn if it doesn't sting. I think at least half the water problem or more is how the Region have treated corporations, manufacturers, homebuilders and developers for decades.  It's been kid gloves even for proven large groundwater polluters from Ciba-Geigy, C.G.T., Northstar,  Uniroyal Tire (Kit.), B.F. Goodrich, Deilcraft, former Gaukel St. Post Office (Gasworks),  Budd Automotive, Sunar, Canbar, maybe Seagram's, Uniroyal Chemical/Lanxess (Elmira), Nutrite and Varnicolor Chemical. 

The Region brag about how proactive they are with Source Water Protection when in fact they never have been.  Nor have they ever flexed their muscle up here in Elmira with Uniroyal Chemical other than to quietly walk away when things weren't going well. Here is a tip for the Region. Fix the water supply to allow all of us a share LONG BEFORE you feel the need to remove the development freeze to financially benefit either developers, home builders or make Dougie Ford happy.

 

STUPID FILTH AT WRDSB GET THEIR KNUCKLES WRAPPED & USING TAXPAYERS MONEY BUY THEIR WAY OUT OF TROUBLE THEY STARTED

 

Just a side note here. Many local illuminaries  (politicians) have used the school board as a political stepping stone. Think of Liz Witmer, Sandy Shantz and many, many others. Not all current, retired or simply past staff/employees should be considered encompassed by my "stupid filth" description in the title above. Also I'm both doubtful and hopeful that it does not include Scot Piatkowski, the former Chair of the Board (trustees). Yes one could argue in favour of the "stupid" but the "filth" is too strong. He likely was acting upon advice/demands from more senior WRDSB staff. It is towards them that I send my endearments and those shitheads know exactly why.   

The Caroline Burjowski fiasco by the Board is exactly where the decades old "filth" were bound to end up. They've run roughshod over staff, parents and students for decades whenever they felt like it. They have ignored decency, courtesy and common sense knowing that their financial position supported by hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars allowed them to hide behind equally filthy lawyers (yeah I mean you "surfer boy") and slow, awkward, financially devastating, user unfriendly courts for many decades. Oh and in case the (Dis)honourable Robert Reilly feels neglected: incompetent and sometimes biased judges. Well you pissheads finally screwed up. You picked on someone who not only was in the right from start to finish but who had the financial resources to tell you lying scum to go Fuc* Yourselves.

And boy did she do that! Twice you attempted to get her Defamation lawsuit thrown out of court and twice her lawyers obviously crossed their t's and dotted their i's such that the courts had no choice but to follow the law and find in her favour. The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) knew that if they kept fighting the Defamation lawsuit which solely due to their malfeasance (misfeasance?), pettiness and meaness (malice ?) and LAW BREAKING that they were going to lose loudly, publicly and grossly. Hoo boy I'll bet that the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) they got from her cost them even more! I would especially say I hoped it cost them millions if it came out of their own pockets rather than taxpayers pockets.

Here of course is the rub. Our courts need to stop allowing proven dogs and filth from hiding behind them and lawyers when they grossly mistreat employees, staff, students and or parents. There must be some personal liability involved for the WRDSB just as there is for the individuals involved. Exactly how bad is the legal process for individuals even with adequate funding? Quoting Caroline Burjowski "What I didn't expect was how punishing the legal process itself would be- the money, the time, the emotional exhaustion,". "I've come to see that as intentional. Make the cost of speaking up so high that most people won't." Senior Board staff were and apparently are filth and more. This looks really good on all of the guilty, shameless ones.

HMM CAN LANXESS & THE MECP EXPLOIT THE DEVELOPMENT FREEZE TO JUSTIFY MORE REDUCTIONS IN PUMPING & TREATING THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS?

 

Hoo Boy who am I kidding! Of course they can! Those buggers can could use a nearby forest fire to justify burning down a political opponents house to allegedly get rid of cockroaches. Logic and reason have been shown to be easily overcome with power, influence and brass. That is the shame of our so called democratic system. Those currently in power have way too much moral suasion and authority on their side. Our U.S. neighbour and President D. Trump is a prime example. Apparently ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) agents have killed U.S. citizens both prior to Renee Good and since. The excuse is that not only are protesters whistles dangerous but citizens fleeing from these aggressive, hostile armed men barking orders, drawing guns and attempting to force drivers' doors open; are "weaponizing" their cars by driving away from these aggressors. Lying and bulls*it are the weapons of choice of politicians trying to wash citizens' blood from their hands.  

Ten years or so ago Eric Hodgins, then a hydrogeologist with the Region of Waterloo, advised CPAC publicly that the Region had zero interest in the Elmira Aquifers as a water source. Without blatantly saying it; it appeared that the Region knew that the "cleanup" was going nowhere fast.  Now a mere one or two years ago the Region have reversed positions. I don't believe that they have any more confidence in the Elmira cleanup as much as they have begun to realize how desperately they need at least some of this water in the Distribution System. 

Knowing the Region's "management" strategies concerning water the most likely scenario is to pump the south wellfield (E7, E9) as an "Interceptor" well blocking the advance southward of NDMA, chlorobenzene, other solvents, dissolved dioxins, nitrates etc..  Then they might get away with pumping well E 10 located just past Deadman's Curve (Hwy # 85) at Scotch Line.  Whether they would run it south to Waterloo or put it into the Elmira Distribution System is hard to say.

The Region prefer to play their games such as musical wells, timely shutdowns as contaminant plumes approach drinking wells, along with simple dilution of contaminated wells with lesser contaminated wells, in private. They really do not want citizens to know the extent of the local groundwater contamination at least until everything is set up for the big reveal being the proposed Lake Erie Pipeline.  Folks poor governance has and will continue our degrading lifestyles and health for the immediate future.

THE BLAME GAME IS NOT ALL BAD - IF IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD PERHAPS IT TAKES A PROVINCE TO REALLY BUGGER UP A WATERSHED

 

Today's K-W Record story written by Terry Pender is titled "Water permits under scrutiny as Waterloo Region faces growth freeze". It seems as if our right wing, pro business, anti environment, Conservative provincial government, just like Mike Harris so long ago, have bought themselves an environmental crisis. Do we all remember the Walkerton Water Crisis which made thousands sick and actually killed several people ? Just as importantly do we remember what was generally acknowledged as a major cause of that crisis? Mike and the Conservative government of the day dramatically cut back on Ministry of the Environment inspection and enforcement activities all to save money. This second rate inspection and enforcement was also on display here in Elmira with M.O.E. failures at Uniroyal Chemical and Varnicolor Chemical.   

O.K. so we have seen some pretty lacklustre regional performance of late however now we are reminded of some of our provincial government's stupid moves over the last five years including allegedly cutting red tape around water taking permits. These permits for golf courses, gravel pits and other industrial uses used to require environmental assessments, public notices, hearings and even indigenous consultation. No longer needed according to Premier Doug Ford . We are advised by reporter, Mr. Pender, that these water taking permits can each use more than 55,000 gallons of water a day. At first glance I felt that 55,000 gallons a day wasn't a big deal until I reread the statement. The statement suggests that each permit can use more than 55,000 gallons a day. So how many permits have been issued since Dougie and the (red tape) slashers went to town? That's kind of important don't you think?

As recently as April 2024 the commissioner of planning and development wrote a report to our regional politicians telling them not to build on or near the recharge areas of the Waterloo Moraine . His report was in response "...to the provincial government's expansion of development boundaries in southwest Kitchener. He warned the expansion could spark a development freeze because it could threaten groundwater supplies by paving over the places where rainwater and snowmelt refill the aquifers."

And here we are today. Yes I will thank both regional and provincial governments for their incompetence but lest we forget our regional councillors include a whole lot of mayors and other municipal politicians.  None of these buggers have done their jobs properly on the water file.  Maybe a major political massacre is due this fall at the polls unless Dougie and the (red tape) slashers decide to due some serious spring cleaning of old, dusty and useless bags of wind called politicians.

HAVE THE NORTH / SOUTH CONTAMINATION CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST IN WATERLOO REGION?

 

Waterloo Region in the past was blessed with large, medium and small manufacturing which provided jobs and business opportunities for many. Some of the larger manufacturers included Lear-Siegler (auto seats), Budd Automotive (car frames), B.F. Goodrich (rubber products), Uniroyal (Strange St.-tires),  A.R. Kaufman (shoes/boots) and Electrohome (electronics & furniture). I believe that these are all no longer with us but they have not left us with nothing to remember them by. Groundwater contamination almost seems to be the norm. Some of this contamination doesn't rear its' ugly head until redevelopment time comes around despite staff and employees having known sometimes for decades that there would be a day of reckoning. Furthermore if I know about them it's hard to believe that the Region of Waterloo did not.

There are three other manufacturers who come to mind . Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira, Canadian General Tower (C.G.T.) in Cambridge along with the now departed Northstar Aerospace also from Cambridge. We will be focused on the first two of these today as they are whom I've referred to as the NORTH/SOUTH CHICKENS in the title above.

The perpetually understated and under remediated Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira basically stole water from Kitchener-Waterloo by destroying the Elmira Aquifers. Those aquifers could have been capable of supplying Elmira and furthermore sending water south to the twin cities. That probability is long gone. This company is now known as Lanxess Canada and in combination with the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP) have become the North Contamination Chicken.

Next we have the Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge beside the Grand River. Just like the Ciba-Geigy lies about oh we've only had a single spill of Dinoseb that caused our contamination also in Cambridge; C.G.T. initially claimed minimal releases of chlorinated solvents.  I am aware of at least one consultant who claims that the TCE (trichloroethylene) in the Bedrock Aquifers literally across the road from C. G. T. is not theirs. C.G.T. and the Middleton Wellfield are what I refer to above as the South Contamination Chicken. Yes TCE can come from dry cleaners and other sources for example.  I am however highly skeptical. 

The Middleton Wellfield has the highest treatment costs of any groundwater in Waterloo Region precisely because of their Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) used to lower (not fully remove)  TCE concentrations in the treated water for public distribution.  We have been told by Record reporters that mixing water from the two now apparently different systems, namely Mannheim (Grand River water) and the Cambridge or Middleton System produces bad smells.  Interesting! Of course any water supply system which likely means all significant or large systems must by law be chlorinated. One way or the other.  And chlorine smells as we all know. This can include what is known as chloramination which the Region switched over to perhaps 13 - 15 years ago.

My understanding is that Grand River water is chock full of bacteria including Total Coliforms and the really bad ones E. Coli (from septic systems or possibly even Sewage Treatment Plants).  Excess chlorine needed to kill all the nasty bacteria can lead to toxic by-products of disinfection known as Trihalomethanes (THMs).  Hence the switch to chloramines likely mostly for Grand River water. Chloraminated water by the way is lethal to aquarium fish but generally is seen as less harmful to human beings even though it can also produce HaloAcetic Acids (HAA). Middleton St. well treatment with its AOP system likely uses chlorine only.

So is the truth that mixing chlorine treated water with chloraminated water causes odours or are the odours likely regardless? Or is the truth that water treatment on its' own has to be carefully regulated in order to avoid producing excessive by-products of disinfection such as THMs and HAAs? Also perhaps the truth is that the toxicity of THMs and HAAs is magnified when they are both together in the drinking water.  The Region, and by the Region I mean regional councillors not staff, have in my opinion never been honest with the public.  This makes sorting out the wheat (truth) from the chaff (bull) very difficult.      

K-W RECORD CONTINUE TO ASK THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS

 

Well done Luisa D'Amato, yet again. I have recently taken some shots at the Record for failing to honestly and properly address  serious complaints about their inaccuracies in their Nov. 15/25 article about Uniroyal/Lanxess and the Elmira Water Crisis. Since that time the reporter involved, Terry Pender, as well as others have really been writing some strong, environmental articles . These have included stories on the Northstar Aerospace pollution in Preston (Bishop St. community) as well as several on the recent shocking Water Quantity crisis in Waterloo Region. Of course we must not forget the 700 acre land assembly in Wilmot Township and how well the Record have been covering that. Perhaps (??) that gross lack of transparency including NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements) has just received a mortal wound if we are out of water.

Back to today's Opinion article by Luisa D'Amato titled "We need a full, honest conversation about water shortage. Where is it?" First of all she hit the nail on the head when she bluntly stepped up in her article and told local developers to butt out (my words).  In her words she stated "But it's not the developers' job to be the stewards of our precious public resource - it's the job of the government."  Very well said! Unbridled, unchecked and unappreciated growth does wonders for developers and builders bank accounts but at an enormous cost for the rest of us. That cost includes unfortunate lashing out at our newer citizens.

Woolwich mayor Sandy Shantz  added to the discussion with her comment "If there's an emergency, we could be in really big trouble."  Hmm what an opening for other greener regional councillors to tell her that if she had been more aggressive and insistent on cleanup results here in Elmira, perhaps we could have been supplying Kitchener-Waterloo with our water instead of taking theirs from the Waterloo to Elmira pipeline.  I expect that pipeline can flow in both directions. Fortunately for Sandy there are too few "greener" councillors. 

Ms. D'Amato also points out that the Wilmot land grab (700 acres) is supposed to provide jobs for the Region's one million people by 2051.  Maybe, just maybe that one million residents figure needs to be revisited and lowered substantially with the latest news. Luisa also advises that Premier Doug Ford is just looking for a good crisis to exploit. The irony is delicious again for mayor Shantz. Hopefully her income plummets if she is no longer a regional councillor  (as well as mayor) if Doug Ford pulls the plug on regional government. Mayor Shantz partially initiated and then exploited a CPAC undeclared boycott by Chemtura and the Min. of Environment in order to disband the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee and give the polluter and his fellow travellors (M.O.E.) the soft, deferential citizen committee they wanted.

This is why despite disappointments and setbacks I am still a daily newspaper reader.

 

SO GUESS WHO'S REALLY IN CHARGE & WAGGING THE DOG'S (i.e. REGION'S) TAIL?

 

Two guesses and no it's neither you nor me! Developers and Builders have been lobbying and donating for decades to our provincial governments to exert pressure on municipal councillors and planning staff to grow, grow and GROW !  This growth is economic growth combined with population growth. Just look at how much worse our water supply is today versus thirty years ago. We used to be able to water our lawns with zero restrictions. Look at our hospital emergency departments. O.K. maybe they were never "good" but eight to ten hour ER waits. Never! Look at our highways plus even city congestion on the roads. I remember when driving a car was actually pleasurable. Sewage treatment getting better? Hardly. Look forward to the slow death of all our rivers as they are overwhelmed with partially treated human sewage. How about water quality? The Region of Waterloo have never demanded full cleanups at any contaminated sites much less full disclosure including criminal charges when citizens have died from pollution negligence including the Elmira Water Crisis and the Bishop St. TCE contamination by Northstar and Borg Warner (indirectly).    

There are legitimate reasons for growth including humanitarianism. The reasons also include accepting the best and brightest when they want to live here versus overcrowded, economically undeveloped, third world countries .  Even low birth rates in a country may very well be a good reason for SOME immigration. What is not a good reason however is what I believe is the predominant reason that industry, developers and government want high immigration and that is plain, simple greed.  More population equals a bigger market to sell everything to. It means a much larger supply of labour, hopefully deferential and modest labour satisfied with low wages and zero union protection.  When our major employers realized that they had to share the pie more fairly with employees actually doing the hard work and dirty jobs; they got testy.  All they wanted were desperate but hard working people who would take almost any job, work hard and show up day after day without expecting annual cost of living raises, benefits or any kind of democracy in the work place. Putting it bluntly if it was legally allowed they wanted wage slaves. 

Look at today's K-W Record . Two separate articles about developers and their demands are on the front page.  Both articles continue on pages A2 and A3 plus a third article is also on page A3. Long time Record reporters and employees Luisa D'Amato, Bill Jackson and Jeff Outhit have written these articles and done a solid job. There is lots of appropriate criticism of our local municipal and regional politicians. They were told by water experts decades ago as to what they had to do including putting all water related items from sourcing, maintenance, water treatment, sewage, distribution etc, in one governance basket. Instead it appears as if regional councillors in particular pretended to do that and talked about it but simply were satisfied that saying things like we have an INTEGRATED URBAN SYSTEM  (IUS) somehow made it so. Now they are telling us well it really isn't so. The province of Ontario also gets a failing mark as they actually have the authority to force this kind of governance upon the other bodies. 

I am also after 36 years beginning to understand how inept and incompetent both our local and provincial governments have been and why all three (municipal, regional, provincial) have so grossly failed here in Elmira to clean up health threatening and life shortening industrial pollution. Kudos to the K-W Record for these articles.   

THE BLOOM IS OFF THE REGION OF WATERLOO ROSE - NITRATES WORSE THAN SALT IN OUR GROUNDWATER

 

As per a couple of days ago I wrote here that the Region of Waterloo's green facade was slipping badly. I mentioned issues such as the recent announcement of region wide water shortages along with items such as the non transparency over the 700 acre land acquisition in Wilmot Township combined with the communications failure between the Region and the City of Cambridge over Amazon development fees, costing the Region one to three million dollars. 

For years I have been wondering about salt mostly and Nitrates secondly. Well the salt has to do with winter safety on both roads and sidewalks and it is now throughout our groundwater at sometimes bizarre levels including 200 parts per million (mg/l). What is bizarre is the Regional annual Water Reports suggest that these high concentrations are not in contravention of Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS)  albeit they must be reported to the Public Health Department and the Min. of Environment every five years if they exceed 20  MG/L. They are WAY OVER that concentration.  

Nitrates have just taken a much bigger significance for me after watching a video (You Tube) by retired hydrogeologist Dr. John Cherry titled "Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth". In his retirement I'm wondering if Mr. Cherry is feeling freer to attack what he views as "public policy" failures. The only other individual I've ever publicly heard use that term was Dr. Richard Jackson when he was the Chair of TAG (2015-2016).  Dr. Jackson was referring to the cleanup errors and failures of Conestoga Rovers, the M.O.E. and Chemtura Canada here in Elmira, Ontario.

Dr. Cherry bluntly states that the ODWS  criteria for Nitrates of 10 mg/litre is far too high. He believes that a drinking water standard closer to 1 mg/l (i.e. 1 part per million) is far safer and healthier but that the province has not enacted it as such because so much of Ontario groundwater now exceeds that concentration which would result in water systems being shut down.  I have just taken a quick review of Cambridge and some of Kitchener water concentration levels and I can advise you that 1  mg/l concentrations of nitrates are routine whereas there are concentrations in some wells at 1, 2, 3, 4,  and 5 parts per million (5 mg/l). Clearly Dr. Cherry knows his stuff and certainly here in Waterloo Region citizens drinking tap water who already have heart problems are exacerbating those problems drinking tap water with salt and nitrates in it.  This is no small matter. Thank you Sandy for your continued disengagement (along with your regional colleagues) on this health matter. 

Perhaps more and better lies are needed to calm any public outcry about the long term health implications of mixing trichloroethylene (TCE), chlorine, chloramines, HAA (Haloacetic Acids), THMs,(trihalomethanes),  salt and nitrates in our water supply. Or deflect the debate by building a multi billion dollar pipeline to Lake Erie which will then cost us even more to treat and clean that polluted water (PCBs, dioxins, mercury, blue-green algae and so much more).  

WE ARE TOLD THAT LOCAL DEVELOPERS ARE LOOKING FOR WATER CRISIS SOLUTIONS

 

Well I'll just bet that that is exactly what they are doing. Kudos to reporter Terry Pender however for interviewing  more than just housing developers for this story (Housing developers look for solution to Waterloo Region water crisis).  The developers (Vive Development, Thomasfield Homes) are suggesting that the problem is not an environmental one but an engineering one.  In fact Vive actually suggested a management finagle to allow development to continue now prior to solving the water supply problems. A hint to both the public and most especially to Woolwich Township and the Region of Waterloo:  developers are not obligated to the public interest, they are obligated to their shareholders making money i.e. a private interest.

Mr. Pender interviewed a gentleman from Environmental Defence. This person, a Mr. Marcolongo seems to make sense when he insists that it is an environmental issue as the water level in at least one of the aquifers involved is lower than it should be. Mr. Marcolongo is based in the Guelph area and while I don't question his credentials or integrity I will point out that Guelph is NOT part of Waterloo Region and I wonder exactly what his knowledge base is regarding specifics of Waterloo Region's water supply and treatment. For example does he know how many wells are in each city and township and where they are located much less which aquifers they are screened in? There aren't too many who do although one of them is right here in Elmira. I have read cover to cover all the Region of Waterloo Annual (drinking) Water Reports for many years which also include by the way which treatment systems are being used.

The K-W Record have burned some bridges recently by refusing to make corrections on their very extensive November 15/25 article regarding the failed cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers. I have lost significant confidence in their integrity and commitment to accurate reporting. Nevertheless I am not aware of any other single individual unencumbered by wages or salary to developers, polluters or governments who has my both specific knowledge regarding Elmira/Woolwich  ground and surface water as well as general knowledge of the water supply throughout the Region of Waterloo. Of course with local political idjits like Sandy and Nathan who put appearances first and  knowledge and willingness to assist dead last; chances of excellent local media reporting are vastly decreased. 

The Region of Waterloo have been doing exactly what the developers want for decades. They have "managed" various water crises and contaminations versus actually cleaning them up properly. They have consistently understated the enormity of groundwater pollution as well as avoided ever pointing fingers at the culprits whether large or small corporations. There has been a tremendous laissey faire attitude towards even the worst or repeat offenders. Development continued up to and past the shut down south wellfield (E7, E9) in Elmira many years ago. What a message that sent.  

Who you ask for advice can be far more important than what the advice is. Also who is paying the advice giver is a huge matter despite self-serving and biased politicians who deny that. "Client driven" consultants do not wear hats telling us this.

THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT DONALD TRUMP

 

Or several good things? It reinforces the old adage that citizens get the government they deserve. Sure all (96-99%) politicians lie to voters but there was absolutely no excuse for the non brain dead citizens to vote for Donald Trump the second time. They knew what a whining, lying crybaby he was after he lost the election to Joe Biden.  Keep in mind it's not just American citizens. Here in Canada we elect twits and idiots left and right. Look at the third Mike Harris to come down the line after the first one (Premier of Ontario). They had to parachute # 3 into K-W to take advantage of the fact that Mike Harris # 2 was a sitting politician here. The Conservative Party removed the incumbent # 2 to open the door for the idjit # 3 . Perhaps his best qualification is at making babies??? I suspect his father (# 1) saw the opportunity and got him into politics otherwise he (# 3) and his family would be on the breadline.

Next is the fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, a womanizer (not necessarily with their consent), a repeated bankrupt, a repeated thief of wages and unpaid for items and has been sued apparently hundreds of times in civil court. Oh and he's also a serial liar, a narcissist and a cheat at golf. In other words he has proven that any piece of shit is qualified to be the President of the United States.  He also has very bad taste in friends. 

Thirdly he has corrupted all those around him willing to do or say anything to keep themselves in power. He and his fellow travellors will even call the murder of an unarmed, fleeing woman and mother an act of self-defence by an armed, trained ICE officer simply to protect their initial ideological and idiotic decision to send thousands of armed officers into cities around the country who neither want nor need those officers disrupting the peace. Further Mr. Trump has threatened or invaded or bombed Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Greenland, Columbia, Cuba and Canada.  And his minions and toadies are right there defending his behaviour and actions.

Fourthly he has lifted the veil behind which so many of our authorities like to hide. They were democratically elected hence they must have some inherently good qualities. No they have money, power and influence. Millions of stupid people support their bullsh*t.  In America just like most countries you get born into politics. Look at the first paragraph and Mike Harris # 2. Look at Justin Trudeau in Canada. He has Pierre Elliot Trudeau's last name and better looks. That's good enough for the idiot voters obviously. Look at Donald Trump and his petty, vindicative treatment of those Republicans who are not enamoured with corrupt as*holes. Trump's father left him millions of dollars. Look at the Kennedy lineage in the U.S. although history may suggest that being a national politician in the U.S. can shorten one's lifespan. 

Reason number 4 above is the big one. Being elected to office is a popularity contest. Don't you remember those from high school? Good looking kids preferably with money, friends and influence based on no more than their looks,  their clothes, their friendly personalities etc. That's who end up in positions of power and authority and it's only luck if they are intelligent, compassionate and honest human beings.  We other idiots will vote for them with no research, no reading and no discussion of their real character or lack thereof.  Ain't democracy grand?

THE REGION OF WATERLOO ARE TOTALLY SHAMELESS - MAYBE STUPID AS WELL

 

So within a week  or so of announcing a freeze on Regional development approvals our local Waterloo Region Record are shouting "water crisis". No; Russian bombs or Ukrainian drones didn't lose their sense of direction nor did Israeli bombs for Gaza, nor American bombs meant for Venezuela end up here hitting Waterloo Region wellfields. Duh! According to Terry Pender of the K-W Record  it was a simple mathematical mistake in calculating the demand for water. The Region even admit that they mistakenly forgot to include infill developments within our towns and cities versus new suburbs on the outskirts as part of increasing water demand. Really? It's true that most politicians really aren't fit for much else. We must never forget the entire Waterloo Council and staff who couldn't count past one million and got scammed by MFP Financial over the RIM Park affair a couple of decades ago. Recently Cambridge staff and regional staff miscalculated a couple of million dollars in development fees from the huge Amazon warehouse in Blair (Cambridge). Finally it appears that neither our provincial or federal leaders figured out that 20,000 or 30,000 or 40,000 students coming in from India to Conestoga College would require housing, part time jobs, health care and three meals a day. 

Record reporter Terry Pender suggests that the Region's two water systems use two different types of chlorine to disinfect the water supply and if the water is mixed it will smell bad. News flash folks it's not the chlorine versus chloramine that smells bad. It's the bullsh*t that smells so bad! Literally for decades the Region of Waterloo have bragged about their world class, perfectly wonderful water system. They called it the IUS for Integrated Urban System. We were advised that water from wells in Cambridge could flow west and north (Kitchener-Waterloo) if needed and that water from Waterloo wells could flow south and east to Cambridge if needed. Hence the term INTEGRATED. So Region of Waterloo were you lying then or are you lying now or both?

P.S. Allegedly (hey how can you rely on liars & bullsh*t artists ?)  Cambridge are primarily on the Middleton Wellfield System. Really again? There are lots of Bedrock wells that have supplied water to Cambridge and supposedly the Region for many decades. These multiple wellfields are listed each year in the Region's Annual (drinking) Water Report. Yes just like Kitchener and Waterloo wells they have suffered from industrial contamination rarely remediated properly if at all.  However the Middleton Wellfield is the worst of all when you look at the chlorinated solvents (TCE) still in the Bedrock that requires the most expensive treatment of all the Region's water sources with the likely exception of the Grand River itself

Meanwhile are the Record simply shilling for the Region (RMOW) by starting the propaganda for a Pipeline to Lake Erie? I think that that is what smells the worst.

OMG IS IT DANGEROUS FOR ME TO SELF-ANALYSE? YES MY SENSE OF HUMOUR MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN YOURS

 

Merely for personal enjoyment I am going to rewrite yesterday's  response (harsh, rude ?) that I sent to Nathan Cadeau. I will remove all critical editorial comments that could be viewed as insulting. Here goes:

Folks: So as I read Nathan's comments I understand that "TRAC does not exclude substantive concerns because they are uncomfortable or inconvenient." TRAC however obviously does exclude my concerns and others for their own, unilateral reasons. Allegedly they are because those concerns "...cross established standards of conduct...". Well first my alleged conduct is none of his business. What is his business is remediating Elmira's groundwater and he has been unsuccessful at doing that. With his intense five minutes of experience on the issue clearly our mayor made a mistake in giving him a job that he is unqualified for .Secondly he and the Township are taking advice from Lanxess, GHD and the Ontario MECP.  Woolwich Township apparently don't believe that there is a conflict of interest which there certainly is. Nathan believes that vulgarity or personal attack are not necessary. I agree it isn't but so what? Just because I might insult the Township does not absolve them of either their moral or legal responsibility to work on behalf of the citizens of Woolwich Township. Maybe Nathan down the road you might want to fly your reasons for ignoring good advice in the public interest to someone who cares about your feelings.  Perhaps on a good day I do, just a tiny bit. The Township, GHD, MECP, Uniroyal and corporate successors have spent the last 36 years gilding the lily about the Elmira Water Crisis to me and the public. I do not reward lily gilders with my respect. 

Nathan your job is not to criticize citizens or volunteers. I believe that Woolwich Township irrevocably ruptured the relationship with long term informed citizen volunteers when they dissembled and blamed CPAC for Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. informally abandoning public CPAC meetings. 

Nathan stick to your job as a councillor and focus on that.

Alan Marshall

O.K. I did it and while it wasn't impossible nevertheless it may lack some zest. Or not. Nathan as is usual pissed me off a couple of days back with his attitude hence my upset response. If I'd taken more time I would have added that I agree that "vulgarity or personal attack is not necessary to ensure that critical information is heard or acted upon.". Then I would have added that yes it is critical information I have been presenting by e-mail that was also heard decades ago in open, public meetings but was not acted upon then or since. Courtesy of Mayor Shantz we no longer have open, two way discussion at meetings (eg. TAG & TRAC) in which citizens can express their opinions publicly. That is the problem not my alleged conduct albeit it appears that Nathan and his ilk believe that polite, courteous lying and bulls*t peddled to the public are perfectly O.K. but  rude responses by citizens to those lies are not. 

Woolwich, Lanxess , GHD and the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation & Parks (MECP) currently are in full pass the buck mode. They and they alone (eh go ahead and add the Region (RMOW)) are responsible for ignoring good advice from CPAC between late 2010 and September 2015 and occasional good advice from earlier CPACs and UPAC decades earlier. The 2028 groundwater cleanup failure is theirs and they don't want to wear it. Watch the buggars run for cover possibly as early as this next municipal election.

WOOLWICH COUNCILLOR & TRAC CHAIR IN WRITING STATES THAT SUBSTANTIVE REMEDIATION CONCERNS WILL NOT BE HEARD UNLESS THEY PASS HIS/COUNCIL'S CONDUCT STANDARDS

 

Following below is Woolwich councillor Nathan Cadeau's e-mail sent to seven persons including myself:

"Happy New Year!

Thank you for sharing the article and for taking the time to set out your broader concerns. Questions about environmental risk, regulatory independence, and how information moves from citizens to decision makers are very much within TRAC's mandate, and they are taken seriously.

From a process perspective, TRAC does not exclude substantive concerns because they are uncomfortable or inconvenient. When submissions cross established standards of conduct, individuals are given the opportunity to revise and resubmit so that the substance can still be considered. That option is always available. I don't believe vulgarity or personal attack is necessary to ensure that critical information is heard or acted upon. In governance and regulatory contexts, clarity, evidence, and persistence tend to be more effective and durable. If someone chooses not to revise a submission when given that opportunity, that is a decision they own. Again thanks for taking the time to write.

Take care and talk soon,

Nathan" 

Following is my response telling him that he, Woolwich Council or TRAC have no right to censor substantive Elmira remediation facts and advice because they don't like my choice of words or alleged expletives. They have both a moral and a legal duty to seriously consider researched advice that is in the public interest i.e. restoring Elmira's drinking water aquifers. Anything else is a dereliction of  their duty to citizens and residents and a betrayal of their oath of office.

"Folks: So as I read Nathan's hot air I understand that "TRAC does not exclude substantive concerns because they are uncomfortable or inconvenient." TRAC however obviously does exclude my concerns and others for their own, unilateral reasons. Allegedly they are because those concerns "...cross established standards of conduct..." Well firstly my alleged conduct is none of his f...ing business. What is his f...ing business is remediating Elmira's groundwater and he stinks at doing that. With his intense five minutes of experience on the issue that is hardly surprising. Secondly he and the Township in their infinite stupidity are taking advice from Lanxess, GHD and the Ontario MECP. Woolwich Township apparently don't believe that there is a conflict of interest  which there certainly is. Nathan believes that vulgarity or personal attack are not necessary. I agree it isn't but so what? Just because I referred to the Township as stupid does not absolve them of either their moral or legal responsibility to work on behalf of the citizens of Woolwich Township. Maybe Nathan down the road you might want to fly your bullsh*t reasons for ignoring good advice in the public interest to someone who gives a crap about your feelings. I certainly do not. The Township, GHD, MECP and corporate successors have spent the last 36 years lying about the Elmira Water Crisis to me and the public. I do not reward liars with my respect.

Nathan do your f...ing job

Alan Marshall 

DO ALL THE ELMIRA GUILTY PARTIES REALLY BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO AVOID PUBLIC CONDEMNATION & EVENTUAL FORMAL CONDEMNATION FOR THEIR CLEANUP FAILURES & COVERUPS ?

 

Indeed politics makes strange bedfellows. Just look at how Pat McLean treated new councillor Sandy Shantz way back in 2006 after Sandy beat out Pat McLean for a Council seat. Pat was kept on as CPAC Chair by her buddy Mayor Bill Strauss. She then treated Sandy poorly at CPAC meetings by failing to share dates and event times with her. Typical Pat behaviour as I found out later. I also have to wonder if Susan Bryant will eventually be outed/scapegoated/blamed for DNAPLS being dropped like a hot potatoe at UPAC. These "friends" of hers have no honour and no ethics so especially after she passes on and is more susceptible to desperate mud flinging by local politicians and polluters, it likely will occur.  Think about it for a minute. If you are the current, ongoing owner for eleven years prior to the 2028 cleanup deadline failure, who are you going to blame? Local politicians will likely be long gone trying to avoid blame. Your consultants (CRA/GHD) are exactly that "yours". You kept them on when you bought Uniroyal/Chemtura in 2017. You kept on paying them for over a decade. 

Local "activists" are the best target as they've always been. Oddly of course except for Susan Bryant. How strange is that? She received a life time invitation to attend and participate in all public meetings.  Myself I've been on the "outs" since at least 2015 courtesy of mayor Shantz and former councillor Mark Bauman.(Mr. Flip Flop). I, like the rest of the unwashed masses in Elmira, haven't even been permitted to speak at public TAG or TRAC meetings. The filth have even refused my written Delegations to TRAC hence I simply send them directly by e-mail to TRAC members who however never seem interested in either responding or commenting on them. That reflects on them not me.

There are written records of what has been done for cleanup as well as what has not been done and should have been. An honest focus on DNAPL should have occurred immediately in late 1989. The same thing with Dioxins and DDT. Did not happen. All Uniroyal and successor companies did was claim that DDT and Dioxins are hydrophobic i.e. afraid of water hence they preferentially bind with soil particles, fine sediments etc. Those in charge did not even want to discuss how all the discharged solvents at Uniroyal Chemical increased the mobility of DDT and Dioxins. They certainly did not want to discuss how free phase DNAPL both on and off the Uniroyal site also vastly increased the mobility of so many contaminants including DDT and Dioxins. 

Their own DNAPL silence and disgusting public consultation being limited to only vetted citizens approved by the polluter and his fellow travellors (mayor etc.) has condemned them. TRAC just like TAG are and were a bunch of deferential individuals lacking the confidence to dig in their heels and demand timely and honest answers from the company and their consultants. A current TAG and TRAC member has actually admitted this in writing and submitted it to them.