IS GHD's LATEST REMEDIATION REPORT, SCIENCE OR JUST THE USUAL WISHFUL THINKING, PSUEDO SCIENCE?

 

First of all is it fair to call a compulsive, pathological thief by any such name each and every time they walk into a store? Is it fair to call CRA/GHD intellectual prostitutes each and every time they write an alleged scientific report. I described here a little bit about their latest (Sept. 3, 2026) effort titled "Bench Scale Study for Biodegradation of Chlorobenzene and NDMA" yesterday.  

I have confirmed with a past APTE coordinator that we had all been told decades ago by Uniroyal Chemical and their consultants that chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene, chloroform, chlorobenzene etc. do not easily degrade or break down on their own in soils. It turns out however that chlorobenzene is the exception to that rule. Now according to this latest report by GHD, chlorobenzene actually degrades very well on its' own in shallower, aerated soils and less so in deeper anaerobic soils as per pages 7 & 8. The Figures section, particularly Figures 1 and 5 also confirms this. This of course speaks very badly of Uniroyal and CRA because the inaccurate information was used to deny chlorobenzene's presence on the Varnicolor Chemical site when zero chlorobenzene was found in Varnicolor's shallow aquifer also known as the Surficial Aquifer (SA).  

Other problems exist including the premature thawing of frozen groundwater samples meant to be used in the Bench Scale Biodegradation Study. While I appreciate the admission of this unfortunate incident that occurred at U.S. customs I am less comfortable with GHD proceeding with their experiments using compromised groundwater samples rather than starting over. Another problem might be GHD's repeatedly advising that their Biodegradation Rates may very well be biased on the high side due to possible volatilization of compounds from the groundwater samples. I wonder if this so called volatilization didn't occur and they spiked the samples according to page 3 with 150 ppb. chlorobenzene and 2.4 ppb. NDMA, if their Biodegradation rates might actually be biased on the high side. Either way again I find their protocols surprising and disturbing. It seems to be a vey peculiar way to be conducting scientific experiments. It's almost seems to be a "seat of the pants" scientific protocol. Something goes wrong so instead of really fixing it or starting over they just make a change and continue on.

Assuming for the moment that their experiments have some validity what I conclude is that dissolved chlorobenzene degrades in both aerobic (oxygen) and anaerobic (low oxygen) environments. NDMA on the other hand seems much less capable of degrading via human intervention such as amendments and nutrients both in shallow and deeper soils. Of course as mentioned yesterday chlorobenzene has other characteristics and the issue is not what the dissolved chlorobenzene will do as much as what the Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) chlorobenzene will do. The "Non Aqueous Phase" part of that acronym makes it clear that DNAPLS are NOT dissolved in water chlorobenzene but thicker, heavier pools or puddles probably residing in depressions of lesser permeable soils such as silts and clays. Likely some of these have dissolved over the last thirty years but any claims by Lanxess and fellow travellors that they are fully dissolved is nonsense, wishful thinking and maybe even intellectual prostitution. 

  

BEYOND SHAMELESS - CHLOROBENZENE DEGRADES RAPIDLY IN SHALLOW SOILS (AEROBIC CONDITIONS)

 

It allegedly took GHD a year from sampling groundwater to releasing their modest 34 page report titled "Bench Scale Study for Biodegradation of Chlorobenzene and NDMA". Actually from when the project was first proposed to TRAC (Sept. 2024) it took two years although of course our beloved and  besmirched MECP had to take a look at it first. What shocked me the most was the somewhat belated 37 YEARS that it took GHD or the MECP to advise citizens that chlorobenzene degrades so rapidly in shallow soils and at ground surface. I knew that it would volatolize (evaporate sort of) in the air as so many solvents do but it was only a week ago that I understood why chlorobenzene had allegedly never been found on the Varnicolor Chemical site in their Surficial Aquifer (SA) wells. It was not as I've long suspected that the Ontario Ministry of Environment actually fudged the results either by switching samples or by ordering their labs to improperly mark the results as Non Detect. It was due to the very rapid degradation of chlorobenzene by shallow soil bacteria in a well oxygenated (aerated) environment. This by the way is unusual and we were long told by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/CRA that chlorinated solvents do not degrade well by soil bacteria due to the tight chlorine bond combined with chlorine being a known bactericide (antiseptic if you will)   Now as we all know here in Elmira chlorobenzene has persisted for a very long time in our deeper aquifers and continues to do so well in excess of the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS).

 There likely is something else going on however as this study also claims on page 8 that chlorobenzene degrades under anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions. Indeed their Figures section seems to confirm that. If chlorobenzene degrades naturally on its own then why has nearly thirty years of pumping and treating not done the job? The answer is simple and this Susan Bryant is for you. It's called DNAPLS as I and Rich Clausi told  Sylvia Berg and the APTE co-ordinators in January 1994. Esther Thur, one of the three founders of APTE (Sandra Bray, Susan RUPERT, Esther Thur), knew the truth when she heard it but the others unfortunately relied on Sylvia. Chlorobenzene DNAPLS both on and off the former Uniroyal Chemical site are doing what DNAPLS do which is slowly dissolve into groundwater at greater than the ODWS and will continue to do so likely for decades and maybe much longer. 

This past Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 31 & Sept. 1/26)  I informed this Blog's readers plus about sixty other authorities (MECP, TRAC, Lanxess, Woolwich Twn., RMOW etc.)  and citizens that chlorobenzene   rapidly degraded in shallow soils. Lo and behold TWO DAYS LATER (last evening) I get the e-mail report from GHD explaining attempts to enhance degradation of NDMA and chlorobenzene combined with the data all citizens should have had decades ago about chlorobenzenes rapid natural degradation. Coincidence? If so an absolutely amazing one.  

WHAT ARE THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT'S COVERUP OF VARNICOLOR'S ENVIRONMENTAL CULPABILITY?

 

A small business entity likely was given inaccurate information prior to purchasing the former Varnicolor Chemical site and embarking on an alleged ten year pump & treat cleanup. The public were misled into believing that the sole guilty party to the loss of our drinking water aquifers was Uniroyal Chemical and that they could fully remediate it within thirty years. This misconception was only exacerbated by the M.O.E.'s knowingly allowing Uniroyal to pretend that there were no accessible DNAPLS on their site that could and should have been removed, encapsulated or somehow properly remediated. This misconception was magnified by the discovery of off-site DNAPLS both at Nutrite/Yara and beside the Howard St. (Elmira) Water Tower that the M.O.E. further denied  and failed to ensure were again properly remediated. These DNAPL failures combined with other remediation failures ensured that full remediation of the Elmira drinking water aquifers by 2028, as mandated, wasn't happening.  

A deeper, likely low volume pump & treat system could also have been installed in the Municipal Aquifer beneath Varnicolor Chemical. Furthermore efforts to specifically remove the DNAPL that likely was situated either on top of the Surficial Aquitard (SAT) or on top of the Upper Aquitard (UAT) would have greatly reduced remediation time for both the Varnicolor site as well as the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Similar efforts could and should have been done on the Nutrite/Yara property to remove its' DNAPL for similar purposes. The known DNAPL at the Howard St. Water Tower was much deeper (OW57-32R) and may have required more extensive and expensive remediation. Allegedly the pumping at W4 beside it for a period of years greatly reduced it in size although that is unproven to date. 

Other ramifications concern Varnicolor's second site at the extreme east end of Oriole Parkway. The "cleanup" there was a sham and with the extent of intentional dumping there as well, DNAPLS and LNAPLS may have been an issue. PCBs were found and excavated from a drum although most of the cleanup was a superficial effort at removing surface tanks, tankers and drums. Once again both human health and the environment continue to be impacted by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) perversion of their mandate.       

PUBLIC LYING BY ALL PARTIES IN ELMIRA & THE LONG OVERDUE HOUSECLEANING AT THE SCHOOL BOARD (WRDSB)

 

So let's get real here. Thirty-seven years have passed since the south wellfield in Elmira, Ontario was suddenly shut down allegedly due to NDMA contamination. There were already solvents in the groundwater at those two wells (E7, E9) at low concentrations, courtesy of both Uniroyal and Varnicolor, as per the M.O.E.'s 1989 Elmira drinking water report. Since that time a total of three companies have been proven to be environmental pigs namely Nutrite/Yara (ammonia), Uniroyal Chemical (NDMA, chlorobenzene & hundreds of others plus DDT, dioxins) and Varnicolor Chemical (NDMA, chlorobenzene, & dozens to hundreds of other solvents plus PCBs). Leaking gas stations have been culprits and possibly other larger companies may have also contributed (McKee, Sanyo, Borg etc.) but only Uniroyal and Varnicolor have actually been proven, dirty polluters of the really worst sort. 

So let me say this to Uniroyal Chemical (Lanxess), Ont. Min. of Environment (MECP) and Woolwich Township in particular. You are a pack of  lying, cowardly, bullying pieces of sh*t who have knowingly and intentionally covered up the extent of contamination and human and environmental damage caused by Varnicolor Chemical (& Uniroyal Chemical) for your own self-serving reasons. You disgust me.

Patience is key. The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) finally have been publicly exposed for what they are. It is also my hope that certain public figures who made their reputations as members of that disgusting organization might just have citizens reexamining their support for them. I will list but two names for the moment and that would be Liz Witmer and our very own, thank God hopefully soon to be gone, Sandy Shantz. Is it coincidental that both were attractive women who had been appointed as Chair of the School Board (i.e. trustees) ? I think not. We citizens (both genders) are suckers for an attractive face and the politically motivated among us know that.

Caroline Burjowski has been a one woman wrecking crew. She through her tenacity and conviction took no crap from a bunch of ego maniacs looking for a cause to promote themselves. Furthermore long time trustees Mike Ramsay and Cindy Watson were in it for the long haul. Both have upbraided and criticized gross behaviour by their colleagues over the last few decades. They have stood out as beacons of determination against all odds. 

Last Monday's K-W Record published the following article written by Jeff Outhit and titled "Exodus at the school board".  It critiques the actions of the Board including their lack of transparency and perhaps even honesty in some matters. The Record also covered the court appearances and battles regarding Caroline Burjowski and the WRDSB bullying and intimidation attempts. The School Board really stepped into it big time and made a huge mistake thinking that Ms. Burjowski could be battered and broken through "lawfare" which is one of the ways the Board attacks and intimidates parents and other critics. The WRDSB believe that using the public's money against them in long running and grossly expensive court cases is the key to their winning every dispute. They are filth and Ms. Burjowski, I will admit with assistance from the K-W Record kicked their butts both in the media and in court and it was long overdue! It is my hope that not just the majority of idiot and biased trustees but also the slime at the top of the Board all rot in hell. This also applies to the scum at the top decades ago who protected and covered up both bad teachers and pedophiles like Ron Archer and others.  

    

CHLOROBENZENE FROM VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL WENT INTO ELMIRA"S DRINKING WATER AQUIFERS

 

It now appears less likely that the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) fudged lab results on the Varnicolor site in order to hide chlorobenzene, an extremely common solvent and paint component which absolutely would have been ubiquitous in that company's incoming liquid toxic wastes. Varnicolor were in both the solvent recovery and the toxic waste storage and reduction business. Of course they did more storage illegally than they did actual reduction. 

Other factors for its' presence include the incredible steps the MECP went to in order to hide Varnicolor's environmental disaster and mass toxic dumping on their site. They promised more and deeper monitoring wells on the site and included that requirement in their initial Control Order. They then later reneged on that requirement by removing it from the Control Order. They absolutely refused to accept witness statements regarding a buried road tanker and a buried septic tank in Varnicolor's backyard which were part of an elaborate mass toxic liquid dumping process. Once they were pressured by the public and the media they excavated the road tanker but claimed not to see the septic tank literally a few metres away from it. Myself and Richard Clausi were shown the colour photographs of the excavation and immediately accused the two Ministry employees (Papenhuzen & Robinson) of a coverup as the one employee was actually standing on top of the recently broken up subsurface septic tank and broken concrete and rebar were visible. Sure enough the septic tank was excavated a couple of weeks later and both it and the road tanker's contents and internal stains were tested and found to contain numerous different solvents and other liquid wastes. Finally we were promised that the road tanker would be preserved and carefully examined for intentional holes and leaks that would allow rapid dispersion of liquid contents that flowed into it from the floor drain inside the nearest (orange) building. Instead within a few days the road tanker was reduced to pieces via cutting torches. Also the piping from the floor drain through the building and into the road tanker and septic tank was also seen, found and photographed. 

The coverup of the extent and breadth of Varnicolor's pollution did not end there. Years later soil was excavated and removed from their west side neighbour (Motiveair) and Varnicolor's shallow pump and treat system was expanded to include contaminated groundwater that had flowed from their site over to the Motiveair property.  Again not only zero public notice but also zero notice to myself, the EH Team, APTE (Hmm?), CPAC or any other appropriate stakeholders.

Then we have the nonsense of the June 19, 2025 TRAC meeting where Jesse Wright of Arcadis Inc. showed a blurry picture of allegedly four or five businesses near the corner of First St. and Union St. who had handled chlorobenzene as well as possibly other chlorinated solvents. No company names given and no explanation as to why now in 2024 this information was being made public. Frankly it was all for show.  For many years as the pump & treat system and wells have slowly done their thing the remaining chlorobenzene plumes above 80 ppb. (drinking standard) have been reduced and moved back towards their source. You got it. Right there in both the Municipal Upper and Municipal Lower Aquifers below Varnicolor Chemical and below Union and First St. area is the highest remaining concentrations of chlorobenzene. I kind of suspect that even the slowest members of TRAC were beginning to feel uneasy about that and privately asked questions. Having Mr. Wright make his public announcement was enough to satisfy the poorly informed TRAC members and possibly they hoped to deflect myself as I'd been on the hunt for the truth literally for decades. 

The Ministry of Environment have consistently refused to make information or documents regarding Varnicolor Chemical available to me. This includes the Risk Assessment done in 2016 for Elmira Pump (i.e. the former Varnicolor). They have also refused me simple data such as new monitoring wells whether shallow or deep and their location on the former Varnicolor site.  With MECP agreement I and other CPAC members were bounced from the public advisory committee by Chemtura and Woolwich Township in September 2015. Since then the public including myself and other involved stakeholders have been refused the right to either ask questions at public TAG (now TRAC) meetings or even to make verbal presentations. Clearly Chemtura (now Lanxess) and the MECP have been doing their best to isolate and minimize the by far best informed and knowledgeable local citizen, myself. 

The Ontario Ministry of Environment with support from other local political bodies have been unaccountable and non transparent for decades. They have been caught lying and deceiving over and over again and clearly do not want local citizens knowing the truth of all the sources of contamination  to the Elmira aquifers. 

LESS CORRUPT (?) BUT A LOT MORE DECEITFUL - VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL CONTRIBUTED BOTH NDMA & CHLOROBENZENE TO OUR DRINKING WATER AQUIFERS

 

ONLY BY MASS POLITICAL AGREEMENT & COLLUSION WAS IT POSSIBLE

This of course entailed lying to citizens, residents, voters, men, women and children for the last thirty-seven years. It required gross contempt by every single municipal and regional councillor in the know as well as by provincial Ministry of Environment officials and likely provincial politicians. Is it even possible that our federal government kept a hands off attitude towards the Elmira Water Crisis all these decades because they didn't want to get their hands dirty? Hmm that seems unlikely doesn't it?

The coverup of Varnicolor Chemical's environmental disaster started early with local Min. of Environment (M.O.E.) officials lying to local media and citizens and even going so far as to claim regular passed inspections by the company. This was despite by that time four years of hydrogeological reports (Canviro Inc.) showing significant groundwater contamination with numerous solvents. Further lying and coverups regarding Varnicolor have never really stopped as a sweetheart deal between the M.O.E. and Uniroyal Chemical required Uniroyal to accept full responsibility for all NDMA and chlorobenzene in the Municipal drinking water aquifers in exchange for a very quiet free pass saving them potentially millions of dollars in removing or encapsulating the known free phase DNAPLS on their site which included numerous chlorinated solvents along with chlorobenzene. While denied at the time DNAPLS have also been found off-site in the Elmira Aquifers which source may also be shared between the two companies (Uniroyal/Varnicolor) or not. What the Ontario M.O.E. received out of this deal was less humiliation and loss of face and credibility as despite the severity of the water crisis the M.O.E. might not have survived if it had become public knowledge that there were actually multiple gross polluters operating in Elmira under their noses (i.e. Nutrite/Yara, Uniroyal , Varnicolor). 

The coverup has never ended as evidenced by the September 12, 2024 TRAC meeting in which Allan Deal of GHD Inc. on behalf of Lanxess Canada presented a report titled "Chlorobenzene Source Evaluation". He claimed that despite a report written a few years earlier by Dr. Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo) that advised that two or three thousand kilograms of "excess" chlorobenzene had somehow entered into the groundwater regime above and beyond Uniroyal Chemical's contribution, that in fact there was no second source. Furthermore isotopic analysis done later also concluded that in most likelihood the chlorobenzene in our drinking aquifers came from different sources. Well!

Not to be deterred Mr. Deal entered his own "evidence". It consisted of analytical data showing chlorobenzene concentration results in a few different wells nearby to Varnicolor Chemical. Out of five different wells presented, three of them had nothing but Non Detects and two had these low concentrations in their Upper Aquifer. Wells CH-43 B/C both were Non Detect as was CH 68-C/D. Then CH-69 C/D had 1.42 and .67 presumably parts per billion. Well OW56-16 presented with .72  (ppb.) and finally a well on Varnicolor Chemical which allegedly is screened in the Upper Aquifer namely MW45 had a Non Detect reading for chlorobenzene.       

This is all very strange for various reasons. First of all while chlorobenzene and all contaminants in the deeper Municipal Aquifers travel horizontally for a considerable distance the same is not true for shallow groundwater especially when its' discharge point is a very nearby Creek. The norm is for little to no shallow soils or aquifers to indicate contamination away from the source. Normally pollution starts at the surface and descends downwards into the deeper soils and aquifers. From there usually the further away from the source the lower the concentration of contaminants in the deeper aquifers. At nearby surface without a source directly above we expect nothing. Hence the whole premise of looking at Upper Aquifer results off the Varnicolor (& Uniroyal ) sites is more than a little weird.

The next problem is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who have indicated that chlorobenzene usually has a very fast degradation time in air, surface waters and shallow soils that are well aerated. Deeper soils and aquifers are a different matter with sometimes incredibly long degradation times depending upon anaerobic conditions. Of course chlorobenzene in DNAPL form can be centuries and longer breaking down on its' own. What this means is that this particular compound can not be easily found via shallow soils or surficial aquifer sampling because unless there is an ongoing fresh source, the old discharges are likely long degraded.

So yours truly has been doing some digging this past weekend as well as this morning. Guess what? Nary a shallow soils or surficial aquifer or even much available in the deeper Upper Aquifer that exists in some locations below Varnicolor's Surficial Aquifer and Surficial Aquitard (and Uniroyal's on the east side). Yes of course the deeper yet aquifers and aquitards have lots of chlorobenzene but not the well aerated much shallower soils and aquifers. This explains why all the very shallow wells (Surficial Aquifer) on the Varnicolor site had Non Detect results for chlorobenzene way back in 1990. Yes one well did have a ridiculous Method Detection Limit of 100 ppb. which may have hidden some chlorobenzene detection at Varnicolor but we'll never know. I had actually begun to think that the M.O.E. had grossly fudged/corrupted the lab results back then. This explains why in the title above I wrote "LESS CORRUPT (?)".  

Mr. Deal, MECP and local politicians are all full of it. Always have been, always will be. Re-elect as many of these politicians this October at your peril. 

 

ARE THERE ANY LIES THE REGION AND THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT WON'T TELL? IF PUBLIC POISONING IS O.K. THEN WHAT ISN'T?

 

"OUNCES PER GALLON" - JIM GERMANN (Elmira Pump)

"THEY ALL LIE" - PAT POTTER (Environmentalist)

Revelations since 2000 include PCBs discovered in a buried drum on Varnicolor Chemical's infamous Lot 91 site in the floodplain of the Canagagigue Creek. Prior to 2000 PCBs were found by the M.O.E. in tanks in one of their tank farms at their 62 Union St. site. By 2004-2008 Nutrite (Yara) were firmly on the hook for Ammonia contamination within the Elmira Municipal aquifers. In 2016 a Risk Assessment presented at a public meeting in Woolwich Council Chambers for the former Varnicolor site on Union St. (now Elmira Pump) revealed six chlorinated solvents had been found beneath the site in the Municipal Aquifer. Allegedly none of them were Uniroyal chemicals which may have been a little disingenuous. In 2024 a consultant (Jesse Wright)  Arcadis Inc. announced at a TRAC meeting that six chlorinated solvents found in Elmira's Municipal Aquifers came from Varnicolor Chemical. Allegedly chlorobenzene was not one of them. Also very oddly Mr. Wright announced and showed on a map that four or five nearby industrial sources of chlorobenzene had been determined. Very odd considering that this was incredible news that should have been announced approximately thirty or thirty-five years earlier when authorities allegedly were searching for the sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene contamination to the Elmira aquifers. These nearby sources were very close to the intersection of First St. and Union St. also oddly very close to Varnicolor Chemical bounded by First St., Union St. and Howard Ave. The last revelation is that DNAPLS (chlorobenzene) were admitted to have been present by the Elmira Water Tower on Howard Ave. in the TRAC Minutes of  September 12, 2024. This is beside former pumping well W4 and monitoring well OW57-32R. 

The 2016 and 2024 revelations combined with reviews of other documents mentioned here in yesterday's Blog posting led me to yesterday's determination that NDMA being formed beneath Varnicolor Chemical at 62 Union St. in the 1980s at the least contributed to the NDMA poisoning of the Elmira population. 

At least one more revelation is likely long overdue. How is it that a solvent recycler of thirty years  experience on that site allegedly never handled/mishandled chlorobenzene like every other common paint and finishing solvents they dumped, spilled and leaked? If many of the lies and truth distortions of the past 37 years have been exposed then is their contribution to the chlorobenzene contamination next? If so then the Ontario Ministry of Environment faked the hydrogeological reports showing chlorobenzene as Non Detect on this site. That is corruption they can not survive.

 Jim Germann's quote above was stated at the public meeting in Woolwich Council chambers in 2016.

Pat Potter's quote was on T-shirts she wore to public environmental meetings.

OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF NDMA CONTRIBUTION TO THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS BY VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL

 AS PREVIOUSLY STATED MECP & UNIROYAL ILLEGALLY COVERED UP VARNICOLOR'S CULPABILITY IN ORDER FOR MECP TO SAVE FACE & CREDIBILITY, WITH UNIROYAL GIVEN CLEANUP CONCESSIONS SAVING THEM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

The evidence is overwhelming and includes witnesses and affidavits of an on-site can coating process in which the liquid wastes including dimethylamine were dumped down the drain into the illegal backyard disposal system. NDMA analytical results for both Varnicolor groundwater and soils, proven chlorinated solvents having penetrated into the Municipal Aquifer, both free phase DNAPLS and LNAPLS on the Varnicolor site indicating that the volumes being discharged were far greater than the groundwater could dissolve and finally the fact that Uniroyal and successors have admitted failure to successfully remediate our drinking water aquifers by the mandated 2028 deadline. This is due partially to the excess chlorobenzene and NDMA discharged illegally into the Elmira aquifers by multiple polluters including Uniroyal, Varnicolor Chemical and maybe more.

The witnesses and affidavits include a former Varnicolor and Uniroyal employee who operated the can coating process as well as myself. The former Varnicolor and Uniroyal employee's Affidavit is in the Environmental Appeal Board's Brief of Documents Volume 9.  NDMA analytical results include Golder Associates Hydrogeological Assessment of Varnicolor Chemical as well as the Addendum to that. One on site shallow well has a result 48 times greater than the drinking water standard with others lower but still greater than drinking water standards. On site soils had results also considerably higher than the groundwater concentrations. A Supplementary Brief Of Documents by the Environmental Appeal Board (Jan. -June 1990) also has a result of NDMA  in a tank farm sump at 14 parts per billion. Keep in mind that the drinking water standard for NDMA is .009 parts per billion. The proven half dozen chlorinated solvents from Varnicolor that penetrated into the Elmira Municipal aquifer included trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride, two highly toxic compounds. The first proof of this occurred in May 2016 in Woolwich Council chambers during a public Risk Assessment of the former Varnicolor Chemical. The media did pick this up briefly plus two years ago a consultant for Lanxess publicly confirmed at a TRAC meeting that six chlorinated solvents from Varnicolor had gotten into the Elmira Municipal Aquifer. DNAPLS and LNAPLS at Varnicolor were confirmed by Golder Associates as well as LNAPLS by the owner of Elmira Pump, Jim Germann at the public meeting.    

It is public knowledge that the cleanup has failed to deliver as promised or on time. What is not public knowledge is that the Ontario government were clients of Varnicolor Chemical and it wasn't recycled solvents that they were buying. They were buying disposal of toxic liquid wastes from various Ontario Ministries including the Ministry of Transport. Some of these wastes included plastic pails of trichloroethane. They also were disposing of lab wastes with Varnicolor. Some might find a bit of a conflict of interest here in that Ministry of Environment inspectors were beyond lenient with so many infractions, shortcuts and obvious illegalities on both Varnicolor properties in Elmira. Other strange behaviour by the Ontario Ministry of Environment includes their refusal to provide requested cleanup documentation including the 2016 Risk Assessment to myself, the person who blew the whistle on Varnicolor and lost my job over it. They also have refused to acknowledge further off-site cleanups precipitated by Varnicolor's pollution to the immediate west of Varnicolor; perhaps all in the spirit of  collusion with Uniroyal and successors, to the detriment of the public interest.   

REGION OF WATERLOO & MEDIA CONTINUE TO GILD THE LILY REGARDING BOTH QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF OUR GROUNDWATER

 

There is a most unusual technical, hydrogeological report on-line that I read many, many years ago. Like many others, rereading it years later is very helpful especially if one has been constantly elevating one's   background knowledge and staying up to date with current events. Now I am somewhat reluctant and concerned to be the bearer of bad news particularly because I know that our idiot politicians are highly likely to do what they do best, which is to misuse and abuse information for their own self-serving purposes.  This report is titled "Groundwater Contamination In The Kitchener-Waterloo Area, Ontario". It was written in 1995 by a group of hydrogeologists from the University of Waterloo and possibly elsewhere. Many of these are well known, world class hydrogeologists including names such as Sanderson, Karrow, Greenhouse, Paloschi, Schneider, Mulamoottil, Mason, McBean, Fitzpatrick, Mitchell, Shrubsole & Child. Dr. John Cherry is also referenced in this report.

Recently I have published here various known contaminants in various Waterloo Region wellfields. This report expands significantly on my Blog postings of last month (July 2026) describing various wellfields and the various toxic contaminants in their groundwater. This report focuses on four older wellfields namely one in Waterloo (William St. Wellfield) and three in Kitchener (Greenbrook, Strange St. and Parkway). It also advises that at the time of this 1995 report there were twenty-three different wells involved over the four wellfields with four in the William St. Wellfield, seven in the Greenbrook Wellfield, seven also in the Strange St. Wellfield and finally five in the Parkway Wellfield. Currently not only are there different numbers of wells versus in 1995 but appropriately old wells that have been shut down since 1995 have had their names removed and new wells have of course new names.   

This report indicates that BTEX compounds normally from gasoline have been detected in all four of these wellfields. The BTEX compounds are benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene. Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) has also been found in all four wellfields.  PCE or Perc(hlorethylene) has often been used by dry cleaners in decades past. Very worrisome are aluminum, cadmium, chromium and lead all found in the Parkway wells. Two items of interest: these metals are often associated with tanneries producing leather of which two local names come to my mind i.e. Breithaupt and Lang. Gee you don't think that our regional politicians have been keen to avoid embarrassing prominent local, industrial families do you? The second item of interest is the plan to allegedly rehabilitate the Parkway wells. Oddly we have mercury in the Greenbrook Wellfield. That compound could be from a tannery or even possibly naturally occurring nearby. 

The last one is a humdinger. Total PCBs have been detected in the William St. and the Strange St. Wellfields. My God!  PCBs or Polychlorinated Biphenyls are a first cousin to dioxins and in some cases are even referred to as "dioxin like". My guess is that the former Uniroyal Tire plant on Strange St. may be a culprit based upon their plethora of toxic compounds found in the air in and around the plant decades ago. 

Now I have a teaser for you. Is it possible that there is strong analytical evidence that Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira not only contributed six chlorinated solvents to the Elmira drinking water aquifers as stated here yesterday, but also NDMA? Stay tuned for tomorrow's Blog posting.

   

TRAC & WOOLWICH TWN. GIVE YOUR HEADS A SHAKE! ENVIRONMENTAL COVERUPS & PHONY CLEANUPS ARE THE NORM, NOT THE EXCEPTION

 

I'm also going to add that government communications with the public are also usually disingenuous and misleading if not outright dishonest. Those communications have gotten so shoddy in both quantity and accuracy that it's now to the point that government's hiding secrets will look citizens in the eye and tell them "Sorry we can't clarify this or explain why because we have been forced at gunpoint/torture or worse to sign NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreements)". The "or worse" for politicians simply means that they are afraid that they might get kicked out of office at the next election if they honestly tell why they have taken an action such as say spending $55 million dollars assembling and removing from production 600 acres of prime farmland in Wilmot Township. 

One of the biggest political lies is that there are no negative health effects from environmental spills and accidents. With one hand behind their backs and two fingers crossed they can honestly (in their wee minds) state this because knowing that all of us are mortal anyways they can justify the lie by telling themselves that those folks were on their way out regardless and if not from mercury, nitrates, TCE, NDMA,  vinyl chloride, smoking or drinking they are going to die anyways either from time or something else. Examples abound including the train derailment in East Palestine U.S.A. two or three years ago, Grassy Narrows mercury poisoning for the first decade after it went public, Agent Orange damages in Viet Nam and to American servicemen, trichloroethylene (TCE) via vapour intrusion in the Bishop St. community in Cambridge causing cancers and death, and many premature deaths in Elmira, Ontario both from Varnicolor Chemical and Uniroyal Chemical including a foreman at Varnicolor already diagnosed from solvent poisoning prior to the shutdown at Varnicolor and then his subsequent employment at Uniroyal. 

The vast majority of cleanups promised are the Cadillac cleanups whereas the reality is simply Volkswagon Beetle cleanups. This most certainly includes the Varnicolor Chemical "cleanup" back in the mid 1990s which was supposed to then require ten years of shallow pump & treat (hydraulic containment) however by 2016 the pumping was still going strong and only in 2024 were we finally told that yes indeed Varnicolor Chemical had contributed half a dozen toxic chlorinated solvents to our deeper municipal drinking aquifers after thirty-five years of government lying (M.O.E.) and coverup. In fact M.O.E. lawyer Stanley Berger back in 1991 at the public Environmental Appeal Board  hearings in Elmira actually stated that Varnicolor's pollution compared to Uniroyal was like a water pistol in a thunderstorm. The same dishonesty has been going on with the Uniroyal "cleanup" from day one with all government tiers claiming success by the mandated 2028 cleanup for twenty-five years (1993-2018) and only admitting failure AFTER the 2011-2015 Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) publicly advised Woolwich Council and the M.O.E. that it absolutely wasn't going to happen on time or even close. Now even the most blatant truth challenged parties agree, and the excuses with help from a few misguided citizens, are in high gear.       

HOW MANY MORE UNKNOWN LIES & DECEPTIONS ARE THERE CONCERNING THE UNIROYAL/LANXESS SITE?

 

How can one look at a map of the Uniroyal Chemical property (plus pits & ponds) and not be appalled? It is absolutely shocking how much of the site was taken up with toxic waste disposal. There were approximately twelve different pits and ponds of various sizes on the west side of the Canagagigue Creek and another twelve to fourteen on the east side of the Creek. The west side waste pits/ponds included RPW-1, RPW-2, P1, P2, RPW-3, RPW-4, RPW-5, RPW-6, RPW-7, RPW-8, M2, TPW-1, TPW-2. The east side had  IR-1, IR-2, RPE-1, RPE-2, RPE-3, RPE-4, RPE-5, TPE-1, TPE-2, BAE-1, RB-1, RB-2 and allegedly GP-1 & GP-2. At least these are the ones that I know of and that have documentation as to their size, location and contents. 

Uniroyal's intent was obvious with Pits and Ponds on both sides of the Creek through their property. None of these pits were covered from the elements so especially during rainstorms any pits that weren't already full and overflowing from the known 165,000 gallons of liquid wastes per day transported just to the east side alone, quickly would be. Surface drainage from the site ran into the Canagagigue Creek. This was not an accident. The Creek's water quality plummeted and many species in and around the Creek disappeared.  Where was the Ontario Ministry of Environment? How about the Ministry of Natural Resources? Maybe just like at Varnicolor Chemical down the road (Union St.) they were sitting in the office enjoying a licensed refreshment. 

What may have been an accident was the gross contamination of the multiple aquifers beneath the Uniroyal site.  Afterall the company knew that the shallow aquifer (UA) discharged directly into the Canagagigue Creek so likely they hoped/expected that the bulk of their liquid wastes simply would flow into the Creek just as the surface flows did. Also it is possible that the environmental savages did not know about the "windows" allowing direct flow into deeper aquifers that were between the UA (Upper Aquifer) and the Municipal Aquifer (MU) .  Or maybe they did and they just didn't care.

The Region of Waterloo didn't start using the Grand River for drinking water until the 1990s. I thought that that was pretty dumb at the time and still do. This most likely was because they had been told that on-site direct discharge to the Canagagigue Creek had ended around 1970. What a shocker later on after Cryptosporidium deaths made it clear that local farmers were still grazing their cattle in both the Grand River as well as its' tributaries such as the "Gig", the Conestogo and others. Then of course there were little problems such as multiple landfills without leachate controls, both legal and otherwise, along the Canagagigue that had accepted Uniroyal and Varnicolor Chemical wastes. 

We now know that there were multiple other potential industrial sources of chlorobenzene in Elmira located close to the corner of First and Union St.. I expect that we will eventually learn that the same occurred with NDMA but it's more politic not to reveal that for a little while longer. This is embarrassing information to the former M.O.E. (now MECP) who cut a sweetheart deal with Uniroyal Chemical. That deal had Uniroyal (falsely) admit to be the sole source of NDMA, chlorobenzene and ammonia in exchange for not having to properly clean up DNAPLS both on and off their site as well as for not ratting out the M.O.E.'s cooperation/incompetence in stopping their grotesque pollution sooner. One other recent admission from Lanxess Canada and consultants was that Varnicolor Chemical contributed half a dozen chlorinated solvents to Elmira's Municipal Aquifers albeit allegedly not chlorobenzene. Do you think this decades late admission is related to the Ontario Ministry of Environment's reneging on a public promise made to APTE, the Varnicolor Liason Committee (Rich Clausi, Ted Oldfield & myself) to fully examine Varnicolor horizontally and vertically back in the mid 1990s? They did neither as the still non public cleanup done at Motiveair Inc. behind Varnicolor would indicate along with the belated deep Municpal Upper Aquifer contamination admission.

Corruption stinks and the stench from the MECP is still overpowering! 

HYPOTHETICALLY OR NOT IS THIS WHAT OCCURRED BETWEEN THE ONT. M.O.E., UNIROYAL CHEMICAL, WATERLOO REGION & WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP FROM 1989-1991 ?

 

Everyone was hissy with everyone else at least in private. Blame was cast back and forth between Uniroyal and the Min. of Environment and the other two political tiers piled on. Then Uniroyal and the Ontario M.O.E. basically told the Region and Township to bugger off. And they did. No running to the courts. No running to the media to badmouth Uniroyal or the M.O.E.. The biggest bullies are also usually the biggest cowards and neither the Region nor the Township wanted to be on the bad side of the province and their variety of infrastructure grants and more. Even the realization of poisoned tap water in Elmira was more acceptable than losing out on millions of dollars of infrastructure grants (roads, sewers, water pipes, bridges, etc.) which eventually would have cost both regional and municipal councillors their jobs as councillors.

So once the polluter and their regulator had flexed their muscles and told the Region and Township to take a hike and they had; the die was cast. Two years later the M.O.E. and Uniroyal announced a bilateral agreement between themselves that totally bypassed the Township, the Region and local citizens who had organized and gotten  party status at the Environmental Appeal Board. The October agreement ended up as a November 1991 Control Order laid on Uniroyal Chemical.  The other parties both political and citizens were left in the dust. Now with admirable cowardice and a wish to ingratiate, the two political groups complained only mildly and begged to be let back in to the fold and Uniroyal file. The citizens group leadership knew where they wanted to go and how to do it. They too made commitments that got them invited to the pending January 1992 initial UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meeting. 

Woolwich Township offered to organize regular public meetings (i.e. UPAC). They offered to present a united front to the public. A united front that the Ontario M.O.E., in negotiations with Uniroyal Chemical, was happy with. Similarly Waterloo Region also wanted to be part of the initial UPAC public meetings. Their support for the M.O.E.'s and Uniroyal's direction might be less enthusiastic than the Township's as they pressed for a somewhat better cleanup. Both the Township and the Region also received money from Uniroyal Chemical towards their increased environmental and legal costs incurred during the first two to three years of the water crisis. 

It was business as usual especially with local citizens getting scr*wed the most, including by their own.    

MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL - JUST ASK CONESTOGA ROVERS & ASSOC.

 

As soon as I saw the phrase Conestoga Lands Inc. in reference to the proposed zoning change and breach of the country side line on Bridge St. in Waterloo, Ontario I smelled something rotten in the air. Was it possible that a (in my opinion) rotten company, long ago merged with a bigger maybe less rotten firm, could still be spreading their anti social, anti environmental actions upon unsuspecting citizens? Well now that is a tricky question. I did a little bit of research trying to find out if the developers behind this proposed industrial site located beside Martin Grove Village in north Waterloo were indeed the former Conestoga Rovers & Associates (CRA) who made their initial claim to fame with the Love Canal disaster in the United States.

Well things get a little murky here. First of all CRA merged with GHD an Australian engineering firm around 2015 or so and carried on in name as GHD. CRA employees and shareholders were given shares in GHD and many (most ?) carried on with the new group. That being said the reference to CRA Lands Limited does refer to my least favourite engineering firm who are multiple winners of the MACHO Award.  They were presented with this award for their work with Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira and the award name stands for Memorial Award for Creative HydrogeOlogy. 

Now here's the rub. According to Google/AI,  CRA Lands Limited while referring to lands formerly owned by Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. are actually owned by a group of land developers. Maybe they thought that CRA had a good reputation environmentally or perhaps a good reputation as engineering consultants. I think it would be fair to suggest that dirty, rotten, polluting industries just love companies like CRA who give them the veneer of scientific oversight in their environmental decision making. Of course my harsh comments concerning dirty, rotten, polluting industries are a result of my working with/against CRA in Elmira for a couple of decades at least as they psuedo scientifically and drastically reduced  Uniroyal Chemical's cleanup costs.  

Now I don't claim to be any kind of land expert but it appears as if CRA Lands Limited and CRA Lands II Limited are controlled by Cook Lands Group. This company, again according to AI, is owned and operated by "...local Waterloo developer Ian Cook, founder of Cook Homes Limited,...". So here we appear to have once again the tail wagging the dog as home builders and developers are attempting to expand the hard country side line in order to obtain more lands to build profitable for them homes. 

I guess that I am less appalled because it isn't CRA directly behind this attempt to crack the countryside line; but only slightly less appalled. With Woolwich Township's penchant for sleeping with polluters and their fellow travellors, I expect smooth sailing for anybody riding on CRA's coattails.   

I REVIEWED PAST MEDIA STORIES ABOUT ELMIRA- SO DISAPPOINTING

 

And so inaccurate. I guess that's not too surprising. They took an educated guess and guessed wrong. They've backed the wrong horse and aren't going to admit it now. There was a large article in the Record last November with a number of pretty obvious errors in it. I contacted the Record in writing with specifics and details and basically got nowhere. They weren't interested in having to change any part of the narrative, accurate or inaccurate. I might add that there is a good comment published on yesterday's Blog posting regarding what appears to be Lanxess's intentional leakage and even pumping of contaminated groundwater pulling it off the Uniroyal/Lanxess site into the Elmira drinking water aquifers. 

Overall media coverage has been pathetic for years despite ongoing RAC & TAG meetings later followed by TRAC meetings. My initial name for TRAC was "Totally Rotten & Corrupt" but I have softened that to "Too Reticent and Compromising". Either one works for me although the second is politer and acknowledges that there are at least a couple of members whose intentions are good. The rest know what the game is and are fine with going through the motions and providing the Ministry (MECP), Lanxess and  Woolwich Township with the cover and credibility they require. Following is the verbatim Comment from yesterday's Blog posting:

 AnonymousAugust 19, 2026 at 9:08 PM

Yesterday's Analysis is SHOCKING!!! "By pumping less on-site and more off-site they are intentionally losing on-site hydraulic containment. This means that they are purposefully drawing contaminants off their site where they Lanxess only pay 50% of those cleanup costs versus 100% of all on-site treatment costs." so they drained the surface with ditches and swales and trenches into the river AND the parts of the Aquifer that were most contaminated they are attempting to just flush away downstream as well. Wow that is so environmentally mindboggling.

Reply

alan August 20, 2026 at 10:47 AM

TRAC whether you know it or not your mandate includes enhancing not undermining the cleanup of Elmira's groundwater. Your willingness to be led around by the nose on matters of Agenda and Discussion items is disgraceful. Your naivety and trust in corporate Lanxess and the corrupt MECP has and will continue to damage the environment as well as the health of all inhabitants, human and wildlife.

TRAC THIS IS ALSO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE MONITORING & INSISTING UPON COMPLIANCE FROM LANXESS CANADA

 

Look it's one thing to be a cheerleader versus a watchdog but at some point you have to insist that Lanxess comply with their Control Orders, Environmental Compliance Agreements, MISA requirements and other mandated conditions affecting Elmira's groundwater cleanup as well as the cleanup of the Canagagigue Creek. Yesterday we discussed their failure to maintain the balance between on and off-site pumping necessary to ensure hydraulic containment in both areas. 

Again I have the data going back to 1997 at my fingertips showing the volume of pumping from the UACS (Upper Aquifer Containment & Treatment System). Each month I transfer the pumping results from the ongoing Progress Reports onto one individual page for the year thus reducing 12 monthly reports pumping information for all containment systems to a single page. Now if Lanxess Canada had made some sort of breakthrough several years ago that magically reduced the required amount of pumping and treating of groundwater, they certainly haven't publicly made a big deal of it. In fact for many years the Target pumping rates for each well along with the actual pumping that particular month were discussed in detail. Uniroyal, Crompton and Chemtura were occasionally balancing and adjusting based upon water level conditions ("Gig") and other factors which they openly and properly discussed with the UPAC and CPAC committees. We were often advised that short term reductions were not necessarily a problem however the Target pumping rates were carefully set in order to maintain the necessary hydraulic containment and avoid loss of contaminants from on-site either to off-site groundwater or for the leakage of contaminants from the on-site Upper Aquifer to the discharge point into the Canagagigue Creek.     

Above and beyond the committee members themselves is the fact that all actions and particularly changes from past practices are to be discussed at the public RAC/TAG and now TRAC meetings. When pump & treat is the primary remediation method it is of particular public interest to discuss rationales for any changes in pumping regimens, especially reductions. This has not been done either for on-site Municipal Upper Aquifer (MU) pumping or for on-site shallow groundwater (i.e. Upper Aquifer-UA) pumping. The pumping rates have simply been getting lower and lower over the last several years with no public discussion involved. Whether or not I have been able to stomach in person attendance at these alleged public meetings the fact is that I have watched and listened to them in their entirety via their on-line presence. I have also written critiques of each and every one afterwards. Perhaps there are implications to these Lanxess Canada, MECP and TRAC UA pumping failures somewhat similar to the implications I wrote about yesterday concerning the Municipal Upper Aquifer (MU) pumping failures.

ARE LANXESS & THE MECP INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGING THE ELMIRA GROUNDWATER CLEANUP?

Why would they do that? Money obviously is the most likely culprit. Have they figured out that if they can't reach the 2028 Elmira groundwater cleanup deadline then they may as well cut back on pumping and treating in order to save themselves money? But wait a minute! Their off-site (i.e. beneath Elmira vs. beneath their site)  pumping figures don't reflect that. In fact they are pumping as much or more off-site than they've ever pumped. Ahh! The dirty, slimy, rotten so and so's! Notice here that I have not named Hadley, Lou, Jason or Lubna or anybody else from Lanxess/GHD/MECP as specifically being the "...dirty, slimy, rotten so and so's."  That could be construed as either rude or disrespectful and heaven forbid I'd never want anybody to suspect that I have zero respect for professional liars, especially those on the taxpayers' payroll, who would dissemble or deceive their true employers.

So what are the poor, misguided, obviously soul and ethics damaged folks at Lanxess doing? Well simply by looking backwards, something I challenge TRAC to do now and then, one can learn the answer. Since 2019 Lanxess, right in front of the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP), are significantly cutting back on their on-site Municipal Upper Aquifer pumping. Now keep in mind they've already achieved permission not to have to maintain 100% hydraulic containment on their site as they were originally ordered to do. The sad theory is that contaminants that escape from their north-west property boundary allegedly are recaptured by either on-site PW4 or off-site W5 A/B. This scheme supported by CPAC, APTE and the MECP at the time appears not to worry that they (Uniroyal/Crompton) have increased contamination for private property owners along the west side of their industrial site. This concession saved the company money just as their unilateral/bilateral decision starting in 2019 to cut back on pumping the most heavily contaminated and hence most expensive pump & treat on-site area did so. 

Way back in time, before RAC/TAG & later TRAC came along, one Jeff Merriman from Chemtura promised CPAC that on-site pumping (PW4 & PW5 at the time)  would average 6.0 litres per second in order to assure full on-site hydraulic containment. Averages probably for a while were closer to 5.8 or 5.9  litres/sec but they were at least close. Then under Lanxess Canada they started to fall and continued to do so. Now certain honest, albeit softly misguided individuals currently on TRAC such as Sebastian do not have the full past pumping  regimens of all pumping wells at their fingertips as I do. Most certainly neither does Susan Bryant who does not share Sebastian's attributes of honesty and being only softly misguided. Hence TRAC mostly composed of citizen members with less than five years experience  have simply ignored both on and off site pumping rates because they have nothing to compare them to despite 34 1/2 years of on-site pumping and more than 28 years of off-site pumping. All the data are in the monthly Progress Reports although that's too onerous for volunteers to dig through as I have.

So in the short term Lanxess cut back on their most expensive pumping and treatment costs AND guess what? By pumping less on-site and more off-site they are intentionally losing on-site hydraulic containment. This means that they are purposefully drawing contaminants off their site where they Lanxess only pay 50% of those cleanup costs versus 100% of all on-site treatment costs. We the taxpayers pay the other 50% of the off-site costs. This of course also lengthens and stretches out  the time needed to fully and properly remediate the (off-site) Elmira Aquifers.

I call this at the least gamesmanship and at the worst fraud. Certainly it also shows gross disrespect of Elmira citizens and all citizen taxpayers. Not a peep out of RAC/TAG or TRAC because mayor Sandy Shantz intentionally eliminated those of us on CPAC in late 2015 with the knowledge and honesty to oppose this deception and gamesmanship.   

K-W RECORD ARTICLE MISSES THE ENVIRONMENTAL MARK - "THE SHANLEY"

 The article in last Saturday's Record is titled "Long journey to transform former Kitchener industrial site almost complete". My first concern is the inaccurate or at least deceptive claim that the building was "abandoned and derelict for years," Nice try as it sat there rotting above ground and leaking trichloroethylene (TCE) below ground for many decades. The words "contaminated" and remediation" are used twice and once respectively.

What it doesn't say are the negative health effects that TCE has had on the neighbourhood, the residents and local wildlife likely since early in its life more than 120 years ago. The article also doesn't give us any idea as to the extent of remediation. Did mayor Vrbanovic  and local illuminaries ask for and receive the Cadillac cleanup as promised here in Elmira or instead did they receive the Volkswagon Beetle cleanup as we have here? TCE is a DNAPL chemical. Did they find remaining pools of TCE and if so what did they do with them? How deep did the soil and groundwater contamination go? What other chemicals were released along with the TCE? One component spills, releases and dumpings are mostly a fiction perpetrated by those looking for cleanup shortcuts. 

Where are the Phase 1 and 2 Environmental Assessments? Who did those assessments? Was a Risk Assessment completed allegedly to determine exactly how much cleanup was required? Were monitoring wells ever installed in both shallow and deeper aquifers to determine how far from the source the TCE (and other)  contamination has spread? Was any testing of nearby homes ever undertaken to determine if TCE had penetrated into them via vapour intrusion? How many cancers, lung and heart diseases may have been caused or exacerbated by TCE and other contaminants?

Sorry K-W Record but this article is simply a puff piece to help re-elect Berry Vrbanovic in October. Yes "The Shanley" probably makes the neighbourhood look better now but where was the cleanup 25 to 50 years ago when it was most needed?  As a society are we going to continue letting toxic contamination sit in residential areas for decades and pretend that no harm has been done?

LUISA DAMATO HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK - ALL WHO SIGNED NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS NEED TO BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE

 

Today's K-W Record has a large Opinion article by Luisa D'Amato on page A3 titled " Something big is happening at Wilmot's industrial megasite. Why are we in the dark?" Personally I find the timing very telling. Remember the haste to prematurely cut the corn crop in one of the fields a year or two ago? That seemed to be sending a message to critics which was we the Region bought the field and we'll do with it as we please. Now just two months before municipal elections I have to wonder if the increase in activity including removing buildings, hiring security guards to patrol access roads and archeologists on site doing research is to defeat any negative response by citizens at the upcoming polls. Are regional councillors afraid that the election might actually reverse the process if citizens kick all the bums out of office?

As Luisa D'Amato indicates, a non-disclosure agreement prior to the bulk of the land being assembled might be justified on the basis of land costs being affected, but after the fact seems unreasonable. It is unreasonable because the public who are actually footing the bills have a right to know how this project "...will affect our environment, our food security, our water supply and our road and sewer infrastructure."  To date all requests for studies such as traffic, wildlife,  declining farmland capacity, electrical usage and water supply needs and capabilities have all been ignored. That is grossly unacceptable and exactly why those buggars need to be fired by their employers (i.e. us). 

Add to all that is the recent recognition of the frailty of our water system in Waterloo Region. This proposed megasite is close to the Wilmot Centre Wellfield which is already under enormous pumping pressure plus hampered by high Nitrates contamination. Ms. D'Amato mentions the concerns around a chemical spill. This is why subsurface stratigraphic conditions directly beneath the megasite need to be publicly published as well as the overlying soil/clay/sand/gravel above the wellscreens for the Wilmot Centre Wellfield. My recollection is that there are parts of the Waterloo Moraine in Wilmot Township with minimal to no clay aquitards between the ground surface and the predominate two aquifers beneath. Those areas are extremely vulnerable to chemical spills and could quickly finish off any hope of continued groundwater usage in large parts of Waterloo Region.

REGION'S COMPLAINTS PROCESS SURVEY - LIKELY JUST MORE OF THE SAME

 

You know I'd like to fill out a survey that I had some confidence was actually honest and above board. One that for example I could see my survey responses at some later date had not only been received but kept as part of the documentation on file. Do I really believe that my or anybody else's comments have actually been taken to heart by regional staff or politicians? Not a hope. 

The survey I filled out today was advertised in the K-W Record and is the second that I have completed. It makes me wonder what the results of the first survey were. Is the Region hoping to come off looking better simply by their proposed new procedure that was in yesterday's newspaper and probably introduced at regional council the day before? If their ratings have already risen does that mean that they can then backtrack by the five councillors of the appeal group deciding to automatically torpedo 95% of all appeals coming their way?

Surveys and dog and pony shows such as past regional games playing and likely the latest "public information and consultation session"  scheduled for August 20/26 are not true public consultation. Public consultation is less scripted and more public. Citizens ask questions from a microphone so that all present can hear their questions and then also hear the responses back from whomever is representing the government or industry behind the public meeting. Something like that would be worth attending. Private one on one discussions with staff are a waste of time and do nothing.

WATERLOO REGION: "WE NEED TO BUILD TRUST AND ACCOUNTABILITY" " ESPECIALLY AS THEY DON'T DESERVE IT.

 

Hypocrisy, puffery and obfuscation, the three building blocks of politics. The quote about trust and accountability in the title above came from Amy Shaw of the Region of Waterloo.  Amy who? Is that the same Amy Shaw who worked for our grossly corrupt and dishonest Ontario Ministry of Environment for decades? Or was it only for many years? Either way I think she knows where she can put your trust and the Region's accountability and that is along with everybody else's trust and that is deep on the back shelf beside the non existent regional accountability. God the overwhelming nerve! I'll just bet that she and Hadley are buddies too. 

Meanwhile Wilmot Mayor Salonen has got to go in the upcoming election if as stated in today's K-W Record article "I'm really happy with where we are".  Longtime Wilmot resident Martha Bricker however referred to the all councillor appeals committee thusly: "If it's just councillors, it's just going to be the same old, same old." With age comes both wisdom and honesty provided you're not a politician.

Some of the terms of the new water interference process have been improved but not all. The one concerning an independent third party or professional doing the investigating can be easily monkied with as so many allegedly private and independent hydrogeologists and firms have long term financial interests with either the Ministry of Environment or the Region of Waterloo. Both sketchy parties sub contract studies and hydrogeological investigations to many different private consulting firms who once on the approved list want to stay there. Actually being independent and coming up with results that either the Region or the MECP don't want can end their government work.

Of course the real stinker is that after the investigation is completed and results submitted a resident told that their well has not been interfered with can appeal to a committee of five regional councillors. This is where the rubber meets the road and simply is not acceptable. The Region have showed that they do not play fair including ignoring written agreements with Wilmot Township as well as denying obvious interference claims in the past  while drastically increasing their water pumping from Wilmot wellfields.

DO NOT DRINK WATERLOO REGION TAP WATER AS IS

 

Have I got the name correct? Was it the O'Connor Commission which looked into the Walkerton mass bacteria poisoning with E. Coli back around 2000?  Among a number of key recommendations was the multi barrier approach to water protection.  The plan was to isolate and protect each and every step of water withdrawal, water treatment, water storage, water distribution from its' source to your kitchen sink. This is where the Region of Waterloo have failed horribly. They may claim to have the finest, most up to date water treatment available but that is merely one step in a multi step process. Hence a single breakdown whether mechanical, electrical or human failure at a treatment plant could be catastrophic. Now in Walkerton there were multiple failures mostly human albeit they affected the raw water entering the system as well as the treatment efforts further along as human beings actually fudged some of the treatment data and reports to make things look better on paper than they were.

Here in Waterloo Region we have serious issues with at least two of the four steps mentioned earlier. Water withdrawal from contaminated aquifers is far worse than problematic. Water distribution is also a problem as far too many water pipes still in the ground are made of lead and possibly even some asbestos pipe is still in existence. Some of these pipes astoundingly include ones going to our public and elementary schools. The third step overall namely treatment might be reasonably good but it fails to totally remove trichloroethylene (TCE), glyphosate (Round Up) and others from the treated water sent to our homes and businesses. The Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge even has greater treatment (Advanced Oxidation Process) than all the other groundwater sources but still can't eliminate it completely from the water supply. Similar issues but with less treatment occur at the William St. Wellfield in Waterloo as well as the Parkway Wellfield in Kitchener. 

There are also issues, mostly totally ignored, with synergy between toxic contaminants. It is what we don't know that can hurt us. If TCE is at 2 parts per billion (ppb) in our tap water and glyphosate is at 6 ppb plus a dash of lead from the pipes as well then what is the true health criteria? Nobody knows!! Science is wonderful but to date there have been no published drinking water standards for more than one contaminant at a time in our water.

Following is a partial list of known contaminants throughout Waterloo Region groundwater and drinking water wells:  NDMA, chlorobenzene, ammonia, TCE, nitrates, glyphosate, xylenes, toluene, benzene, sodium, chlorides and more. Most groundwater has multiple contaminants. Surface water drinking sources (Grand River) have more bacteria, viruses and pathogens such as coliforms, E.Coli, cryptosporidium and many others.

There are expensive fixes such as reverse osmosis systems and ultraviolet light systems that can be put in homes and or much less expensive and maybe much less efficient systems including Brita filters (activated carbon filters). Regardless demanding safer and cleaner drinking water from our elected representatives is the first step. It may even be necessary to delay other hobby priorities of our politicians if we as citizens believe that drinking water for ourselves and families is a bigger priority. 

OH MY, OH MY IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO HAVE ALSO SEEN ENOUGH NONSENSE FROM WATERLOO REGION ?

 

O.K. I will admit that my political biases don't exactly match my hopes for either a regional house cleaning at the polls or a provincially initiated housecleaning by removing the regional Chair and replacing her with a better provincial appointee. Now I have made my concerns with our current regional councillors abundantly clear even as recently as my Blog post of yesterday. A third issue I have is with our Police Services Board as well as with our regional police. My issues aren't in regards to individual police officers, they are in regards to the decision makers at the top. This includes being far too influenced by other organizational idiots such as at the school board (WRDSB) as well as how they (mis)handled the serious concerns and lawsuits of their female officers. I suppose this also includes the appropriate focus on drunk driving and the total ignoring and failure to enforce all other driving safety issues except speeding. Speeding and drinking & driving laws are enforced whereas distracted driving is not nor are mandatory turn signals, driving in the right lane on the Xpressway unless passing, tailgating and believe it or not driving well below the speed limit under ideal driving conditions. Is there some kind of insurance bonus given to pick up truck drivers who appear to be intentionally delaying all traffic behind them just because they can?

So yes I'd love to see the province swoop in and kick political butt here in Waterloo Region. The one itsy bitsy problem I have is an almost total lack of faith in your hero and mine, Doug Ford. I am not a Conservative and even if I was I think he would trouble me. Yes Mr. Ford has properly given Donald Trump  the stink eye as well as banned U.S. alcohol sales in our LCBO. Other than that he has given too many concessions to developers and too few to environmentalists. There is my conundrum. Sure come in Mr. Ford and clean house here because unfortunately our voting public aren't paying enough attention and simply vote for the pretty face who talks nicely and tells all the right lies. Sometimes though inviting a predator in to solve one problem only leads to other, maybe worse problems.  

AN ELECTORAL REGIONAL HOUSECLEANING IS DESPERATELY NEEDED; MUNICIPALLY YES AND NO

 

First and foremost thank goodness we are finally ridding ourselves of the too popular by half Sandy Shantz. She has delivered bad governance with a smile, speaks softly and tries to offend no one. Unfortunately the public have lapped that crap up. Maybe in her private life she really is the good person I thought she was over a dozen years ago but her positions and decisions in office have harmed the public interest. Most likely they have assisted her husband's and family's business interests but if so that too appears to have flown under the radar. Maybe it's all been scrupulously according to the rules; I really don't know for sure.

Her positions on both the east side expansion and by-pass onto contaminated properties combined with her heavily pro polluter/corporate biases regarding Chemtura and Lanxess will be her eventual reputational downfall. She has bent over backwards to accommodate corporate self-interests that have resulted in her and their gross failures to either restore Elmira's drinking water or to so much as clean up a single shovel full of downstream dioxins, DDT, mercury and PCBs in the Canagagigue Creek. Wildlife, the environment and human beings have suffered because of those failures. 

My comments on a regional housecleaning are due to both the Wilmot Land Grab (770 acres) democratic failures of transparency and communications as well as the still ongoing regional water crisis that they now claim is "solved".  We are in big, long lasting water trouble and that is all due to past negligence and incompetence combined with the similar mentioned above municipal "pro polluter/corporate biases". Slamming gates shut after the livestock have all left rarely is an effective strategy.    

Regarding our municipal councillors I am conflicted. Yes I will have no regrets if Nathan Cadeau is unelected based upon multiple early interactions with him over Lanxess that I found distasteful. Other than that I do not have strong feelings for or against the other councillors mostly based upon really not knowing them at all. That said I do kind of grudgingly like Eric Schwindt despite believing that he is considerably more right wing and pro business than myself. Somehow he has conveyed to me a willingness at least to listen with an open mind. Time will confirm or deny that. Evan Burgess appears to be more mature than his chronological age and with seasoning I can hope that he too will expand and flourish. Maybe that comment is based more on my age than on his. Again time will tell. Bonnie and Kayla have shown commonsense on various issues and I wish them well.

 

RECENT WOOLWICH HAPPENINGS & REPORTS CONCERNING WATER ISSUES & MORE

 

Perhaps the " & MORE " would be the addition of a third candidate for the Mayor's position. Chane Ballantyne is the candidate and I guess I'm a little surprised at the relative lack of public experience of all three candidates. Having said that I am remembering how Todd Cowan with absolutely zero municipal experience walked in and got himself elected primarily due to his personal door to door campaigning. Unfortunately despite some good work Todd managed to self-destruct and implode before his first term ended. Bonnie Bryant has the most actual municipal experience with two terms as councillor but to date she has not thrown her hat in the ring for the mayor's job. I guess I would view Eric Schwindt as the most experienced of the current three mayoral candidates.

TRAC, Lanxess, MECP and the Region are all spinning their wheels regarding both aquifer remediation and Creek rehabilitation. The best they've come up with are two recent, fundamentally flawed reports pretending to support the status quo while absolutely not doing so. In fact careful examination of the Jen Lyndal (Integral Inc.) report proves the immense amount of downstream contamination still there fifty-six years after mass dumping on-site and into the Canagagigue Creek ended. The tied for most bizarre aspect of this report was Hadley Stamm's relationship with the author Jen Lyndal, as if that was somehow supposed to be a positive reinforcement of the honesty of the report. 

The second recent weird report was Lanxess/GHD's partial shutdown of Elmira pumping wells which was to somehow indicate again that their pumping regimens had merit and were appropriate. That horse has long bolted as neither NDMA nor chlorobenzene concentrations are at or below the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) as they are supposed to be almost literally within spitting distance of them, and are not. Also rest assured there are many more solvents still not removed from our drinking water aquifers although I would recommend much greater focus on DDT and Dioxin/Furans possibly in coordination with greater focus on all the DNAPL chlorinated solvents.

Lanxess and the MECP have been trying to get rid of off-site (i.e. under Elmira) DNAPLS for decades without admitting their existence, using pump & treat technology. Pump & treat was never solely appropriate on its' own and the proof is in the pudding as all parties now admit failure to achieve the 2028 mandated deadline. This citizens and politicians is the result when you leave the fox in charge of the henhouse and you blind and cripple citizen watchdogs.

BAD TIMING FOR WOOLWICH TWN.: WATERLOO REGION STILL IN A WATER CRISIS

 

Maybe just maybe other parts of Waterloo Region may finally take a look at Woolwich Township and learn a thing or two. Lying and dissembling are not the sole prerogative of politicians anywhere. They all participate in targeted truth polishing when the occasion demands. Right now just before a municipal election that includes regional government, the occasion to lie doesn't just demand it; it screams it. Can you imagine the shock, the consternation, the relief and the sheer joy if we threw all the bums out this October?

Waterloo Region claims that the water crisis is passed. Bullfroghooey to say the least. Above and beyond all the contaminated aquifers already listed here over the last few weeks you can add St. Agatha and Wilmot Centre. I'm basing both on the permitted volumes of pumping available versus the tiny amounts of water actually pumped back in the early 2000s. Added to this is the known high concentrations of Nitrates in the Wilmot Centre Wellfield. Seriously folks anybody who thinks that Wilmot Township are going to bail out the rest of Waterloo Region waterwise, are smoking way too much wacky tobaccy. 

Getting back to Woolwich Township mostly what the rest of Waterloo Region should have learned is that talk and puffery are a poor substitute for unbiased science, action and money carefully spent. Right now the rest of Waterloo Region need water from Woolwich Township, not to be continuing to supply them water from shrinking sources. Both the three major cities and the other Townships have a right to know why the promised return to water production in Elmira less than two years away just isn't going to happen and if it does it will require mass introduction of substandard water quality. The other municipal jurisdictions kept their noses out of Woolwich's water woes only on the understanding that the 25 years of Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura  and the MOE/MECP promises of full remediation meant something. In hindsight they meant nothing. They were BULLS**T and the Region themselves kept awfully quiet about   the shortcomings in the remediation, public consultation, lack of cleanup on and off site etc. 

Well Woolwich you've made your bed now lie in it. You, the Region and the Province (MECP) certainly know how to lie so get to it. 

THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN: FORMAL FAILURE LOOMS. THANK YOU MAYOR SHANTZ, WOOLWICH COUNCIL, LANXESS, MECP etc. FOR REMOVING ME FROM THE FAST SINKING SHIP IN SEPT. 2015

 

Am I being too generous thanking all the twits, liars, politicians, self-serving bureaucrats and local influencers for effectively isolating my knowledge and input from the problem at hand, namely restoring both our aquifers and our Creek? Of course I am. I wonder how the long departed from active duty APTE members feel these days. They sat back and let Susan Bryant carry the torch with assistance first from Sylvia Berg and later Pat Mclean. Those two ladies were her "wingmen" and they and Susan did their  job well which was to appear to be the voice of the people while constantly greasing the skids for Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura, Lanxess and the corrupt Ministry of Environment. 

2028 is the mandated deadline for restoring our drinking water aquifers. While that date is only sixteen months away, of course as the MOE/MECP set it they can and will define it and or redefine it as they please. The master manipulaters have never rested. They know that public perception and opinion can be lost with but one major screwup, fire, explosion or even revelation that contradicts their carefully crafted narrative. Despite all this I would rather be at arm's length distance from the train wreck that is RAC/TAG, and TRAC. I personally want no part of a train wreck that I warned against for decades despite my confidence that those in charge are working very hard for a soft landing. Selling their lies to the public has been easy as long as all authorities were on board. Furthermore the precarious state of the media, particularly newspapers, has made their jobs much easier. The last thing newspapers want to do right now is to alienate corporate Canada or U.S.

Fantastic claims will be made by Lanxess and fellow travellers. The Region of Waterloo will go along depending upon the support they receive in kind from the other parties as the Region's water failures further are exposed. Same with the Ministry of Environment (MECP). Show them some love and they will respond in kind by agreeing with all kinds of corporate nonsense about slowing groundwater pumping to protect the environment to using the water in the Elmira Aquifers for socially positive effects. Maybe with enough treatment and dilution they can add our aquifers to the Region's overall water system, the IUS (Integrated Urban System). Rest assured the polluter, the regulator, the politicians and the media will all join in lockstep to declare victory. I declare this the reverse Richard Nixon as they snatch victory from the very jaws of grotesque failure and defeat.

EVEN MORE DNAPLS FOUND IN WATERLOO REGION DRINKING WATER WELLS

 

This would be the long contaminated Parkway Wellfield located near Fairway Rd. and Manitou Dr. There are three wells there named K31, K32 and K33. Allegedly the DNAPL chemical (TCE) is found in only one of the wells namely K32. That does not make much sense to me as they are all located close together and what is one should certainly be drawn into the others. Further examination has shed some light on this anomaly. In fact TCE (trichloroethylene) has been detected in all three wells however the text in the July 29, 2025 Grand River Source Protection Area  Assessment Report states " Trichloroethylene is generally not detected (< 0.5 ug/l) at wells K31 and K33". In fact it is detected regularly at low levels and occasionally especially in K33 at higher levels. 

Other health problems include sodium and chloride concentrations being too high. While some of this may be due to road salt it is also common for higher chloride levels in solvent contaminated groundwaters especially chlorinated solvent contaminated groundwater. 

TCE (trichloroethylene) is highly toxic. It both kills and causes extreme health effects from neurological symptoms to various cancers including leukemia. This solvent once was commonly used and abused throughout Waterloo Region industries as a degreaser for metal parts. Workers suffered the brunt of the health damages although the Bishop St. community in Cambridge suffered greatly from Northstar Aerospace mishandling of it as well as at least one other company across the road from Northstar.

Waterloo Region advises in this same Grand River Protection Area report that "...the source of the TCE to well K32 is unknown." I believe that that statement is false as my understanding for years is that there was formerly an Electrohome site also known as Deilcraft located nearby. Also oddly I recollect years after the fact a remediation attempt being done to clean up TCE from that industrial site. Obviously they didn't get all the TCE DNAPL which is unsurprising considering how DNAPL can disperse in the subsurface. The proof of course all these decades later is the dissolved TCE still in the groundwater. Take note Elmira with your ongoing chlorobenzene (DNAPL) contamination.

Happy drinking when this contaminated wellfield rejoins its' fellow retreaded wells into the drinking water regimen. Hey folks we have to keep our well healed developers, builders and politicians happy and if it requires personal sacrifice, so be it. 

WHY DO OUR GOVERNMENTS LIE TO US SO CONSTANTLY?

 

There are many reasons. Contempt and disrespect are right up there. Politicians were once ordinary people just generally a little lazier and a little more bent. This of course is a significant generalization as you will find occasional doctors and lawyers sitting in both provincial and federal governments. Both had to have money and ambition presumably along with hard work to get their degrees etc. Of course you will also get golf pros, their sons, drug dealers and all the rest sitting as M.P.s and M.P.P.s. Hence many of the lazy, unprepared for honest work politicians see others just like themselves sitting in legislatures and parliaments as well as on municipal councils and realize that citizens themselves are lazy enough and dumb enough to vote in riff raff. Hard to respect the public based upon the choices they make to represent themselves in government.

The public are occupied with keeping their jobs and hence salaries and wages. Non union work especially requires constant vigilance and watching which way the wind is blowing. More jobs are lost due to personality clashes than to inability to do the job. Citizens know that constantly toeing the line also means in non work matters and opinions that do not match your supervisor's or bosses. Political complacency by the public results from feeling detached from all decisions and having zero say in them. Again expressing strong political opinions at work can eventually lead to your head on the chopping block albeit employers are smart enough to dredge up some kind of pathetic work related excuse prior to dropping the axe. 

Politicians have learned that voters have short memories and long loyalties. Most first time voters follow their parents footsteps. Voters only vote about every four years and in between it's all about keeping their jobs , raising families and if they are fortunate at today's prices, buying homes. Then there are school issues, bills, social lives and so many important, in your face matters on a daily basis.

Politicians do learn on the job. They learn how to lie via using weasel words and phrases that allow them to backtrack when necessary.  Phrases like "when necessary" or "under the circumstances" gives them an out when their statements become ridiculous down the road. Quoting made up statistics that can never be checked such as "Canadians are fearful of gun violence" is a good example to justify whatever stupidity is the flavour of the day. Inventing crises is also a tool for ethically challenged politicians. So is using a legitimate crisis such as Tumblur Ridge in British Columbia. Odd how we learned that a disturbed individual committed firearms murders but we still have no knowledge as to why the authorities had returned those previously seized firearms to the family. Nor do we know if the "guilty" firearms used are on the government's banned list or not. All very strange how we the public are kept in the dark on important matters strongly related to current and ongoing highly criticized government initiatives and activities.     

Politicians are masters at deflecting appropriate criticism. That unfortunately is their greatest strength. 

GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS : YES WE HAVE DNAPLS IN OUR ELMIRA BEDROCK AQUIFER BUT NOT TO WORRY BECAUSE SO DOES WATERLOO AND CAMBRIDGE

Isn't that great! Here we are already having the precedent of long term DNAPLS (TCE) in our drinking water aquifers hence we should be able to live with them up here in Dogpatch (Elmira) just as folks have for many decades in Waterloo and Cambridge. The ones in Waterloo are in the William St. Wellfield located at the corner of Regina St. and William St.. The Cambridge ones are at the very well known and most expensive ground water treatment location in Waterloo Region namely the Middleton Wellfield. This is located at the south end of Cambridge literally beside the Grand River. Despite a local hydrogeological consultant advising me that the source of the TCE there is NOT Canadian General Tower (CGT) perhaps a hundred metres away I am very skeptical. Yes there are dry cleaners also in the vicinity however so maybe they contributed or not.

Other good news is this. TCE or trichloroethylene is much more toxic than the chlorobenzene that we have here in Elmira courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical and maybe others. So if the good folks in Cambridge especially can both breathe TCE in the Bishop St. community and drink a little from their taps and not die immediately then we are looking good! 

The sources in Waterloo may include Canbar and Sunar and even possibly the old Seagram's plant but keep in mind our authorities truly enjoy muddying those waters and not being forthcoming.  The proof of course is the long term and ongoing detections of TCE in those drinking wells over a period of decades. Normally dissolved TCE should have all been pumped out by now but that is the joy and excitement of DNAPLS. They can exist in the subsurface, most especially in fractured Bedrock, sometimes for centuries and only very slowly dissolve into the groundwater and get pumped to surface. Now of course our chlorobenzene has been with us here in Elmira, just like NDMA, for far more than the 36 or 37 years since it was allegedly discovered in November 1989. 

If it is still in our groundwater, even in low concentrations, in ten or twenty more years then I think even the most professional liars are going to be looking for a hole to crawl into. But hey by then the few remaining honest and knowledgeable citizens should be long gone.  Liars are mostly simply buying time for themselves.  

THE APTLY NAMED STRANGE ST. WELLFIELD

 

It's the deception that gets to me. It's the ingenuous choice of wording. It's the never ending gilding of the lily in order to hide ugly truths. That's what I don't like about our regional government. This deception may partially be in order to protect the guilty. It may be in order to protect the names and reputations of so called "captains" of industry and or persons who built factories and provided jobs in Kitchener-Waterloo. However it's also about protecting their own butts. Some of these politicians have been around for decades and they literally have blood on their hands from decisions they've made and decisions they've avoided. 

Anybody remember the Uniroyal Tire plant on Strange St. for decades? How many know the long and toxic list of airborne contaminants that employees there worked in, some for decades? How many know the battles some of those employees fought to get pis* as* compensation from our provincial government's Workman's Compensation Board (WCB) later renamed to something more politically correct?   

Toxins included benzene, toluene, xylenes, chlorinated solvents and a plethora of other petroleum and rubber related toxins. These toxins don't just exist as air borne contaminants. If they leak, if they are mishandled, if they are negligently stored and most especially if they are buried on site they can and do migrate through the subsurface. Hence a nearby wellfield is the perfect way to introduce some of those same toxins that the Uniroyal workers were breathing, into the water supply. Many decades ago some BTEX chemicals (listed above) were found in low concentrations in some of the Strange St. wells. Who was the most likely contributor, Uniroyal or a nearby day care or school?

The initial Strange St. Wellfield consisted of wells K10A, K11, K13. This is an old wellfield. Current wells are named K10A, K11A, K13B, K18 and K19.  We are advised that well K13B is a direct replacement for well K13A completed in 2023. Oddly both K13B and K11A appear on the maps provided in the Grand River Source Protection Area reports as further west than the original wellfield. We are not told that wells K10A, K11 and K13 were still pumping and producing water for consumption until the very early 2000s. K18 and K19 on the other hand did not appear to be contributing to the drinking water supply until 2006 several years later. Also oddly they are located even further away (westwards) from the original wellfield than K11A and K13B.  Now I do have a memory of reading years ago that several of the Strange St. wells had been closed down and replaced with wells either slightly north or mostly west of their original location. 

Nobody apparently wants to point fingers or besmirch corporate heroes hence it seems to me that instead citizens drank contaminated water for years (just like in Elmira) while regional bureaucrats and politicians decided how best not to identify contaminated wells while either relocating them, shutting them down, or "managing" their pumping rates so as to stop pumping as the plumes approach the wells. 

When asked why our cancer rates keep rising I advise that it is the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. As soon as you stop doing that you stop feeding your body carcinogens. 

 

THE LANCASTER ST. WELLFIELD - A HISTORY OF LOW WAGES, HIGH PROFITS AND HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL & HEALTH DAMAGES

 

Many of the longtime nearby residents don't remember the "good old days".  The stench of acrid, acidic fumes leaving the site. The generally modest albeit well built homes nearby on Edwin St., Loiusa St., St. Leger etc. A company called Pannill Veneer operated on the site for decades before it closed down. Prior to Panill Veneer however was the Breithaupt Tannery. Solvents, acids and heavy metals were common and well recognized from the tannery industry. It operated approximately from the 1880s until about 1950 before shutting down. There were other tanneries in Kitchener-Waterloo and they too made a mess and left the mess for others to clean up. These industries like so many others were protected by the politicians that they helped to get elected. These same politicians minimized the negative environmental and health effects of these companies both on employees and residents while they were operating and making money as well as after they cut and ran. This is what politicians do especially if they hope to have the funds to get re-elected.

The very same politicians and their successors allowed all the anti social aspects of these heavy, stinking and loud industries, often situated beside residential areas, without proper safeguards or even reasonable mitigating efforts. Then when they packed up and departed little to no effort was made to hold them accountable to clean up the mess they left behind. These were very unhealthy messes combined with high costs to clean them up. Politicians did what they always do. They lied like dogs and passed the costs on to the public taxpayers as much as possible. The Breithaupt Tannery $ 9 million cleanup was the most expensive in Kitchener's history. It was funded by the City of Kitchener (taxpayers), The Region of Waterloo (taxpayers) and the developer (Queensgate Dev't.) who by the way complained that the Province of Ontario (taxpayers) failed to chip in.  Three levels of taxpayers but all out of the same pockets.

Never any health studies, never any environmental studies until after a developer decided they could make money on the site. Breithaupt Tannery did not just mess up people's health through noise and air emissions. They also contaminated the nearby Lancaster Wellfield which supplied water to Kitchener citizens. How many of them died prematurely and or with compromised health issues while the bast**d politicians and industrialists laughed all the way to the bank? 

The nearby Lancaster Wellfield has been shut down now for a very long time. Do you think they shut it down the day the Tannery closed? Did they shut it down before the toxic contaminants reached the drinking wells? Meanwhile Waterloo Region are recommissioning other shut down, contaminated wells so why not these? Allegedly there has been a major cleanup. Or was it? Regardless if we are so desperate for water the Region can reopen these wells with or without an Environmental Assessment. Just like local industry in Elmira and K-W,  Waterloo Region knows that Environmental Assessments are easy to "fix". Afterall it's politicians who write the legislation, warts and loopholes and all.

DNAPLS - THE VERBOTEN WORD FOR LANXESS & THEIR CORRUPT "REGULATOR" THE MECP

 

A little bit of irony here. The stupid twits invent a weird pretend scientific test to prove one thing and actually prove the very last thing they intended which is that there both have been and are free phase and residual DNAPL in the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers beneath the town of Elmira. Keep in mind how late in the game the dirty polluter and their fellow travellors decided that the high concentrations of both NDMA and chlorobenzene needed further efforts. Not back in 1998 when the off-site groundwater pumping began but many years later they added pumping wells W8 and W9 to address specific problems on the east and west sides of Union St. not very far from Park Ave. The east side of the street was actually at the edge of the Yara (Nutrite) property and the pumping well went right down to the Municipal Lower Aquifer. High chlorobenzene concentrations were embarrassing and needed to be reduced in order to continue the DNAPL coverup which said that free phase DNAPLS had never left the Uniroyal Chemical site. The W9 pumping well also went right through to the Municipal Lower Aquifer and in fact its' well screen rested on the surface of the exposed Bedrock Aquifer.  There is no LAT (Lower Aquitard) located here thus providing a direct route for contamination. Yes this is one of the main routes that has contaminated the Bedrock Aquifer with both NDMA, chlorobenzene and everything else despite the professional liars on behalf of Lanxess Canada/Uniroyal Chemical saying otherwise.

Table 2 (CH38A  ML aquifer) gives us our first hint. This observation well located by Industrial Dr. and Oriole Parkway (Sanyo Canada right there) reacted strongly to the cessation of pumping at W3R almost two hundred metres southwards. From Non-Detect for chlorobenzene on June 25/26 before pumping stopped, it in a few days jumped to 40 and later 45 ppb. after pumping was stopped at W3R. After pumping was restarted concentrations of chlorobenzene fell to Non-Detect again. This is due to likely residual DNAPL left over from the years long heavy pumping at W4 further north and a little east of CH38 and had caused unusually high concentrations of chlorobenzene at that well for decades. W4 beside the Howard St. Water Tower and observation well OW57-32R was the location of free phase DNAPL 100 feet below ground surface originally confirmed and then denied by CRA, Uniroyal and the M.O.E..

Table 2 (OW119-27  MU aquifer) tells a somewhat similar story. Prior to pumping being stopped this well three metres north of pumping well W3R had a concentration of 68.1 ppb. of chlorobenzene and within a few days of the cessation of pumping it was at 30.7 ppb. dropping down to .98 (yes less than 1) ppb over the shutdown weeks and then jumping back up to 83.3 ppb. after pumping at W3R was restored. Clearly the core of the chlorobenzene plume has been drawn towards W3R by its' pumping and then drifts away when pumping stops. The ongoing chlorobenzene concentrations up to the drinking standard criteria of 80 ppb. after nearly thirty years of pumping are the obvious and clear  result of subsurface residual or free phase DNAPL presence which dissolves very much more slowly in water than NDMA and most other solvents. 

Table 2 (OW155-32  ML aquifer)  This observation well is located about five metres north of pumping well W5A and had a chlorobenzene concentration of Non-Detect prior to the shutdown of pumping. Within a few days its' concentration had jumped to 135 ppb. It stayed above the drinking water standard throughout the pump shutdown period and then somewhat oddly remained high (151 ppb) even more than two months after pumping restarted at W5A. I see two possibilities here. This pumping well is very close to the south-west corner of the Uniroyal/Lanxess site and either free phase or residual DNAPL  exists very nearby or since pumping well W4 to the west (Water Tower area) was shut down several years ago the remaining contaminant plume has via W5A pumping migrated eastwards towards  itself (i.e. W5A). Either way this again is the second area where DNAPL left the Uniroyal site decades ago and has permanently contaminated the Elmira Aquifers (including Bedrock).

Lastly we have Table 2 (CH44D  ML aquifer)  Here we have a monitoring well twenty metres north of pumping well W8. I guess I may have saved the best for last. Its' concentration prior to the cessation of pumping was 4.56 ppb (parts per billion). Within a few days of pumping being stopped the chlorobenzene concentration had soared to 703 ppb. !!!  It remained high throughout the shutdown period exceeding 1,000 ppb. on two occasions. Then in November two months after pumping restarted it was back down to 20.1 ppb. !!!  This tells me a couple of things. Firstly either residual or free phase DNAPL is present right there in the ML aquifer very close to W8 and CH44D and the volume of groundwater impacted is small leading to amazingly fast reactions to both stopping and restarting the pumping regime. Also based upon a similar reaction to pumping by NDMA I suspect that the NDMA may very well be mixed in with the DNAPL . 

What have I slowly learned over thirty-six years? Thin skinned and faint of heart individuals have a much higher tolerance for well dressed, well spoken liars, cheats and thieves than they do for those who would point out these character deficiencies and speak of them. Hence my apologies to the Jens, Sandys, Sebastians, Nathans and others who are far more impressed than I by the Ramin Ansaris, Allan Deals, Lou Almeidas, Steve Quigleys, Hadley Stamms, Lubnas, Jasons, and so many more. While I don't share your character priorities I try to understand them despite occasionally finding them grating. Also the term "cheats and thieves" may be interpreted as more figurative than literal.