"MAGIC BULLET" CLEANUP THEORY : THE TAIL (DEVELOPERS) CONTINUES TO WAG THE DOG (WATERLOO REGION)

 

Today's K-W Record has yet another front page story  about the Region of Waterloo Water Crisis written by Luisa D'Amato and titled "There could be more water available than we think, engineer says". This engineer of course represents local homebuilders looking for more water capacity in the region. The engineer involved claims to be both an engineer and a groundwater expert. Hmm a certain odour is already arising.

Once again we are advised in this article that Cambridge water can't be sent to Kitchener-Waterloo due to the different disinfection system used. Now again this isn't spelled out but I had presumed that it related to a chloramine disinfection system versus a straight chlorine system. Again I wish the Region as well as the Record would clarify and or confirm this. There is another possibility and that refers to the AOP or Advanced Oxidation Process used at the Middleton Wellfield to remove TCE (trichloroethylene) from the groundwater. Now technically this is not a "disinfection" system because disinfection normally refers to the removal of bacteria such as Coliforms and E. Coli.

The "magic bullet" cleanup theory mentioned in the title above is a quote from the first and by far best Chair of TAG (Technical Advisory Group) namely Dr. Richard Jackson. The homebuilder's engineer suggested that "recent scientific advances" may result in a safe water supply for Elmira "sooner than we think". Hmm my experience (36 years) here in Elmira is that hot air and bulls*it are plentiful whereas new technologies all come with drawbacks. Dr. Jackson also suggested the same whenever Uniroyal/Chemtura representatives made extravagant claims about faster cleanup.

Apparently the Parkway resevoir and wellfield has been upgraded and or repaired. I hope they are properly treating the TCE that's been there for decades. Meanwhile still no further mention of the Greenbrook Wellfield (Stirling & Homer Watson Blvd. Kitchener) or the river wells along the Grand River in Kitchener known as the Woolner and Pompeii Wellfields. Just what we need, more contaminated wells added to the system likely with minimal treatment and counting on dilution from other wells to reduce contaminant concentrations.   

WHY HAS THE UNIROYAL CONTROLLED ELMIRA GROUNDWATER CLEANUP FAILED?

 

First of all keep in mind that the Elmira groundwater cleanup is barely one third of the problem. The Uniroyal site was and is a disgusting subsurface mess with wastes in the form of tars, sludges, liquids and solids in places down to seventy feet below ground surface. Then there is of course the Canagagigue Creek which to this day has not received so much as a shovelful removal of soils or sediments downstream from the company's property. Air has also been a huge problem in the past although it would appear that the company and successors have done better with it than anywhere else.

The off-site Elmira groundwater has failed because of both on Uniroyal and off-site failure to do source removal of toxic wastes. Years of pump & treat (hydraulic containment) could have been reduced if they had done so. This failure to do source removal off-site is particularly egregious when decades after the fact Lanxess and consultants (Jesse Wright) admitted that there were companies using chlorobenzene in the area of First and Union St. This combined with the known but denied  DNAPL for twenty plus years one hundred feet below surface at OW57-32R (Howard St. water tower) is a big part of the reason why chlorobenzene to this day is still well above drinking water standards in both the Elmira Municipal Upper and Municipal Lower aquifers. Its' removal or encapsulation or other remediation would have cut decades off of the time required by using pump & treat alone. 

On-site failure to remove DNAPL and other wastes has also guaranteed that each and every slowdown or stoppage in on site pumping has allowed even more contamination to readily flow off site. It has also then demanded more and more off-site pumping in order to catch up the new and ongoing leakage of contamination off site. I also believe that besides the now known and admitted sources of Nutrite (Yara), Uniroyal and Varnicolor Chemical that contaminated the municipal aquifers with ammonia, NDMA, chlorobenzene and dozens of other solvents; that there was at least one more source of NDMA. It could easily have been Varnicolor or someone else although our authorities would rather pass on of old age than ever admit to it.

Finally there is the obvious failure for Uniroyal and successors to maintain pumping rates at their own Target pumping rates for years at a time. They even admitted that they needed to grossly increase their own off-site pumping rates (Triple them) and never even got close much less been able to maintain their original far too low pumping rates. They talked a good cleanup and lazy politicians and a few citizens let them get away with it.   

THE ELMIRA DNAPL COVERUP AND SYLVIA BERG

 

Sylvia Berg former second -in-command at APT Environment rolled over and reversed herself and APTE's position on DNAPL's after December 10, 1993. In so doing she caused the loss of three strong APTE members including one of the original founders Esther Thur as well as Richard Clausi and myself. Esther was a real founder along with Sandra Bray and Susan Rupert. Notice the last name Rupert; not the co-opted pretender Susan Bryant who both herself and the media too often inaccurately refer to as one of the founders. Sylvia in reneging on her and APTE's strong opposition to Uniroyal Chemical's inadequate and inaccurate DNAPL position basically totally sold the farm on a proper cleanup right there. That was the beginning of the end for Elmira achieving a proper and permanent cleanup of their drinking water aquifers. At the time however I still naively believed in the basic decency and honesty of Sylvia and Susan Bryant.

Sylvia and Glenys McMullen who both assisted me in writing APTE's DNAPL critique on Conestoga Rovers (Uniroyal consultants) final DNAPL report were in complete agreement with our finished report. Oddly however Sylvia wanted me to sign the report on my own as she correctly stated I had done the bulk of the DNAPL reading and research. I protested, she insisted so I said O.K. blissfully unaware of the game she was playing. Then after the Ministry of Environment's surprise acceptance on December 10, 1993 of the badly flawed Conestoga Rovers DNAPL report, she suddenly wanted to support it. What the hell?

She convinced APTE coordinators (Susan B. was in India) in January 1994 that despite her, Glenys and my DNAPL critique that Conestoga Rovers report was O.K. This was also despite a Kitchener-Waterloo Record article of September 28, 1993 titled "Cleanup of 2 toxic waste pits going smoothly, Uniroyal says" written by John Roe. Sylvia was quoted in this Record article stating that the company must excavate "all DNAPL hotspots" and as well she stated in reference to the environment ministry needing to approve Uniroyal's DNAPL plan that she'd "be very surprised if they found this report adequate." 

Despite all this she reversed her position after December 10, 1993 without any substantive grounds to do so. She turned the APTE January 1994 meeting into a bit of a popularity contest and if I still didn't realize then what she was then neither did anybody else. The myth that APTE were a united and big happy family was just that, a myth. There were other less than amicable departures later on although I believe that Susan Bryant was responsible for them.

  

REGION STEALS THEIR WATER & THEN TREATS WILMOT CITIZENS POORLY - TRAC MEETING THIS THURSDAY 6PM. IN WOOLWICH COUNCIL CHAMBERS (MORE SMOKE & MIRRORS TO DAZZLE THE PUBLIC)

 

Geez my title above could encompass half my Blog post today if I were a little more short winded. Joe McGuinty of the K-W Record has a front page article titled "Wilmot farmers and residents raise the alarm".  I've been hoping that dry wells and former wetlands were symptoms primarily near the west side of Kitchener and were localized drawdowns in the aquifer from high volumes of municipal pumping. Unfortunately the Record seems to be hearing from folks a significant distance from Kitchener who are actually closer to Baden and what I see on my map as "Wilmot Centre".  Now again without proper data and documentation including groundwater levels and stratigraphic (subsurface) maps it is difficult to be 100% certain but the drilled well in Petersburg that is discussed in today's Record certainly caught my eye.  That's not only not a shallow well but at 294 feet deep I have to believe that that is one hell of a deep well, screened well into the AFB2 aquifer beneath Baden, New Hamburg, Petersburg etc. If that is the case then unless there is a regional well pumping steadily within a mile or less that well water distance from ground surface that used to be at 55 feet should not now be down to 122 feet below ground surface. 

Normally water elevation is measured in masl or metres above sea level. That said whichever way you measure it a drop in elevation of nearly seventy feet is extremely concerning. We the public still need multiple groundwater elevation readings from twenty or thirty years ago to compare with the elevation readings today (as in several wells on different days and weeks). Anything else and we are simply being harassed, intimidated and bafflegabbed by professional bulls*it artists (i.e. politicians) and their well paid employees who know where their bread is buttered.    

REGION OF WATERLOO'S DIRTY TAP WATER SECRETS

 

For many years I faithfully waited each spring (March) for the Region of Waterloo to release their Annual Water Report. It did take several years of careful observation, monitoring and research before I felt even reasonably confident that I had a fair understanding of the good, the bad and the ugly within those reports. Some of the negatives were glaring such as the far too few industrial chemicals being monitored including up until recently the infamous NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine) made known by Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira. Then there were the far too many wells in Waterloo Region impacted by a notorious industrial cleaner namely trichloroethylene (TCE). There were also far too many wells with incredibly high Sodium (i.e. sodium chloride or salt) levels and as well our landscape and agricultural neighbours have also blessed us with too many Nitrates and Nitrites . Sodium as well as Nitrites are not healthy for individuals with heart problems etc.

I let my vigilance down over the last couple of years and just decided this morning that a look see was a good idea. Well! The bad news is very bad and the good news so far is non-existent. That said I have not completed my foray through the Region's gilded lily Water Report for 2025.  Some of these reports can be found on the Region's website under Water and Wastewater. Likely most of their Annual Water Reports follow provincial guidelines for them however that isn't necessarily saying much. I strongly suspect that there was lots of "collaboration" and "consultation" between municipal and regional water managers prior to the province setting out the rules for these reports. The lack of NDMA testing of wells located within urban areas for decades after the Elmira Water Crisis (1989) is a prime example of a major loophole.

Here are my first two surprises in the Region of Waterloo 2025 Annual Water Report. The Region have been drilling new wells over the last few years almost as if they expected our current water quantity issues and they have been shutting down some notoriously polluted wells. Also the Strange St. Wellfield (Kitchener) appears to have seriously deteriorated in water quality with a large number of detections of trichloroethylene (TCE) . Now this wasn't exactly a shocker as that wellfield has had industrial chemical detections over many years. Also it is possible that the Region may have outsmarted themselves by blending/diluting mildly contaminated water with what they thought was less contaminated water that maybe really wasn't.

The shut down wellfield that jumped at me was the lack of appearance of the William St. Wellfield located at the corner of Regina St. and William St. in Waterloo. Now this wellfield has had trichloroethylene (TCE) in it for many decades and yet was a staple water source for many, many decades. Did the TCE levels rise with increased pumping perhaps? TCE is a DNAPL chemical which can reside in the subsurface slowly dissolving into groundwater over decades and even centuries.

These reports need improvements making them easier to read for laypersons who have not spent decades studying our water supply and groundwater contamination.

LUISA HAS HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. THE REGION OF WATERLOO HAVE LOST CITIZENS' TRUST JUST AS I LOST TRUST DUE TO THE ELMIRA WATER CRISIS

Today's Opinion Piece by Luisa D'Amato is titled "We're not just low on water. We're also low on trust". Luisa begins by referring to the Region's behaviour as a slap in the face to Wilmot. I agree and maybe, just maybe a little chaos is necessary aka such as closing the Strait of Hormuz. Not literally of course but figuratively. For example what would happen if Wilmot advised the Region that maintenance and repairs were necessary on the Wilmot Centre wellfield. Not just on one well but on all of them, however many there are. Maybe start off telling the Region that the wells are closed to regional pumping for only 24 hours. Then unlike the Region who apparently have never apologized for pumping six years worth of water from Wilmot; Wilmot after 24 hours could say "Oops sorry, we were wrong. It's going to take longer."

I'm really not sure that regional councillors are bright enough to fully understand that in the real world  when you crap on somebody they tend to crap right back. Regional staff told councillors two days ago that they desperately need the current 30 litres per second of water from Wilmot and are going to need even more in the future. Reporter Luisa D'Amato finds that behaviour astonishing and for her an indication that the Region is currently under extraordinary pressure regarding water.

Luisa suggests that it is possible that regional water pumping has lowered the groundwater levels to below the depth where local, nearby wells have been drilled even near the Wilmot Centre Wellfield. Hence new, deeper, private wells possibly costing $30,000 may be required. Full documented disclosure has not yet been made  available as to the health (quantity) of water available in the AFB2 Aquifer that is a major component of the Waterloo Moraine. The problem is that the same aquifer is below Mannheim and those wells according to Geoff Moroz (regional staff) have been pumped nearly dry and need to rest whereas the Wilmot Centre Wellfield according to the same Geoff Moroz is in "excellent" health with lots of water. 

Maybe there is some creativity going on here and maybe not but it's way past time for the Region to understand that full disclosure includes documentation and written data, not just their word. Here in Elmira after 36 years of similar behaviour by the MECP, the polluting companies, Woolwich Township etc. I no longer believe anything they say and barely half of what they put in writing.

REGION OF WATERLOO CRAPS ON WILMOT TOWNSHIP: IS WOOLWICH NEXT?

 

Something smells at regional council and the odour is floating all the way westwards to Wilmot Township. Natasha Salonen, mayor of Wilmot, may be trying to please two masters and it's not working.  She appropriately supported a motion to make data on the health of the underlying aquifer in Wilmot, public. It did not pass. She also voted unsucessfully along with four other councillors against the permitted taking of water from the Wilmot Centre wellfield for use in the cities. 

It certainly appears as if the majority of regional councillors have been able to overcome any squeamishness or heaven forbid guilt over the Region surreptitiously having been stealing Wilmot water for the last six years. As one local Wilmot resident stated "If the 1980 agreement cannot be trusted, what protection do we have?"  "Once trust is broken, it cannot be easily rebuilt."

There also appear to be possible discrepancies in the health of the aquifer underlying Wilmot. Regional staff apparently are handing out verbal assurances that water levels are healthy however now we are hearing that citizens complaints of drying up wells and wetlands are not just miles away but nearby the Wilmot Centre wellfield. It seems as if the so called data can be interpreted however the reader so decides. After decades of drivel, junk science and self-serving interpretations of a plethora of technical reports here in Elmira, Ontario I can appreciate how easy it is for highly motivated groups and authorities to interpret and see everything through rose coloured glasses.

Today's K-W Record article written by Luisa D'Amato is titled "Wilmot water pact down the drain". 

ARE DIOXINS AND DDT ACTUALLY DNAPLS AS WELL ?

 

Perhaps twenty years ago I asked that question of Jeff Merriman (Chemtura) at a public CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) meeting. Now most of the time Jeff was a pretty calm fellow but that particular question set him off. He became loud and agitated and behaved as if the question itself was a personal afront and secondly as if I had worded the question more like "You dirty dog are your disgusting Dioxin and DDT contaminants also further disgusting Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLS) that only the most slovenly polluters would have on their site.?".

Now his response surprised me because it was a calm and serious question. I did not know the answer then and am still not certain if they could actually be defined as DNAPLS or not. My suspicion then and now is that they could be according to some DNAPL criteria but possibly usually are not for some reason or another. Also just to be perfectly clear I most certainly did not phrase the question with words like ", "slovenly", "disgusting", "dirty dog" etc..

Mr. Merriman strongly answered my question in the negative while somehow implying that the question itself was somehow inappropriate which for Jeff was unusual. Don't get me wrong, he was a company man through and through but still usually he at least attempted to answer questions, even difficult ones, without being unusually defensive. This response of his was strange.

DNAPLS are known as "sinkers" because their density (specific gravity) is greater than 1 . This means that they will literally descend through both surface water as well as unsaturated and saturated soils (i.e. groundwater). Water has a density of 1 .   Generally DNAPLS also have a low solubility in water which means that unlike NDMA which readily and fully dissolves in water, DNAPLS have a maximum mathematical solubility in water which can limit the extent of their groundwater contamination. For example chlorobenzene is a recognized DNAPL chemical with a solubility of around 440,000 parts per billion.  While 440,000 is a big number it isn't when compared to one billion. In fact as a fraction chlorobenzene can only dissolve in water less than one half part per thousand parts of chlorobenzene. The problem arises with chlorobenzene as with many DNAPLS that their low solubility in water (i.e. 440,000/1,000,000,000) still greatly exceeds their human health drinking water standard of only 80 parts per billion. Both Dioxin and DDT have very low solubilty in water although certainly Dioxins solubility exceeds the drinking water standard which is an extremely low 15 parts per quadrillion or  15/1,000,000,000,000,000).  The Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) does have a health criteria for DDT which makes me believe that DDT under some circumstances can dissolve in water at a rate greater than the ODWS. If not then why have a drinking water standard at all?

There are numerous other DNAPL criteria that I believe Dioxin and DDT have. The real issue may be the  difficulty in finding them and other DNAPLS in the subsurface. This is because they are able to migrate under gravity flow versus the usual subsurface groundwater fllow.  They can also penetrate both aquifers and aquitards and may or may not end up in depressions where they are capable of slowly dissolving over decades and centuries at concentrations greater than drinking water standards. Despite these difficulties, at least since January 2007 when Drs. Cherry and Parker (then Univ. of Waterloo) advised myself, Susan B., Wilf Ruland and Pat McLean that they should be removed or remediated from the subsurface, this world class professional advice has been ignored at CPAC, RAC, TAG and now TRAC.

I believe that both DDT and Dioxins are now probably in the off-site Elmira Aquifers courtesy of this negligence.

 

  

  

K-W RECORD KEEPS THE PRESSURE ON WATERLOO REGION

 

Tomorrow is the big day for the Region as they see whether or not private discussions/negotiations with Wilmot Township mayor Natasha Salonen will bear fruit. Keep in mind that regardless of new municipal governance legislation coming from Ontario, she like all other regional mayors will face the voters this October. Hence if she appears to bend too easily to regional wishes to take Wilmot water she might pay for that  at the polls and lose her job.

Meanwhile two new articles have appeared in today's K-W Record. The one mostly deals with more incentives for large water users to cut back on their usage and the other mentions some water upgrades to the Mannheim Service Area. This second article by Bill Doucet advises that 60 litres per second of water will be restored to the capacity of the Mannheim Service Area via upgrades to the Parkway water system located near Fairway Rd. and Manitou Dr. in Kitchener. Now of course as we already know these wells have long had trichloroethylene (TCE) in them courtesy of the former Deilcraft furniture building on the site. If the name Deilcraft rings a bell it may be due to association with Electrohome and or with Shanley St. in Kitchener which had an abandoned former Deilcraft factory there for many decades also with TCE contamination in the grounwater.

The first article reminds us that "...the region incorrectly combined the capabilities of two separate systems in its capacity calculations.". Now this is yet still another unanswered question by the Region of Waterloo.  Presumably the Record are referring to the two different water treatment systems namely the Middleton System using chlorine versus the Mannheim System using chloramination. Why are there two systems and why can't the treated water be interchangeable whether used in Cambridge versus used in say Waterloo?  At one point in time I suspected that the more highly contaminated (especially with bacteria and viruses) Grand River water required stronger treatment and maybe that was the reason for chloramination versus straight chlorine.

This first article also points out that the region has been over pumping the Mannheim Water Service Area. Presumably again the reporter is referring to specific wells very close to Kitchener's west side and just barely into Wilmot Township. This over pumping was also mentioned in the second article done by Bill Doucet although he referred to it as the Mannheim well field. That description I believe to be more accurate. 

Finally there still has been no followup in the Record regarding the shutdown Greenbrook wellfield (a little too close to the Ottawa St. landfill) or the very long time shut down Woolner and Pompeii wells beside the Grand River very close to Breslau (& Safety-Kleen).  

WHY WAS UNIROYAL SO TERRIFED OF GOING BACK TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL APPEAL BOARD (EAB) IN LATE 1992 ?

 

The simplest and most straightforward answer is DNAPLS, DNAPLS & DNAPLS. Boy is hindsight ever clearer and easier to see what has gone on behind the scenes. Uniroyal also had the October 1991 sweetheart deal negotiated between themselves and the Ontario Min. of Environment (MOE) to protect.  The  EAB announced their decision, after being unceremoniously dumped by the MOE in October/November 1991, that their jurisdiction remained and provided any party asked for the hearing to restart, they would do so. This also explains the timing to me as to why APTE did not ask for the hearing to restart. Susan B. and Sylvia were both made offers they could not refuse including lifetime permanent seats at the table provided they played ball on the DNAPL issue. 

Despite quotes in local newspapers from Susan B. in late 1992 stating that DNAPLS were the biggest environmental issue at Uniroyal Chemical she and Sylvia willingly sold the farm on the matter in late 1993. This even included a critique of consultant Conestoga Rover's DNAPL efforts by Sylvia, Glenys McMullen and myself on APTE letterhead in the fall of 1993. December 10, 1993 the MOE inexplicably (other than corruption & backroom deals) accepted Conestoga Rovers (CRA) and Uniroyal's plainly pathetic latest DNAPL report. Then APTE (i.e. Sylvia ) inexplicably without prior APTE consultation also accepted CRA and the MOE's new DNAPL position.

I've known for many decades that APTE buggered themselves and the public interest with their bizarre turnaround on DNAPLS in 1993-94 but until 2008 I felt that they had made a horrible but honest decision. I was wrong. The evidence of their (Sylvia & Susan B.) being co-opted by the polluter has only risen since. This co-opting of the citizens group via its' leadership is the primary reason that we still do not have either a restored aquifer nor a clean downstream Creek today.  That said the cooperation (legal or illegal) by our elected politicians has certainly aided and abetted the polluter, their successors and fellow travellors.

Most citizens are straightforward albeit complacent. The ambitious ones often become politicians and quickly learn how to deceive. Those that can't get elected sometimes learn how to gain respect and authority in other ways. Being "friends" with people in power and authority is one of those ways. One that I hope never to learn.  

WATERLOO REGION RELEASES WATER INFO IN DRIBS & DRABS

 

Today's K-W Record has an article written by Luisa D'Amato titled "Regional council advised to rescind restricting draw from Wilmot aquifers".  Now according to a staff report supposed to be debated at regional council this Wednesday; both the Wilmot Centre wellfield and the Mannheim wellfield draw from the same underground aquifer known as AFB2. This particular aquifer is the largest one beneath a very large portion of the Waterloo moraine. The Wilmot Centre wellfield includes wells K50, K51 and K52. Samantha Lernout of Citizens for Safe Ground Water is appropriately demanding transducer data (i.e. presumably groundwater elevation levels)   since 2019 for these three wells. 

While the Region admit to over pumping at the Mannheim wellfield and that it should be allowed to rest and recover, apparently according to the Region water levels are fine in the Wilmot Centre wellfield and can be drawn from further. Now here is where the Region have to expect pushback at least until and after citizens have seen and analyzed water elevation levels from the Wilmot Centre wellfield. I hope that regional councillors are not so stupid as to rubber stamp the taking of more water from Wilmot Township this Wednesday until, at the earliest, citizens and other stakeholders have had time to look at the data presented. Right now the Region's credibility is on thin ice and any more "mistakes" in communicating honest information and data will never be forgotten or forgiven. 

GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT BETWEEN POLITICIANS - WELL THAT WAS BOUND TO BLOW UP IN EVERYBODY'S FACES

 Today's Woolwich Observer has a story by Meg Deak titled "Wilmot demands that Waterloo Region reveal well monitoring data". According to this story there really wasn't a written agreement at all between Wilmot and the Region regarding Wilmot water being pumped to the three cities. So let me get this straight. Is this just like my accountant friend's quote that  "a verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's not written on." ?  Apparently the Region of Waterloo think so albeit that's with some pretty convoluted language suggesting that it didn't really happen it was just all a test of sorts. Hmm maybe the word "test" is the problem. Wilmot are supposed to think that the "testing" being discussed has to do with aquifer capacity and sustainability whereas the Region view the whole thing as merely a "test" of the gullibility of rural politicians.

Wilmot councillor Lillianne Dunstall is having none of it. Especially the part about the Region don't have groundwater levels readily available to share with Wilmot. Next Wednesday Regional Council want to discuss officially and formally taking water from Wilmot Township for use in the nearby cities. Both Ms. Dunstall and mayor Natasha Salonen want more transparency from the Region as well as better accountability as far as monitoring the water requirements of never ending growth. 

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

This letter to the editor (Woolwich Observer) was published over three years ago. As usual exactly zero response or comment from various guilty stakeholders in and around Elmira, Ontario. In one sense that is a good thing. The title put on my Letter To The Editor is "Uniroyal problems persist, but so too does inaction". I view the lack of response, whether verbal or legal, as both an admission as well as  a belated understanding that poorly crafted, weak denials can be worse than admissions sometimes.

My letter to the editor is a broad indictment of the system currently allowing polluters to run their own cleanups with little more than superficial oversight by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE).  Afterall it was the Ministry's shoddy oversight in the first place that got us all into the Elmira Water Crisis and so many more around the province.  Yes certainly the Ministry have been underfunded and understaffed. That has always been an intentional situation by each and every provincial government for many decades ever since Bill Davis first announced the beginnings of that new Ministry. It was simply virtue signaling to the electorate that their government would include environmental preservation among their other poorly managed ministries such as labour and transportation. Make no mistake Mr. Davis most likely had to calm corporate fears of any serious attempt by the government to reverse many decades of corporate and industrial environmental abuse and damage .  

This is the trick of governance. You must appeal to the masses publicly and tell them what they want to hear while at the same time quietly assuring the much, much smaller but powerful elite and wealthy that you will not change the status quo which they love so much. 

My letter focuses on technical reports produced by client driven consultants on behalf of the polluter (Uniroyal/Lanxess).  It also focuses on the Sept. 1, 2022  MOE report titled " Sediment and forage fish monitoring results from September 2020 in Canagagigue Creek".  Finally I focus on the long denied but blatantly obvious conflicts of interest in the entire remediation system here in Elmira. 

REGION OF WATERLOO: "THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT"

 

Luisa D'Amato's Opinion column today is titled "Region reveals the purpose of pumping water from Wilmot Centre wellfields".  Well in fact I would suggest that what the Region have done is not so much revealed anything as much as their own stubbornness. At least one local citizen, Samantha Lernout, may have expressed doubts as well when she said "You don't run an experiment and not tell people". If seven years of pumping water from Wilmot to Kitchener-Waterloo is merely a test then I wonder what the last many decades of pumping groundwater from the Waterloo Moraine should be referred to .  

I would also like to see the Region offer copies of these alleged hydrogeological reports claiming lots of available water in the Wilmot Centre wellfield to both individuals and citizen groups. It is conceivable that there is plenty of water at the same time as some residents' and businesses' wells are running dry. Factors include the depth of the wells running dry as well as their proximity to regional pumping wells. A high volume pumping well does produce a large cone of influence whereby water levels within half a mile or so of these wells can be seriously lowered while the rest of the aquifer water levels remain as high as ever. Another term for the resulting cone of influence is drawdown. Again a high volume pumping well can seriously lower nearby water elevations by several metres while having minimal effect or no effect on wells one or two miles away.    

FROM THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES OF JUNE 30, 2022

 

The title of the article in the Woolwich Observer is "Community experts say Lanxess is not doing enough  to address contaminated hotspots in Canagagigue Creek". Susan B. and Tiffany Svensson , Chair of TAG (Technical Advisory Group), both are quoted as stating that Lanxess and their hired Risk Assessor (Stantec) are taking shortcuts. First of all this whole thing about "hotspots" has been beaten to death by all parties.  These alleged "hotspots" are basically very convenient locations for consultants, engineers and contractors to access the Creek both for monitoring /sampling purposes as well as for possible remediation. They are magically located right at the intersection (bridges) of New Jerusalem Rd. and the Canagagigue (Gig) , followed by miraculously the next downriver bridge at Northfield Dr. again followed miraculously by the last bridge over the "Gig" at Jigs Hollow Rd. (#46). Of course extensive sampling at those three locations has resulted in more exceedances there than in other less sampled locations.

Now the two TAG reps are not incorrect when they state that there are large exceedances of health criteria at those three spots. But seriously if there are exceedances miles downstream at Northfield Dr. and Jigs Hollow Rd. do you really think that there aren't lots of other exceedances upstream closer to the source namely Uniroyal Chemical? In my opinion TAG members were trying to be accommodating and compromise with Lanxess and the Ministry of Environment by suggesting/agreeing with the three "hot spots" claims. This has been the huge failure of citizens in general and UPAC, CPAC, RAC & TAG (now TRAC) and most definitely Woolwich Township. They have all been terrified of confronting the polluter. It's as if they believe that they can somehow be criminally charged for holding the polluter and his kid gloved regulator to account for their gross negligence which has resulted in both serious health issues and shortened lifespans for some Elmira residents.

Four years later and Lanxess continue to uphold their predecessors skills at perpetual delay. If the locals don't immediately accommodate the polluter's plans then the company's response is to do nothing. Every dollar they put off spending today is less money down the road both due to devaluation of that money as well as due to ongoing discharge to groundwater, air and the Creek. I expect that another one hundred years of delay while costing both downstream human beings and the environment health impairments will greatly reduce Uniroyal on-site contamination. Yes it's merely been shifted including as far as Lake Erie but if we're feeling bad about that we can always put a straw (pipeline) into the lake and suck some of the toxins back up here for consumption. I think that is referred to as political closed loop recycling. 

HAVE FAITH IN YOUR GOVERNMENT, WHAT IS THE WORST IT CAN DO?

 

I suggest that possibly as much as tonnes of contaminants have now been spread far and wide. I further suggest that they continue spreading on a day to day basis. I mean why wouldn't they? Any alleged proof otherwise is that of sycophants, co-optees, fellow travellors, client driven credentialed experts, self-serving credentialed experts who don't want to mess up their financial gravy train with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and finally politicians. Yes I suppose it is possible for a few honest people to be fooled by all the aforementioned. Maybe it's especially possible for honest and uninformed people to be fooled by all the other folks mentioned.

Yesterday Luisa D'Amato of the K-W Record suggested that "Anger deepens in Wilmot over water". While I believe that she is correct I also think that that very same anger is throughout the Region of Waterloo.  Developers and builders are angry about losing future revenue streams. Everyday, informed citizens are angry about the power and influence of those same builders and developers being the tail that is wagging the dog. How nice to be able to step to the front of the water line it must be for them. The Townships of Woolwich, Wellesley and North Dumphries must also be angry as they understand that their water really isn't theirs according to the Region. All the Region has to do is start pumping those township aquifers until they dry up. Maybe they already are doing so . 

Meanwhile in Woolwich their politicians who have gone with the flow for decades may actually just be starting to regret their laissez faire attitudes. Laissez faire attitudes generally mean to let it happen or leave it to do it's own thing. That has been what most Woolwich Councils have done with others stepping in and putting a thumb on the scale to ensure that temporary momentum by citizens remains temporary. That is what Sandy Shantz did back in 2015 to bail out both Chemtura Canada and the Ont. Min. of Environment (M.O.E.). They were both taking a verbal and psychological bashing by informed citizens who had run out of patience with their decades long delay and intransigence. In the mindsets of polluters and corrupt politicians mere telling of the hard to hear truth equates with rudeness, terrorism and bullying .   

Why right now would Woolwich politicians be having regrets? Simple. In good times when everyone was bragging about both the quantity and quality of the water supply here, nobody was too upset that K-W had a pipeline supplying water going up to Elmira. Now during major concerns over the quantity of water available to the cities especially, many will soon if not already resent water being pumped north. Why they wonder shouldn't it be being pumped south to the high population cities?

It won't surprise me if Lanxess Canada and the M.O.E. don't cook up a batch of silly juice and try to sell it as complying with requests and demands for water to go from the townships to the cities. Of course the "silly juice" that these two misanthropes cook up could really be something else again. Have you ever tasted water imbued with NDMA, chlorobenzene and a little more? We in Elmira have but it won't hold a candle to water enhanced with NDMA, chlorobenzene, ammonia, dioxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, toluene, benzene and multiple chlorinated solvents.  Try it you'll like it! Trust your government all the way to the grave.   

REGION OF WATERLOO'S REPUTATION MAY GO DOWN THE TOILET...IF THERE'S ENOUGH WATER THAT IS

 Or put a little differently by Samantha Lernout of Citizens for Safe Groundwater "I've lost complete faith in their ability to manage water".  This comment is in Luisa D'Amato's Opinion piece in today's K-W Record titled "Anger deepens in Wilmot over water". Personally I would suggest that while the Region of Waterloo have a long history of saying the right things publicly and indeed of some innovative planning decisions over the decades nevertheless when push comes to shove regional councillors  are and always have been a bunch of environmentally illiterate twits with a self-serving fascination for money, power, authority, economic growth at ALL costs and legacy projects. This is why I worry that they will latch onto the Lake Erie pipeline just like native born leeches latch onto their prey.

Apparently to date the Region have not shared groundwater elevation levels (i.e. metres above sea level-masl) with local councils. What a great way to keep everybody else in the dark while you make up your own numbers. The report on the groundwater elevations for the Wilmot Centre Wellfield has been delayed until April 8/26. Even then the fibbing has not yet ceased as the region apparently still claim that the surreptitious pumping of Wilmot's water since 2019 was only for "testing" purposes. I'm thinking that if I ever get caught robbing a bank my excuse will be that I was only "testing" their security. See how far that gets me.

Another article by Bill Jackson titled "Waterloo Region asks for provincial moratorium on water-taking permits" advises that the Motion put forth a month or so ago by a regional councillor (Barry Vrbanovic?) has actually been passed. That Motion was to direct 50% of all new water capacity to support new development in the region. Geez does that not make abundantly clear how weakly regional councillors prioritize water for everybody over more profits for the development and building industries? That Motion is a direct result of lobbying by those industries and how quickly councillors respond to them versus to all the rest of us who really by now just want to flush our politicians down the toilet if only we had the water to do so.

 

THE RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE CANAGAGIGUE CREEK IS BUT ONE MORE IN A LITANY OF PSUEDO SCIENTIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES IN ELMIRA, ONTARIO

 

In the past Conestoga Rovers (CRA), on behalf of Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton & Chemtura, were accused of writing Conclusions and Recommendations to reports that simply did not reflect the data and findings of those reports. In other words CRA would cherry pick items here and there within the reports of little significance and arbitrarily pretend to believe that they had far more weight and significance than they did. This was but one of their methods during DNAPL studies done in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were actually accused by a consultant (CH2M HILL) for the Region of Waterloo of intentionally sampling for DNAPLS in the least likely locations to find them and then claiming "see there aren't any DNAPLS here."

Similarly monthly Progress Reports showing reduced on-site pumping might be acknowledged as a temporary mechanical breakdown easily fixed yet month after month and year after year the trend continued to decrease. Also there was never any acknowledgement of public verbal promises made by  Chemtura staff regarding the Tripling of off-site groundwater pumping in the monthly Progress Reports. Neither a tripling nor even a Doubling ever occurred and yet not a peep in those monthly reports as they bragged about exceeding their old off-site Target pumping rate by five or six litres per second (i.e. from 53 l/sec to 58 l/sec).

Now Lanxess continued that fine tradition with their Risk Assessment (RA) of the Canagagigue Creek. Apparently they can manipulate various assumptions throughout the RA process in order to conclude that despite many, many exceedances of health criteria for multiple contaminants both in Creek sediments and soils; not to fuss as the RA claimed "...no unacceptable risks...". There were also issues with floodplain soils as well and don't get me started on amateurish sampling of Creek sediments using shovels instead of professional core samplers. Along with these polluter self-serving failures were the locational sampling biases that failed to properly sample the majority of the five miles of downstream Canagagigue Creek all the way to the Grand River.

All in all unethical and dishonest junk science, psuedo science and wishful thinking science alone will not succeed. It also takes a combination of either stupidity, laziness or dishonesty by sitting politicians at the municipal, regional and provincial levels. Woolwich Township and Waterloo Region, fortunately for polluters, are blessed with an abundance of these. 

 

TYPO CLARIFICATION REQUIRED REGARDING METHOD DETECTION LIMITS HIGHER THAN HEALTH CRITERIA

 

Oops to err is Uniroyal like, to forgive divine. Gee I hope I haven't offended any Uniroyal lovers still alive in Elmira.  If I have then I guess I'll just have to live with it. By the way I bumped into former councillor Julie-Anne Herteis last evening.  She appears well and did not seem to still be mad at me for unkind things I may have said about her while she was a Woolwich councillor.  That's good because while sitting politicians are fair game, retired or those moving forward in life are not.

The typo is an easy one to make when we are discussing health criteria concentration numbers of toxins along with laboratory Method Detection Limits.  In yesterday's post I started off O.K. in my first paragraph stating that both the authors of a recent report and the Editor of Environmental Science magazine stated in their Summaries that "...analytical limits are far too high for detecting many chemicals, especially pesticides." Then however near the end of my second paragraph darn if I didn't reverse the word higher and use the word lower. Maybe that's not so much a typo as a brain fa*t? 

Here is an example. If you have a chemical with a health criteria concentration of  .5  ug per litre  (.5 ug/l) i.e. half a microgram per litre of water AND a laboratory Method Detection Limit however of 1 ug per litre ( 1 ug/l)  i.e. one microgram per litre then you have a problem because  the laboratory measuring the particular chemical can only measure as low as one microgram of that chemical per litre of water. Therefore the chemical can be above it's health concentration in drinking water (say for example three quarters of a microgram of chemical per litre of water)  however it is assigned a concentration of ND or Non Detect because the lab either don't have the equipment to measure that small or the appropriate process/method to do so. Also sometimes it can also be a matter of cost. Certain labs may charge extra for doing more expensive and difficult very low concentration analyses of a chemical.

Therefore this can be a legitimate limit on determining the toxicity of some chemicals in various mediums whether water, soil air etc. Or on the other hand it can be a very convenient method of weaseling out of showing exceedances of health criteria by toxic chemicals thus reducing expected cleanup costs. Unrepentant polluters lacking in ethics have become adept at this kind of gamesmanship just as regulators and credentialed public advisory committees have learned to look the other way in reports evidencing this kind of data. 

  

  

LIMITATIONS OF AQUATIC MONITORING ALSO LIMIT AQUATIC RISK ASSESSMENTS

 

Last year a scholarly article was published in Environmental Science Magazine titled "Limitations of chemical monitoring hinder aquatic risk evaluations on the macroscale". This was a very large study of decades of monitoring data from across the United States.  Both the Editor and the authors included a Summary or Abstract if you will. Each essentially said that despite decades of monitoring, less than 1% of chemicals with possible toxic effects have the proper data required for risk assessment. The second statement from both parties was that analytical limits are far too high for detecting many chemicals, especially pesticides. Thirdly both advised that these limitations have biased risk perceptions and I would add risk assessments.

If none of this rings any bells than you have not been keeping up with the risk assessments done by Uniroyal Chemical/Chemtura and later on by Lanxess Canada who are only too keen not to spend another nickel on cleaning up the Canagagigue Creek after spending millions (?) on lobbying, bribing?, monitoring and persuading politicians and credentialed TAG/TRAC members that all is well.  I have long said that risk assessments are mathematical models filled with assumptions that can be favourably bought by polluter clients for a fraction of real cleanup costs. When as it turns out these monitoring data are also woefully incomplete including laboratory detection limits of toxic chemicals higher than their mandated health criteria; then what you have is not a risk assessment it is actually a get out of jail free card produced by well educated, intellectual prostitutes all pretending to rely on the "professionalism" of others. 

Mention is made of both DDT and Dioxins as are present in the Canagagigue Creek, courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical and Lanxess Canada, accompanied by warnings as to their enhanced toxicity.  

 

WONDERING WHY LUISA D'AMATO (K-W RECORD) HASN'T REPEATED HER COMMENTS ABOUT OUT OF SERVICE, CONTAMINATED WELLS

 

It was all of once. I have the article on a pile of articles dealing with the recent Waterloo Region Water Crisis.  Ms. D'Amato mentioned out of service wells including the Greenbrook Wellfield, Parkway and Woolner/Pompeii Wellfields. All three have past contamination problems and most likely present ones if they reactivate them. Recently I mentioned the benzene plume emanating from the Ottawa St. Landfill and drawn via pumping towards the Greenbrook Wellfield on Stirling Ave. near Homer Watson Blvd.  I believe that mention was also made years ago of 1,4 Dioxane being in some of those wells. Then Luisa herself had advised of contamination (TCE) at the Parkway wells and finally the river wells from the Woolner and Pompeii Wellfields have lots of solvents and goodies from the Safety-Kleen site formerly known as Breslube and Forsythe. 

Before continuing on about fixing the out-of-service wells listed above I want to mention Luisa's following statement in her Opinion piece in today's K-W Record titled "Why water pipeline to Lake Erie is not a good idea". That statement is "...that underground water supplies in Wilmot have almost been pumped dry in an attempt to keep supplies up." Have I missed something? Yes I understand that various private wells on the west side of Kitchener and or between Petersburg and Baden have been going dry. I had hoped/presumed that these wells water levels were being drawn down by Region of Waterloo and City of Kitchener excessive pumping but that is a whole lot different than suggesting that water supplies in Wilmot have almost been pumped dry. Good Lord if Wilmot Township which is also home to a significant part of the Waterloo Moraine is as a whole going dry then we are all in serious, immediate trouble.

Back to the out-of-service wells.  The Region of Waterloo are masters of the weasel worded descriptions as to why wells were shut down.  Unfortunately they are also masters of protecting and constantly insulating dirty, industrial polluters from the full consequences of their environmental negligence.  This means never pointing out which specific companies and corporations have mostly singlehandedly contaminated regional drinking wells. "Fixing" these wells does not mean new pumps, wellheads, piping etc. Nor does it mean drilling a new well beside the old one or even simply drilling deeper hoping to go by the contaminated sub-surface zones (soils). It would mean costly remediation possibly including excavation that should have been done decades ago and wasn't. 

Now all of this is moot if the Region are desperate enough to mix in solvent contaminated water with cleaner water in order to dilute it.  Oh but wait! They are that desperate. They've been doing that with the TCE (trichloroethylene) at the Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge for many decades. I believe there are also other wells in the Region that are "managed" in similar fashion. 

RUBBING OUR AUTHORITIES NOSES IN THEIR WATER FAILURES

 

The sentence below was on my latest e-mail in the Subject column sent yesterday to Woolwich Council, Waterloo Region Council, MECP, Lanxess, K-W Record, Woolwich Observer and TRAC . 

"Don't you wish you'd listened recently and decades ago to Esther, Richard, Henry, Viv, Ron, Graham, Dan, Sebastian & myself about Elmira's water ?"

There are and were other honourable mentions such as Sadi, Barb, Mary, Randy, Shannon, Kenneth, Pat, Chuck, Susan R., Steve and others who stepped up over the years and decades. 

The point of the quote above is that if the guilty parties (councils, MECP, Uniroyal/Lanxess ) had done their duty, both moral and legal, then we would have Elmira folks drinking Elmira water  and not taking water from the three cities via a pipeline. Unfortunately the guilty parties instead of looking ahead to the obvious time when our finite water supplies became stretched were more concerned with coddling a chemical company who provided some jobs and some tax money. 

Yes I could agree that Lanxess Canada are less culpable than Uniroyal Chemical who both buried toxic wastes,  lied about them, lied about remediation options, lied about DNAPLS, lied about Dioxins and just about everything else involved. Uniroyal and Chemtura also participated in pressuring Woolwich Council into who they wanted on UPAC, CPAC, TAG etc. as well as who they wanted off. None of the successor companies to Uniroyal have shown any interest in properly cleaning up Canagagigue Creek to their utmost shame. 

Citizens stepped up and informed themselves. They spent countless hours attending mostly dog and pony shows orchestrated by the polluter and Woolwich Council. Citizens read reports and made good suggestions the vast majority of which were either ignored or laughed at and treated with disrespect. Well you sh**heads congratulations! 

We have neither our groundwater restored nor the Creek properly cleaned up. That's all on you as you've run the show from day one.   

DEVELOPERS & HOMEBUILDERS NOT CONCERNED ABOUT PROFITS ($$$); IT'S ALL ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING

 

Furthermore to my title above I must inform readers that I am smarter than Bill Gates, stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger ever was, and better looking than either Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise at their best. In other words my title above employs literary exaggeration to the maximum.

Today's K-W Record carries the following article by Bill Jackson titled "Case being made to give small developments green light amid water shortage". The usual suspects are quoted by the reporter such as Larry Masseo and Ryan Mounsey. The former representing the Waterloo Region Homebuilders' Assoc. stated that his association is not in agreement with the region "in terms of the extent of the seriousness of the issue at this point,".  Nowhere in this article does his position seem to be backed with data supporting his opinion.  Mr. Mounsey also advises in one statement that he only works with developers "...that have small infill, gentle density housing with a modest - the smallest - impact" on water useage. Then he advises that these clients range anywhere from one lot to 1,400 units for a total of 2,500 units in the Region of  Waterloo. In my opinion adding 2,500 units (approx. 5,000 people ?) all requiring water on a daily basis is significantly exacerbating the water shortage. 

At the moment operational resiliency within our water system will not be restored until 2027. Until or unless that determination is changed the ban on new building permits should remain. This coming Wednesday regional council are to revisit staff recommendations to add capacity to the system from wells in Wilmot Township as well as to have regional council ask the province to halt water taking permits for golf courses, gravel pits and other large industrial/commercial enterprises. Depending upon the results of those two recommendations the ban on new building permits might need to be extended even further down the road. It is conceivable that neither Wilmot Township nor the Doug Ford government may be in the mood to comply to the requests.

INTERESTING CHOICES & OUTBURSTS BY PREMIER DOUG FORD

 

This post today is supposed to be about Susan Koswan's excellent Opinion piece in today's K-W Record titled  "Water and nature need protection from politics".  Essentially the politics she is describing are the politics of our current Conservative government led by Doug Ford. I am of two minds right now. Or maybe even three or four. Yes Doug Ford and his merry band have been awful for the environment and Ms. Koswan  clearly describes his gaffes, errors and plain bad thinking and behaviour on the environment file. 

Meanwhile back on the first page there is Doug Ford blustering about how a homeowner recently shot one of four home invaders. Four on one in the middle of the night is hardly a fair fight especially as at least one of the home invaders was caught on video with a gun in hand. Undaunted the homeowner shot one of them and they all fled. Doug Ford meanwhile was quoted as saying that the homeowner should have shot him a few more times for good measure.

Doug of course is pandering to the public's discomfort with firearms legislation that essentially for decades has stated that citizens may own guns to shoot unarmed animals and or harmless paper targets that have never attacked anybody. But by God any use of a firearm to defend oneself from physical attack is beyond the pale. Under no circumstances are Canadian citizens supposed to have the right to readily and quickly defend themselves from robbery, assault or worse. Being even blunter I expect that our police, prosecutors and courts will cheerfully advise women that mere rape also doesn't justify shooting someone. For our justice officials that would be a case of using disproportionate force to defend oneself. Well! Let me simply suggest that if any of either Harvey Weinstein's or Frank Stronach's alleged victims had been armed, their criminal activities would have been nipped in the bud.

So I like Dougie for standing up to the stupidity of our judicial system and the temerity of all participants within it to expand the legal rights of citizens to defend themselves from unprovoked attacks. At the same time I am appalled at his biased and self-serving environmental behaviour in this province. He is a one man environmental wrecking machine and needs to be cut down (only at the polls please).

WATERLOO REGION RESIDENTS ARE LONG OVERDUE FOR A DIOXIN REVIEW

 

One of the terms used in past reviews and studies concerning dioxins has been that it is a non threshold contaminant. In other words there simply is no safe level of exposure for human beings. Now that is very concerning particularly when one realizes that human beings throughout the world have already accumulated body burdens of dioxins. Amounts mentioned thirty plus years ago were in the 4 to 6  picograms  range per day exposure for Canadians. At the same time that Canada had a guideline maximum of 10 picograms per day per kilogram of body weight, our American cousins had a guideline of only .006 picograms.  Now it is entirely possible if not probable that either concentrations or body burden guidelines have changed since 1994. Personally I have found the silence in the media on the matter to be nearly deafening.

It is also possible that up to date science may very well have decided that the only safe guideline number is zero especially for vulnerable populations. This would include pregnant women, young children and those with compromised immune systems. Regardless it is next to impossible for citizens to either stop or reduce their exposure to these now ubiquitous contaminants. While the simplest expression of the source of dioxins is chlorinated substances being burned the fact is that they are in our food, water and the air we breathe. Yes polluting industries such as pulp and paper  as well as chemical companies are major contributors but there are many more including hospital and municipal incinerators.  

Instead of studying, monitoring and sometimes ignoring them as we have done for the last thirty-six years here in Woolwich Township (Elmira), what is needed is proper removal. It can be done but for profit industries are willing to sacrifice human life in exchange for millions of dollars and our local, regional and provincial politicians are only too willing to accommodate them. Now lets be clear.  No politician will ever admit to this. It's about them finding ways to weasel word their way around the reality. It's about them finding ways to disparage the science, the data and if necessary the scientists themselves. Isn't it ironic that unqualified, sometimes dyslexic, sometimes illiterate and most times mathematically challenged politicians when pressured to stand up for their own constituents will run and hide behind criticism of those far more qualified than they to come to conclusions and make decisions.     

PROMISES & OTHER LIES BY UNIROYAL CHEMICAL/SUCCESSORS AND THE MOE/MECP

 Jeff Merriman promised us six litres per second of on-site Municipal Aquifer pumping in order to maintain hydraulic containment and stop off-site migration of Uniroyal's groundwater. For a number of years the total from two or three on-site pumping wells was around 5.3 to 5.5 litres per second. Close although not quite there. In November 2012 after Conestoga Rovers admitted that their off-site pump & treat wasn't going to complete the job by 2028, they and Chemtura promised a TRIPLING of the volume of off-site pumping. Oddly no mention was given of increasing on-site pumping at the same time in order to avoid the increased off-site pumping from dragging on-site contaminated water along with it as the groundwater levels were lowered off-site. That in hindsight should have been our first indication that we were being lied to yet again.

Since about 2017 the on-site municipal aquifer pumping  has been slowly dropping until it's at about 3.3 to 3.6 litres per second. As serious as that is, the problem is only exacerbated as the off-site pumping has indeed been increased. Now that increase certainly never achieved  even a DOUBLING much less a TRIPLING of the off-site volumes from 2012 (around 53 l/sec) as promised.  It did increase however to often achieve 65 l/sec and occasionally as high as 70 or 71 l/sec. This has been going on for years now with nobody including TRAC so much as raising questions directly about increasing off-site pumping while lowering on-site pumping.  This practice we were advised for years while on CPAC absolutely would cause the Uniroyal site to lose hydraulic containment and further increase off-site contamination. 

There has never been an iron clad test to prove to citizens that hydraulic containment was being kept. Promises and assurances from proven liars that groundwater levels here and there "prove" containment aren't worth the paper they are or aren't written on. More, louder and shriller exhortations of integrity and honesty from Lanxess Canada and or the MECP also mean less than nothing. They and their predecessors have never stopped lying to us.  

SO WHEN EXACTLY DID UNIROYAL/CROMPTON/CHEMTURA/LANXESS THROW IN THE CLEANUP/REMEDIATION TOWEL?

 

Or put differently was there ever a time when anybody in authority seriously believed that they had a viable plan to restore the Elmira aquifers to drinking water standards? By those in authority I'm referring to the Min. of Environment (MOE/MECP), the four companies listed above, Waterloo Region or Woolwich Township. These are not idle or spurious questions. Hindsight being 20/20 gives one an entirely different flavour and view of what has gone on. Certainly over the intervening decades there have been significant changes in the surface water of the Canagagigue Creek, the air over Uniroyal/Lanxess and the groundwater beneath the town.

At one time decades ago the Ontario Ministry of Environment was derided as the Ministry of Lumps and Colours in reference to surface waters in the province. In other words the Ministry were satisfied the moment rivers and streams stopped routinely being discoloured by industry  discharges and even solids and sludges being dumped into them. Yes the Canagagigue has far fewer solvents and dissolved toxins in them than they used to have courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical. Unfortunately there has been an extremely limited reduction in Persistent Organic Pollutants with the likes of DDT and dioxins topping the list. These are present whether as suspended sediments (as Dr. Dick Jackson thundered repeatedly) or even as low concentration dissolved contaminants in the water.

The bad old days even as recently as 1998 to 2000 when air discharges sent the "Duke St. rowdies" out of town in the middle of the night seeking refuge  hopefully are done forever.  To many including myself these air discharges simply reinforced our belief that the company (Crompton) were long on talk and awfully slow on action including spending money and time to remove the biggest and baddest air discharges.

It would appear that both the concentrations of contaminants as well as the volume of the various plumes underneath Elmira have been reduced. To what effect however? If the two most obvious targets, NDMA and chlorobenzene still aren't at drinking water standards do you think any of the dozens to hundreds of others are? 

If one has ready access to the on and off-site pumping records as I do then it is obvious that years ago the various polluting companies began cutting back on their pumping and treating volumes just when  they most needed to increase them and when they had publicly promised to do so. They did no such thing nor did they even seriously try to. It was all a scam simply buying time and wasting time as they and their consultants talked and bamboozled both lay citizens and even educated, credentialed members of RAC, TAG and TRAC into deferential submission. The last gasp chance to turn the ship around died in 2015 under the pathetic and woefully uninformed guidance of Sandy Shantz at the Woolwich Township helm. Frankly success was already in huge jeopardy but her embrace of all pleas and lamentations from Chemtura and the Min. of Environment sealed the deal. Lots more talk and lots more hot air but it's all been window dressing and less. 

THE K-W RECORD ARE ALL OVER THE WATERLOO REGION WATER CRISIS

 

Frankly I am impressed. I have very good reason to be angry with the Waterloo Region Record (aka K-W Record) but geez it is difficult to stay mad at the twits when they are currently so fulfilling their mandate of keeping the public informed on serious issues. Take note of that Woolwich Township. Decades of bias towards filthy polluters may never be forgotten but it could be mitigated possibly even to the point of forgiveness. Of course that requires some immediate, heartfelt changes in both attitude and behaviour on your part. 

It appears as if the Record along with others are embracing the over pumping of our groundwater as fact not possibility. The Record once again in today's article titled "52 billion litres of water too much, and not enough" goes through the litany of errors and miscalculations of water supply and demand by the Region's water staff.  It is almost to the point of slapstick comedy if it weren't so serious. Yes both developers and home builders' groups are still on the bandwagon of it's not really a case of too much growth or of water supply. They are all too willing to throw both regional staff and councillors under the bus in calling the crisis a "management issue". 

Personally I can embrace both the idea of a finite water supply as well as to a certain extent management issues.  The particular "management issues" that I find so offensive are the lying and blatant disinformation over a period of decades. Items such as the Inter Urban System (IUS) supposedly allowing water from anywhere in the Region to flow wherever it is needed has turned out to be nonsense. Allegedly that is, because I can no longer trust that the Region are telling us the truth. Also the fact that they have lied to Wilmot Township for years as they've been taking their water surreptitiously for use in the cities while the water table has dropped significantly in parts of Wilmot.

I still would like to see both past and current groundwater elevation data from throughout the various moraines and aquifers to confirm that the Region have been inappropriately  "mining" those aquifers and significantly lowering the water levels.   

LOCAL MEDIA COMMENT ON REGIONAL COUNCIL'S DECISION TO HIRE OUTSIDE EXPERTS TO STUDY REPORTING & COMMUNICATIONS ON WATER ISSUES

 

Overall Luisa D'Amato seems pleased with the direction that the Region are taking by hiring an outside consulting firm.  While she does state that "This is a good start." she has a number of suggestions to make it even better. That said what I noticed was her very first sentence in which she suggested  "Finally we may get some answers to the question of why the water supply crisis we are in was allowed to happen, and how the news came as such a complete shock." Hence I was a little taken aback to read that the final report is due within a year. A year !  I'm sorry but that for me does not jive with "Finally we may get some answers...". Citizens deserved honest and confirmed answers a couple of months ago not hypothetically a year down the line. Is this simply more bureaucratic and political gamesmanship to delay and deflect our attention?

Ms. D'Amato raises good points and suggestions. She would like to know why both the Mannheim treatment plant for Grand River water and the Greenbrook pumping station are still in disrepair. Why weren't both of them repaired promptly? Somewhat oddly to me she hasn't repeated her comments about the possible rehabilitation of the Parkway Wellfield or the Woolwner/Pompeii wells along the Grand River . Could she herself have signed some sort of NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with the Region? Perish the thought! She is a professional reporter.

Ms. D'Amato also advises that here in Ontario we had a public inquiry after the following major public system failures namely the Walkerton water crisis, the light rail debacle in Ottawa and the fatal mall collapse in Elliot Lake. Oddly enough somehow the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis with its' now failed remediation never was subject to a public inquiry. That was ridiculous then and even more so now when we realize how much more desperately Elmira's water is needed.

WATERLOO REGION COUNCIL DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST: DEFERRING DECISIONS, DELAYING & HIRING FRIENDLY CONSULTANTS

 

I am curious as to how many citizens don't know that the main purpose of so called third party consultants is to do almost the same thing as public consultation does. That is to give a veneer of credibility and respectability to Council decisions that are more likely to be politically motivated than factually motivated. Indeed it is possible sometimes to have an overlap between good politics and good governance.  Just not often enough.

Today's K-W Record has an article by reporter Bill Jackson titled "Council orders water capacity review".  In fact that's a bit of a misnomer. The review being ordered is a review of water capacity reporting and communicating processes. That's a whole different beast.  Councillor Doug Craig suggests that it won't be about assigning blame. Well darn what's the fun in that? We the citizens and paying taxpayers want names. We want to hang people in effigy. We want accountability and let the chips fall where they may whether it be politicians or staff. We want guilty, incompetent or negligent people turfed whether from regional council or regional staff. Hmm it makes me suspect that this review may be no more than a glad handing exercise. Put some obvious reporting triggers onto paper as well as even more frequent sending of memos upstairs to staff supervisors to continue being ignored while publicly praising the consultants and everybody else involved. Isn't that generally how politicians work?    

The request to the province to put a pause on new or expanded water taking permits has been deferred to March 25/26 ostensibly. There was also discussion around a Lake Erie pipeline. You know that that water will most likely be treated at least enough not to cause immediate, debilitating pain or disease.  I mean right now our water, food and air have already been horribly contaminated and compromised albeit within carefully selected parameters. Did you know that Health Canada and Ontario Health are routinely lobbied for reduced health criteria by business and industrialists? To clarify, by reduced health criteria I don't mean lower concentrations of contaminants, I mean less stringent standards allowing higher concentrations of toxic chemicals in our food and water and air.

Along with the Lake Erie discussion there was also concern expressed by some regional staffers (Kenneth Brothers) who suggested that "We have to be very cautious in that we're vulnerable in terms of the aquifer restrictions.".  I believe that this information is the most important to have as soon as possible. Until the Region know absolutely the water levels of the various aquifers in and around the Waterloo Moraine ( & others) it is impossible to know what long term sustainable pumping amounts really are.   

FURTHER DETAILS REGARDING THE FAILURE TO REMEDIATE THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS

 

I did mention yesterday that there were both LNAPLS (light non aqueous phase liquids) as well as DNAPLS  (dense non aqueous phase liquids) on the 62 Union St. Varnicolor Chemical site. Those alone could have destroyed any chances of cleaning up the Elmira Aquifers either solely or mostly with pump & treat technology.  This is because both LNAPLS and DNAPLS have a low solubility in water and tend to either float on the surface of ground and surface water (LNAPLS) or at the bottom of aquifers (DNAPLS) and only slowly dissolve into the water  over a period of decades or even centuries. Hence they are an ongoing almost never ending source of contamination in the subsurface.

Add to that the recent statements (yesterday's Blog posting)  in which Jesse Wrighte of Arcadis Inc. advised TRAC, the MECP, the Region and the Township of multiple nearby Varnicolor Chemical companies who used chlorobenzene in their processes. How extraordinarily strange that that little tidbit took 35 years to be released publicly. Also extraordinarily strange that a solvent recycler like Varnicolor Chemical allegedly never used and abused chlorobenzene on their site as they did virtually every other solvent they dealt with. That is strange because chlorobenzene is a very common solvent both used as an intermediary in production processes (i.e. Uniroyal Chemical) as well as with paint manufacturers and auto body shops as well as car manufacturers all of whom were clients of Varnicolor Chemical. Does anyone really wonder why I have been calling out those in charge of our failed cleanup as dishonest swine or worse?

Then there is the incredible attempts by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) to cover up the illegal activities of Varnicolor Chemical. Their efforts stopped at nothing. They lied about everything. But for two things they might have gotten away with it. Firstly despite being ordered years previously to erect fences around Lot 91 they never did. Good fences make good neighbours but I and others had no qualms about gathering evidence including video and photographs which constantly refuted the Ministry's lies. Then there was my inside person at Varnicolor. I did hear at one point that Severin suspected his office manager Jeanette. I hope that wasn't so because she was a loyal and dedicated employee unlike myself who found more than a couple of employers over the decades to be absolute a**holes with Severin Argenton being front and centre.  My inside person tipped me off constantly as to what was happening or going to happen at Varnicolor next. This even included the Glen McDonald fiasco in which he was fired by the Ministry of Environment and charged by the Crown for tipping off Mr. Argenton about an upcoming police and Ministry raid of his property (62 Union & Howard Ave. property). 

Lastly of course is the problem of low concentrations of dioxins dissolved in Elmira's groundwater despite all howls and protests by our favourite polluter to the contrary.  I mean seriously after 36 years of delay, deception, manipulation and lying only fanatical, pro business, left hating, anti communist, anti socialist ideologues would put weight on any gross polluters' opinions. Until PROVEN otherwise I have to ask exactly how keen are pro NDMA drinkers going to be about including even low concentrations of incredibly toxic  2,3,7,8 TCDD (dioxin) to their morning coffee. 

So go ahead and mix Elmira water with the low level solvents and stuff already in our Integrated Urban System (IUS) and watch another social problem of too few workers supporting too many seniors also disappear, me included.

  

IS VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM REMEDIATION WISE?

 

Has something new occurred? Have our authorities (Woolwich, Waterloo Region, MECP) in their infinite and never ending thirst to share knowledge with the public, released something? Well no, not exactly. Here's what we have however. About a year and a half ago (Sept. 2024) after a TRAC meeting in which Alan Deal of GHD, on behalf of Lanxess Canada, mostly falsely denied a relationship between Varnicolor Chemical and DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids); the Minutes of the meeting were finally released. Lo and behold in writing was the decades late, astounding revelation that the 84 Howard Ave. site was responsible for six different chlorinated solvents (not chlorobenzene) in the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Now 84 Howard Ave. is simply the newer address of the former Varnicolor Chemical site which encompassed both the Union St. properties and the Howard Ave. property. Hallelujah !

Skipping to the third revelation also from a TRAC meeting back in September 2025 we have admissions from a consultant (Jesse Wrighte/Arcadis)  that there were multiple companies and locations using chlorobenzene (chlorinated solvent) near the corner of Union St. and First Ave. Again this revelation was approximately 35 years after the fact which included an alleged Five man team from the Ministry of Environment which toured Elmira looking for industries which could have contributed to the shutdown of the south wellfield in Elmira. 

This third revelation likely was to explain again a decades late proven fact that there was free phase DNAPL at OW57-32 (R) beside the Howard St. Water Tower. I had long suggested that this chorobenzene came from one of three sources namely Varnicolor, Borg Textiles or all the way from Uniroyal Chemical. None of my suggested sources however were politically correct for the liars and stakeholders in charge of the cleanup.   Nevertheless again in the Minutes of the Alan Deal TRAC meeting of September 2024  which he attended is the second revelation that the DNAPL near pumping well W4 and the Howard Ave. Water Tower was finally dissipated/dissolved and allegedly thus reducing it's contamination of nearby groundwater.

Since then I have reviewed both newspaper articles and most importantly photos of the extent of the contamination from Varnicolor Chemical at both their 62 Union St./Howard Ave. location as well as from Lot 91 at the east end of Oriole Parkway. The photographs of the remediation of the 62 Union St. / Howard Ave. property are interesting especially in hindsight.  These photos plus the 2016 Risk Assessment of the site by Peritus Environmental further combined with the now long admitted failure of the Elmira groundwater cleanup spell out an interesting hypothesis. 

There were both LNAPLS (Light Non Aqueous Phase Liquids) and DNAPLS on the Varnicolor site. There was a calculated and concerted illegal dumping operation underway at both the Union St. site AND at Lot 91. Initially the Min. of Environment only laid paperwork pollution charges against Varnicolor. It took the local media's clamoring to get those upgraded to actual pollution of the natural environment charges and later convictions. I suggest that Varnicolor Chemical whose cleanup has not been followed by citizens or activists or the media may well be the elephant in the room which has exacerbated the difficulties in cleaning the Elmira Aquifers, especially by pump & treat technology mostly on it's own. In fact the remediation tidbits that we do have (i.e. a shallow aquifer pump & treat system only) actually point to a grossly inadequate cleanup considering the volume, the depth and the characteristics and components of the liquid wastes dumped at the site over decades. 

In order to protect the Min. of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) from further embarrassment, humiliation and public contempt the province of Ontario denied and covered up the extent of gross contamination at Varnicolor Chemical, the second largest polluter in Elmira, with Nutrite/Yara the third (ammonia).      

AND THERE IT FINALLY IS... THE MONSTER FROM THE GREEN LAGOON

 

Of course I'm referring to the long proposed Pipeline from the Green Lagoon otherwise known as Lake Erie. Is there anybody who doesn't know about the prevalence of toxic blue-green algae on the surface of our smallest and shallowest Great Lake? Today's K-W Record has an article by Bill Jackson titled "Waterloo Region's pipeline possibility". For me having lived for almost a decade in West Montrose it's almost emblematic of the long threatened West Montrose Dam. At one time that was the bogeyman that hung over local residents wondering how badly their beautiful valley, covered bridge and lush farm fields would be destroyed.

Darn but you know the old saying that for a carpenter all problems can be solved with a hammer and for an engineer if it's not broken then you simply haven't built it yet. Build it and when it breaks fix it sort of attitude. Today's Record interviews both a former public works director as well as Kevin Thomason, vise-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network (GREN). Both are smart individuals but with totally different approaches to Waterloo Region's Water Crisis. Mr. Anderson with a  public works background is very big on class environmental assessments. It almost seems to me that he views the Class EA process as somewhat magical and without bias. Being from Elmira I've lived through a few Environmental Assessments now and I can tell you that depending on many factors they can and are manipulated beyond belief. He who is paying the shot calls the tune and that's exactly what has happened here with two very local Environmental Assessments.

Mr. Thomason of GREN however does not believe that blasting right of ways and cutting through forests and farm fields is the best way to solve our alleged water problems. He lists numerous less invasive and less expensive options in this article that can be done right here in Waterloo Region versus taking water from Lake Erie.

Alleged water problems is an interesting turn of phrase. We the public are still waiting for documentation that either proves or disproves the alleged low water levels in our major aquifers such as the Waterloo Moraine. Also it is rather convenient how often dishonest politicians such as our Woolwich Township mayor invent a crisis in order to implement a totally asinine solution as was done in 2015 . Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) were crying about the new vigorous and informed Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) holding them to account and failing to treat them with the deference and reverence that they were used to. 

Is it possible that this water crisis has been invented to push the multi billion dollar engineering solution of a Lake Erie Pipeline? Or is the crisis real? Maybe it could be part of each? Maybe we are currently in trouble but the fixes are right here within the Region's boundaries as suggested by Mr. Thomason. 

TIME DOES NOT ERASE LYING & DECEPTION

 

It is far too easy in an uneven power relationship for the weaker party to tend to forget past wrongs especially if the present is tolerable. To a great extent I wonder if that is one of the reasons that we have had three sales of Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira since around 2000.  It is very difficult to saddle the new company/new owners with the sins of the past including the almost never ending blatant delays, deceptions and lying.  This is especially so when the allegedly neutral citizens are also repeatedly turning over on the various advisory committees whether UPAC, CPAC, RAC, TAG, or TRAC.   Some of these new "citizens" are also no longer from Elmira which again makes it less likely that they would have personal memories of past promises and commitments. Finally too many have connections with the environmental community as consultants for private companies who tend to deal with the Ministry of Environment as well as municipal and regional governments. This includes engineering companies who have done engineering work for both Woolwich Township and the Region of Waterloo.

I have recently been reviewing old newspaper clippings both of the Esther Thur collection at the Wilfred Laurier University Archives as well as others. It is truly shocking as well as outrageous how many times Uniroyal or successor companies begged for time claiming that they were already addressing a problem or just getting ready to start to do so.  We at UPAC or CPAC would give them that time simply never to see the item ever on the Agenda again or in some watered down version. This of course was aided by local politicians arbitrarily removing members and appointing their own uninformed buddies, sycophants and deferential "experts" with skin in the game who did not want to rock the boat.

Elmira has become the poster child for public consultation abuse. It is also the poster child for corporate abuse of citizens aided and abetted by local politicians whether municipal, regional or provincial. It's also funny how polluting industries seem to have support from both Liberals and Conservatives. Gee I wonder which two parties are the biggest benefactors of corporate donations ? 

THE HUMAN CONDITION: DOES STATUS & AUTHORITY ENGENDER STUPIDITY ?

 

Oh boy but that title above is a strong statement. Can I back it up? Well first American politics. How about George W. Bush and the non-existent "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq if I've named the correct President Bush for that idiocy. Or how about President Trump in all his glory? Nine months ago he bragged that Iran's nuclear ambitions were obliterated after bombing the country. Now he's trying to obliterate the rest of the country with claims that their nuclear program is alive and well and they are a threat to the U.S. and Israel. 

Recently our Waterloo Region councillors (& staff) have put their amazing intelligence and common sense up for debate by somehow forgetting to include infill development into their calculations of water demand. They have also been secretly  pumping water from Wilmot Township to the three big cities despite an agreement not to do so without discussion and agreement by Wilmot Township.

Now even closer to home we have the idjits on the Waterloo Region District School Board  (WRDSB) who attacked teacher Carolyn Burjowski for her comments and opinions on age inappropriate books for very young students. These comments were made as a properly registered Delegate to the WRDSB and as the courts have made clear since were done so in accordance with all rules and procedures. 

Today's K-W Record carries an Opinion piece by Luisa D'Amato referring to a "witch hunt" by Waterloo Catholic trustees. Thank God our Catholic Board has stepped up to share the limelight and glory with our public board. This dispute went right to the Ontario Superior Court who determined that the Catholic Board's decision was "unreasonable and must be set aside." I mean maybe this is a sign that our courts  prefer to make decisions based upon law and reasonableness themselves. Who knows about that for sure but the facts as exposed by Luisa D'Amato certainly indicate that the trustee Kathy Doherty-Masters absolutely did not violate the trustee's Code of Conduct as alleged. 

What then have we learned? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely? Nah we already knew that. Maybe it's that mostly dishonest and or self-serving people are attracted to getting elected to positions of authority? Possibly. Or maybe it's that voting citizens are far too easily swayed by appearances (looks), names and other trivial characteristics. That's a big one and doesn't make Democracy look so hot sometimes. 

WRDSB TRUSTEES GET THEIR ASS*S KICKED BY THE K-W RECORD

 Well to be specific by Luisa D'Amato. This takes me back decades when she was on the Education beat and used to lay them out like bowling pins, on a regular basis. I gained an immense amount of confidence and respect for her in those days.

In Ms. D'Amato's February 25,, 2026 Opinion piece she makes it very clear that leaving all control of education in the province's hands is not a good thing. She however clearly understands and believes that the current system of trustees is badly broken. She is correct and while she does suggest that there were/are? a surprising proportion of trustees with ties to the Waterloo Region & District School Board (WRDSB) as either former teachers or spouses or relatives, she does not specify exactly what the problem there was. Perhaps just that the trustees should better represent a more diverse group of citizens and parents .

I do have one strong disagreement with Ms. D'Amato's opinion however. In fact I'm wondering if she was speaking with tongue firmly in cheek when she suggested that the Region of Waterloo could step up and become the local board of education similar to their duties as the local board of health. Firstly we are daily and publicly, thanks to Ms. D'Amato, Terry Pender, Bill Jackson etc., learning exactly how inept and incompetent the Region of Waterloo staff and councillors are due to the region wide water crisis.  Secondly those of us living in Elmira never received the support necessary from the board of health for our own Elmira Water Crisis .So much more could have and should have been done by them to counteract the polluter and his tame regulator's (MOE/MECP)  false reassurances and minimization of health problems.

LUISA D'AMATO TAKES OFFENCE AT THE REST OF US BEING CALLED "GOLDEN RETRIEVERS"

Jeff McIntyre of the Grand Valley Construction Association really is a horse's patootie. What was he thinking when he referenced his like for Non Disclosure Agreements because he's on the inside while the rest of us are golden retrievers waiting by the door for news. No politician worth his salt would make such a stupid comment but then maybe Mr. McIntyre is a much better human being than most politicians (granted a low standard) . Maybe he's at exactly where he should be but really he should be a tad more careful in his public choice of words.

Ms. D'Amato makes a very strong case for the public being in the loop and immediately apprised of new facts or plans whether good or bad. She also bluntly puts the committee members/working group of councillors, developers and builders in their place when she advises that "We, the public, are the owners, not the companion animals. We will decide what happens to the water, and who gets elected in the fall."

I've been warning Woolwich councillors for some time now that their futures, their reputations and legacies are at risk regarding the Elmira water crisis. Perhaps we will have a regional housecleaning first over the regional water crisis and the Woolwich one four years later after the mandated 2026 failure and fallout occurs. Who knows though. It could be a doubleheader this fall during the 2026 elections.     

CHURCH'S HOUSING DEVELOPMENT VERSUS GRAVEL PITS: WHO SHOULD GET THE WATER?

 

One article in today's K-W Record (front page) written by Bill Jackson discusses the refusal to give the former Trinity United Church in Elmira a building permit and the other on page 3. by Bill Doucet is an article in which local M.P.P. Aislinn Clancy is asking the Ontario Minister of Environment to stop issuing industrial and commercial water taking permits. In particular she is not happy with local gravel pits putting in applications for large water taking permits. 

For me this is an easy choice. We've got more gravel pits than we need and more pits are simply to reduce distance and costs to transport aggregate to building sites, cement and asphalt facilities. In other words to boost aggregate producers profits which isn't necessarily on it's face a bad thing. I however vote in favour of  water permits going to the new housing being developed on the former Church property on Arthur St. in Elmira.

Now here's a twist.  Elmira supposedly is legally mandated to have our Uniroyal Chemical contaminated ground water rehabilitated and restored by 2028.  If that were to occur (it won't) then I dare say that Woolwich could have pretty much gone ahead with OUR water and given the new housing development the building permit they require for construction this summer. Maybe a little more support and citizen involvement over the years/decades would have lit a fire under all the guilty/recalcitrant local buggers including politicians who have gone along deferentially with the go through the motions status quo for so long.

TRAC MEETING OF FEBRUARY !9, 2026

 

First of all I'm late posting this because of human error at the Township. A staff person simply forgot to put the link to their You Tube video on the Township's website (look for "Council Calendar") after uploading the meeting to You Tube . That said I'm going to grudgingly, unhappily and with an overall lack of grace thank a Woolwich councillor whom I have many times in the past sharply criticized environmentally.  Nathan Cadeau when informed by me promptly fixed the matter. Thank you Nathan.

Hmm O.K. that wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. Maybe that's because I view my environmental criticism as factual but not personal. We were advised by Lanxess (Hadley) about the results of some bench scale remediation testing. Now I believe she was talking about aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic (without oxygen) use of either bacteria or possibly amendments to soils that hopefully stimulate the bacteria to degrade NDMA and or chlorobenzene. The aerobic degradation was much better than the anaerobic degradation for chlorobenzene. For NDMA however the degradation both ways was much less than that for chlorobenzene. This testing will continue halfway through 2026.

Public consultation was discussed for the upcoming 2028 instrument whatever it's name such as Control Order or Certificate of Approval etc.  This of course is the new instrument post the mandated (but failed) groundwater cleanup deadline of 2028. A rose by any other name smells as sweet and another pile of horse manure from the MECP (Min. of Environment) will be equally as useless as all the rest. 

Mayor Shantz suggested that the current Waterloo Region water quantity crisis may be conflated with Elmira's water quality crisis involving NDMA, chlorobenzene, dioxins and so much more. Personally I believe that the two crises are interconnected. If she and the other guilty parties had done their jobs one or two decades ago our aquifers could have been in much better shape by now. She also would like to know if there is a better place to discharge the treated groundwater under Elmira to other than the Canagagigue Creek. Look out folks still contaminated water is looking for a home near you.

Hadley Stamm (Lanxess) made a reasonably dumb statement when she suggested that the treated groundwater being discharged to the Creek was at drinking water standards. Well Lou Almeida (GHD) swooped in and rescued her from that . Clearly Lanxess are more about PR and appearances as Hadley is the point person constantly interrupting and talking over Lou. Lou is a middle aged male of average appearance who has a ton of local Elmira experience versus Hadley's five minutes or so. One of these days Lou just might snap and non affectionately tell Hadley to "Shut the *#ck up !" Hope springs eternal.

Karl Belan of the Region of Waterloo made it clear that the Region were not interested in further treating discharged ground water to bring it up to drinking water standards. There was also discussion about the stigma of drinking former Uniroyal chemically contaminated water. 

I was pleased to see that TRAC are flexible enough to shift gears somewhat in mid stream and discuss the current Waterloo Region alleged quantity crisis. I say alleged because although not yet fully proven it sure looks like we are in water supply (quantity) trouble plus quantity IS related to quality. When you have a number of wellfields shut down due to contamination as we do then certainly water quality is affecting quantity. Well E10 at the south end of Elmira is being looked at although I find it odd that the well shed or housing has been removed. Yes the pipe is sticking out of the ground there but why expose it unnecessarily? Also I have heard recently that the Region are looking elsewhere near Elmira for more water.  Well that should be interesting as we see them attempt to pump uncontaminated water from the same aquifer(s). In fact buddy (?) Nathan Cadeau actually suggested that the Region could drill somewhere else in the aquifer and have clean water. Well, well, well.

Hadley got into an interesting conversation with Karl (Region) when she appeared to say simultaneously that the Region Do/Don't intentionally pump drinking water from contaminated aquifers elsewhere than Elmira.  Maybe Lanxess would care to clean up the treated groundwater further for use as drinking water??? Eric Hodgins (former Region hydroG) maybe pointedly commented that the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act does have provisions for fines and jail for violators. Hmm.

There was much discussion about a survey from Lanxess to determine local interest in these issues. Frankly I think that all Lanxess want to do is quietly get the heck out of the aquifer remediation business as soon as possible and that means keeping everything on the downlow. 

I am seeing which way the wind is blowing and it's all about winding this thing up gracefully and looking good spending the least amount of money possible. Thank you Region of Waterloo for putting water back in the spotlight. 

RESIDENTS & CITIZENS SPEAK TRUTH, M.P.P. MIKE HARRIS LIES & BSs FOR HIS POLITICAL MASTER

 

I must say that it is a pleasure reading almost every day about the Region of Waterloo's incompetence and negligence regarding our mutual water systems.  Today I will be mentioning the hot air and absolute stupid comments from M.P.P. Mike Harris regarding the Region's water crisis as well as more first hand evidence from rural citizens living on the west side of Kitchener whom I may carefully compare to frogs in a pot of slowly, increasingly hotter water. No offence is meant by this metaphor. 

Mike Harris Jr. Jr.'s comments are published in great detail in this week's Woolwich Observer newspaper. The residents and citizens knowledge has been passed on to the public both in today's K-W Record by Terry Pender and in previous days and is straightforward and clear. Some of Mr. Harris Jr. Jr.'s asinine comments include "These infrastructure challenges are not a reason for critical infrastructure builds or housing projects to stall,". He also suggested that "  We expect the Region to continue to provide clear updates on how additional capacity will be delivered and timelines for when it is brought online." Clearly Mr. Harris Jr. Jr. isn't worried about how much water is left in our aquifers. Maybe he will reassure us by stating that God is a Progressive Conservative who would never let our aquifers run dry.

Two longtime local residents of Wilmot Township have spoken of their personal experiences with the falling water table for decades. This has included sinking multiple new wells and going deeper for the water that they need. The Waterloo Moraine is an incredible resource and it certainly appears that it has been abused and taken for granted by our authorities. 

There are two options. Firstly serious investigation into the groundwater levels throughout the Waterloo Moraine. Maybe the data is already available. Secondly if the water levels are better than expected and that we've been led to believe, then  I would question what was the motive for this scare, this alleged crisis.  Are our provincial and regional authorities so corrupt that they would attempt to manufacture a crisis in order to promote a multi billion dollar pipeline from Lake Erie to here? Somebodies will make millions of dollars profits on any such pipeline that we the taxpayers will pay for. 

So if there is a legitimate water supply crisis than our regional councillors (and some staff ?) need to get the boot and quickly for incompetence and negligence. If the crisis is a fake then some of the above along with provincial politicians need some long term rest and relaxation in a provincial institution (i.e. jail).