PRETTY REMEDIATION NAMES DO NOT CLEAN AQUIFERS - SOURCE REMOVAL DOES

 

Bioremediation. Enhanced Bioremediation. Bioremediation with Amendments. Enhanced Bioremediation with Amendments.  Super Duper Technically Advanced Bioremediation Endorsed by Ramin Ansari, Dr. David Ash , Steve Quigley, Allan Deal, Lou Almeida plus one hundred totally groundwater ignorant Lanxess employees. There I singlehandedly have cleaned the Elmira Aquifers by the power of words. No more need to spend time, money and human effort.

Cullen Flanders of Onterris  would have us believe that chlorobenzene can be removed from groundwater via Bioremediation. Hmm. So does the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) . How strange a million years ago (it seems that long) there were discussions about using a company by the name of Grace Dearborn to spread contaminated soils on the east side surface of Uniroyal Chemical to bacterially break down the contaminants. My understanding is that this would be referred to as ex-situ Bioremediation or out of the ground Bioremediation. Cullen Flanders is suggesting in-situ Bioremediation or if you will ...in place or on site Bioremediation. UPAC was told that the ex-situ Bioremediation was unacceptable for three reasons. One it would likely stink to high heaven and two it would take far too long to break down the very difficult chlorinated solvents that were highly resistant to bacteria. Thirdly and this also speaks to timing is the fact that bacteria at the surface won't be active during cold winter months (say five months per year). 

Perhaps Cullen Flanders has a wonderful product that operates on a similar principle to skyhooks. The issue is that Bioremediation works for dissolved chlorobenzene and not NDMA or likely another hundred different contaminants beneath both the Lanxess site and other parts of Elmira. Anyone ever heard of Bioremediation working on DDT, dioxins or PCBs?  Me neither which is why those compounds and many others are referred to as POPs or PERSISTENT Organic Pollutants. Secondly if chlorobenzene can be degraded by bacteria both in shallow aerobic soils and in deeper anaerobic soils then why after literally decades in our aquifers and soils is it still there? That's because as the dissolved chlorobenzene degrades in the aquifers it is replaced by slowly dissolving chlorobenzene both on and off site by either free phase or residual DNAPL both of which have been proven to be on the Lanxess site as well as off their site underneath Elmira.

That is the nature of DNAPLS which was totally ignored by all parties including APTE in January 1994 when Rich Clausi, myself and Esther Thur (one of the three APTE founders) resigned and walked out of APTE. At the time I thought APTE leadership were merely in error when in fact it was much worse. Now decades later Woolwich Township's naive and deferential TRAC committee are holding their breaths, crossing their fingers and wishing on a star that Cullen Flanders and Onterris will be the magic cleanup bullet. If this plan was introduced by a company not being paid by Lanxess or supervised by GHD and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP), it might have a smidgen of credibility. Otherwise anything introduced and endorsed by those three dishonest, manipulative and corrupt (mostly MECP) groups isn't worth squat. They and their predecessors have utterly failed and utterly lied to us the public for the last thirty-seven years. How stupid do we have to be to keep believing their shi* ?    

AI JUST LIKE CLIENT DRIVEN CONSULTANTS CAN BE DANGEROUS

 

I do not believe that 100% of consultants are disreputable, client driven liars. It would seem reasonable however to suspect that consultants working long term for proven, lying polluters may very well be so. I have a ton of respect for many credentialed professionals including Dr. Richard Jackson, Dr. Henry Regier and with much less exposure to him, Dr. Neil Thompson of the University of Waterloo. Included in my high respect list of course is both Dr. Beth Parker and Dr. John Cherry. I am well aware of some of the excellent hydrogeological work they have done in particular regarding DNAPLS.

  AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be a very helpful tool just as an encyclopedia or other published reports and data lists are. AI however does not attend meetings directly nor listen to human voices generally speaking. I do not know whether AI even has access to on-line audio/video recordings of meetings such as those of Woolwich Township's well behaved and always polite TRAC committee. The old joke/saying is that they would not say shi* if their mouth was full of it and while I commend their members for their restraint I also advise that restraint of that magnitude simply breeds arrogance and disrespect when dealing with unethical, dishonest persons and groups.

AI also can be manipulated by those very same unethical and dishonest persons and groups. AI is not the repository of all knowledge. Hence if an unethical person does not like AI's answer to a question they can respond with inaccurate, alleged facts in an attempt to sway AI's answers which is entirely possible. Also AI appears quite capable of accepting blatantly illogical and scientifically inaccurate information and repeating it just because the majority of people accept it. This includes character profiles based upon the inaccurate, published profiles of others. For example if the only published data about a former Prime Minister is positive than AI will give him/her a glowing report. Think of Sir John A. McDonald as a founder of Canada and then as a founder of the brutal, residential school systems. Two different pictures arrive.

I recently schooled AI about their mistaken interpretation of chlorobenzene concentrations off the former Uniroyal Chemical site. Their sources included shabby DNAPL reports done by CRA as well as recent pronouncements by GHD consultants. AI's logic was faulty based upon one sided positions taken by consultants paid for by Lanxess Canada. AI also quoted Dr. Neil Thompson's Conceptual Site Model (CSM) as supporting their interpretation. Now I have a copy of that CSM and my recollection is that it was generally excellent however with a couple of possible errors most likely due to bad information being supplied by Lanxess or GHD. AI's position may have been due to either bad initial information given to Dr. Thompson or it may have simply been GHD misquoting or taking one of Dr. Thompson's statements out of context. In other words AI is just as vulnerable to spreading misinformation as other sources are. Hopefully however AI's mistakes are honest mistakes not malicious, intentional ones.        

THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP TO IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTALLY

 

At least three things have to occur. First we need to get rid of our current Mayor. YES  that is occurring! Second whoever becomes our new mayor (Schwindt or Burgess) has to have an open mind and look carefully at the failures of the last thirty-seven years. Thirdly preferably either get rid of the CAO or at the very least stop taking his advice as always in the best interests of Woolwich Township residents and taxpayers.

O.K. there are four or five items that need attention. Our new Mayor needs to look carefully at what we the residents of Elmira and Woolwich Township were promised at the start of the recognized Elmira Water Crisis. Our drinking water aquifers would be fully restored by 2028 AND the sewer known as the Canagagigue Creek would also be cleaned up. The reality is that our groundwater is still toxic as is the Canagagigue Creek despite improvements in its' odour and appearance. Five miles (7.5 km) of Creek whose sediments and creekbank soils are filled with Dioxins, DDT, PCBs, mercury and PAHs is an offence to nature as well as the farmers and residents living along the downstream Creek.

Number five is even easier. CAO Brenneman, Shantz and Council have surrounded themselves with one side of the pollution crisis. That is the side of all the guilty parties. That is Lanxess Canada, their client driven consultants (GHD), the Ont. Min. of Environment (MECP), and an alleged "citizens" committee (TRAC) made up of deferential, out of their depth but totally acceptable to Lanxess and the MECP, folks who merely maintain the status quo. The status quo does not and has not worked! Woolwich's current trajectory will guarantee both non cleanup of our aquifers and Creek as well as Woolwich Township ending up in history as the biggest, backwards, rural hick Township in Ontario willingly run in circles for decades by Uniroyal Chemical and successors. 

Number five above requires an immense change. Why do you think that there was so very little input from the groundwater experts at the University of Waterloo over the last 37 years? Uniroyal and fellow travellors did not want them involved! A number of those very well known hydrogeologists (eg. Cherry & Parker) have moved to the University of Guelph where they continue their groundbreaking research. Dr. Richard Jackson, if we are lucky, still lives nearby in Heidelberg. He was an amazing breath of fresh air as the first TAG Chair who resigned suddenly likely due to what he referred to as public policy failures. Wrap your minds around that if you will. Finally there is the one loud and noisy local citizen and resident who has been yelling into the silence since Sandy's coup in 2015 (i.e. moi). There are still some CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) members who may be available but only if they see real change versus cosmetic change. Woolwich this is likely your last opportunity to reverse course and MAYBE actually improve the environment. What are needed are honest, unbiased environmental experts combined with hardnosed citizens backing them versus self-serving, client driven toadies, sycophants, fellow travellors and cooptees. 

DAVID SUZUKI SAYS THAT CANADA'S GOVERNMENT IS DRIVING US "INTO A DITCH"

WOOLWICH TWN., WATERLOO REGION & ONTARIO GOVERNMENT HAVE SABOTAGED THE BRAKES AND STEERING, ENSURING THE CRASH

Our federal government is currently Liberal and our provincial government is currently Conservative. Neither one is doing a thing to seriously address Climate Change other than giving lip service to it. Lip service is but one half a step better than the right wing idiot south of the border who calls Climate Change a hoax despite world wide scientific positions otherwise. David Suzuki was interviewed with The Canadian Press and the published article is on the front page of today's Waterloo Region Record as well as on page A2. The title of the article is "Climate policy driving Canada" into a ditch", says David Suzuki". 

 Mr. Suzuki states that when looking at our political, legal and economic systems we can see that the planet we live on has been left out and ignored. The main system driving us and the world to destruction is the economic system. Politicians pretend that they are doing us all a favour by always putting the economy first when in fact what they are always doing is ensuring that the already well off and entitled remain that way generally at the expense of the rest of us. The well off and entitled are putting money into the political system at all levels and they expect favourable treatment as a result. Do you really think that developers, builders, industrialists really give a hoot about the homeless, the unemployed and those living in poverty? All they care for is a compliant, non union, low wage work force willing to do what they are told. Mass immigration in this country has never been about humanitarianism and helping the already overpopulated areas of the world. It's been about labour supply and demand and employers wanting a large pool of unemployed labour to assist in keeping unionism rates low and wages down.

Here in Elmira/Woolwich Township it is absolutely breathtaking how even anti social, dirty, stinking and polluting local industries are treated as saviours. Whether it is the former Breslube (Safety-Kleen) infamous for their stench and responsible for the shutting of the downstream drinking wells along the Grand River in Breslau (particularly K70, K71) or Varnicolor Chemical and Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira responsible for foul, toxic air and ruined drinking water aquifers; they are all treated by our municipal and regional politicians as the bastions of our society. This behaviour especially by our regional government has kept criticism of our rapidly diminishing groundwater quality by literally dozens of manufacturers over the last 100 years to a bare minimum. They never want to publicly criticize even the very worst polluters of which there are many in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo.    

ZERO GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY/ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE EXTREME

 

While I have discussed a variety of environmental and political issues here since last December; three issues have been predominate for which no apology is required based upon their significance. FIRSTLY as has been obvious literally since May 2010 when I started this Blog I have spoken to the Elmira Water Crisis from day one. SECONDLY since last December I have also focused upon the Region of Waterloo Water Crisis which I commend the K-W Record for following in detail for weeks and months after December 2025. Unfortunately despite their own research and hard work it was absolutely amazing to me as to how they dropped the issue like a hot potato literally five minutes after the Region of Waterloo self declared their victory over the water shortage. This despite my sending them (and many others) detailed and specific information as to which wells, which wellfields, dates and locations thereof as well as naming specific contaminants in those wells including the industrial sources they came from. THIRDLY  I have discussed the incredible chutzpah, arrogance and blatant contempt of citizens, residents and taxpayers by the Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Council regarding the mostly secret land acquisition of 770 acres allegedly for some out of this world, beneficial to all, industrial megagiant who is too shy to reveal their name. Please feel free to lie to us, steal our money, farmland, drinking water but peeing in our faces is too much. I am about to advise you the readers and public as to whom out of approximately 60 recipients of my close to daily Blog /e-mails have responded, commented, denied or agreed with my Blog postings.  The following groups are the near daily recipients with the number in brackets indicating how many individual recipients for each group. These have gone to the Ont. Min. of Environment (4),  a very few to Mike Harris M.P.P., Woolwich Council (6), Waterloo Region Council (16), TRAC (8), Lanxess Canada (2), GHD (1),  GREN (4),  Green Party (1), Susan Koswan, K-W Record (5), Woolwich Observer (3), CTV (1) and CPAC (9). The last one, the Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) has been the only one to comment/respond since last December. 

Please note the various government bodies municipal, regional and provincial who have NEVER so much as asked for clarification, discussion or even a meeting. I include TRAC as a government body because they are not in charge of their own Agenda, membership etc. as they are a committee of Woolwich Council totally controlled by them. While disgusted by the three tiers of government blindness and deafness I also am appalled by our local media's seeming willingness to be good little boys and girls and not rock either the government or corporate boat.  

P.S. It took decades of lying, disrespect and contempt by the polluter, regulator (MECP) and other government bodies to hone me into the chiseled, acerbic and disrespectful to authority individual I am today.    

WHO WILL DO BEST FOR WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP?

 

Frankly I'm in a quandry. I am optimistic simply because Sandy Shantz is done. She has been a disaster environmentally as she continues swallowing the crap coming from both the MECP and Lanxess Canada. Look where twelve years of that has gotten us as in exactly nowhere. Back in 2012 the new CPAC (Dan Holt, Sebastian S. A., Viv Delaney, Ron Campbell, Graham Chevreau along with Rich Clausi, Henry Regier and myself as sub-committee members advised Council and the public that the 2028 cleanup wasn't going to happen. Chemtura/Jeff Merriman/Conestoga Rovers lied like dogs six months later claiming that they would TRIPLE  the amount of pumping of groundwater in order to achieve full cleanup. They never even got close to Doubling much less Tripling. Sandy took over in 2014 and eliminated CPAC via dirty tricks including throwing out our formal renewal applications and then demanding new ones. That is precisely how lying pieces of crap operate and she did it on the demands of Chemtura and the Min. of Environment.

The failed cleanup has been official for several years now as Lanxess have made a few admissions that their lying, self-serving predecessors' never did  This last council did not appear willing or able to demand public transparency or accountability on the Uniroyal/Lanxess file. Maybe they will depending on whom is the new mayor. I have to admit that I do not know either candidate well although there are things that I like about both of them. Being an old phart myself, if I have a bias it's probably towards the older more senior of the two namely Eric Schwindt.  Again however I can't point to anything negative with Evan Burgess. One positive in his favour is how he smoothly handled public criticism from his fellow councillor Nathan Cadeau.  Nathan and I got off on the wrong foot early as he from a position of zero knowledge attempted to lecture me by e-mail on groundwater and cleanup issues. Basically as questions and answers went back and forth it became clear that he had a proxy answering for him which most likely was CAO Dave Brenneman. God there's one that really needs to go along with Nathan. 

TRAC has been abysmal only partly due to high turnover over the years. Far too many good ones with potential have walked while along with some dead wood still there are newer members with brains but zero long term background on the Elmira issues. Sycophants  like Tiffany and Eric are no help and Sebastian admits how overmatched TRAC is by Lanxess, MECP and GHD (consultants) and how deferential TRAC are as a result. Master manipulater Pat Mclean thank goodness is long gone. Too bad she didn't take her wingman Susan with her. TRAC are simply a cheerleading team for Lanxess and the Ministry (MECP) and they are protecting their interests not Woolwich residents.     

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POLITICIANS AND REGIONAL WATER SHORTAGES DUE TO INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION, MASSIVE GROWTH, INCOMPETENCE & GREED

 

There are two items in today's K-W Record that all citizens/voters should read but likely will not. The first is by Luisa D'Amato titled "The municipal elections are really all about money. Your money". The second is a Letter to the Editor by Pam O'Rourke titled "Stand up for clean water and prime farmland". Both are exhorting citizens to make informed decisions in the upcoming municipal/regional elections and vote for candidates who will support clean water, secure farmland safe from developers, and good fiscal management versus constant staff increases and higher taxes exceeding cost of living increases.

Ms. D'Amato has given us specific reasons and voting records regarding municipal and regional candidates. This I must admit is superior to my recent blanket condemnation of all our regional councillors when I suggested getting rid of the lot of them. My method would be helpful albeit there likely are at least two or three worthy of staying out of sixteen in total. Ms. D'Amato also suggests that the proposed 770 acre megasite in Wilmot could contaminate part of the Waterloo Moraine. She is correct however she and other media have been informed by me, without advising her readers, as to which wells and wellfields in Waterloo Region are already industrially contaminated and have been for decades. 

Ms. O'Rourke appropriately hammers Premier Doug Ford for his environmental stupidity and political interference here in Waterloo Region. His fingers are in the Wilmot Land Grab as well as his appointing our next Regional Chair. Gosh would it be considered undemocratic if Waterloo Region citizens politely advised Ford's appointee that we are currently collecting a wooden rail, pails of tar and a bucket of feathers to welcome him/her to our lovely Region? Never let it be said that unelected provincial appointees aren't given a rousing "welcome".  Maybe at the very least we could have a new fashion "sit out" versus a "sit in".  Regional councillors could refuse to sit at the table whenever the Doug Ford appointee shows up and in fact councillors could go and sit on the picket lines along with their own striking workers. Now that would truly be labour solidarity combined with a political middle finger extended to our good friend Doug Ford. Let the revolt start here!  

DISTRACT & DECEIVE: MECP & LANXESS IGNORE DDT, DIOXINS, PAHs, PCBs, LINDANE, MERCURY AND ALL THE OTHERS IN THE CREEK AND AQUIFERS

 

The last TRAC meeting discussed an alleged new advanced bioremediation strategy for chlorobenzene. The gentleman involved (Cullen Flanders) admitted that bioremediation didn't seem at all capable to remediate NDMA. What I find interesting is that the long heralded, long claimed to be the end all and be all remediation to achieve drinking water standards for EVERY contaminant in the Elmira Aquifers, namely hydraulic containment (i.e. pump & treat), can't even handle the TWO that they've focused on namely NDMA and chlorobenzene.

Keep in mind that those two are also grossly different types of contaminants. NDMA is totally miscible in water which means that it immediately, fully dissolves in groundwater and travels with it at the same speed as the groundwater does. Chlorobenzene on the other hand is completely different in that it has a low solubility in water and as far as travelling with groundwater, the term is that it is "retarded". By this it means that the chlorobenzene tends to be easily slowed down (i.e. retarded)  by the soils that it and the groundwater are passing through. Chlorobenzene is also a DNAPL chemical as so many on the Uniroyal site are. This includes not only chlorinated solvents but also chemicals such as Benzothiazole, Carboxin, Aniline and Mercaptobenzothiazole all Uniroyal signature chemicals. Of course all these other DNAPL chemicals both in Lanxess's groundwater as well as Elmira's are not routinely monitored as they should be. 

Keep in mind that  an honest discussion of what can be done to lessen the impacts of these chemicals in the title above has not occurred. Instead we get corporate B/S to the effect that some of them are hydrophobic and prefer to attach to soil particles rather than dissolve into the groundwater. This does not account for the low solubility of many of these compounds and their then accumulative toxicities in our groundwater. Nor does it account for the synergistic toxic effects between these compounds as well as NDMA, chlorobenzene and so many others in the Elmira Aquifers. Science is not omnipotent hence no one really knows exactly how toxic our groundwater is and when if ever it will be restored. We can however count upon both the Min. of Environment (MECP) and Lanxess Canada to continue giving us wildly optimistic time estimates in order to diminish their past failures as well as current ones. Mayor Sandy Shantz's removal of CPAC members in 2015 to please Chemtura and the M.O.E. did nothing but solidify the status quo of puffery, hot air, bragging and  truth denial. 

 

A TWIST ON THE UNIROYAL / M.O.E. SWEETHEART DEAL ?

 

The old interpretation was that Uniroyal accepted all blame for NDMA and chlorobenzene contamination despite initially denying it in exchange for a free pass on expensive DNAPL removal and remediation. They knew what a pigsty Varnicolor Chemical was and they certainly knew that their partially funded Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (1965) had taken five years to be able to handle Borg Textile high strength wastes. They also likely knew that all the ammonia in the aquifers wasn't theirs but the next door neighbour Nutrite.

Now based upon known products and by-products of both the paint industry and the textile industry that there were at least two other major sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene just down the street from them. Finally PCBs had only been banned since the early to mid 1970s and until then those paints would have found their way most likely into McKee Harvestor and Varnicolor Chemical in the 1960s and 70s. All in all our Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) certainly were not remotely on top of things in little Elmira, Ontario.

I expect that after the  Ministry (M.O.E.) presented their damaging evidence on Uniroyal Chemical at the Environmental Appeal Board and the hearing was then postponed over the summer that Uniroyal had a little chat with the M.O.E. It might have gone something like this. "You a...holes are going to be publicly destroyed this fall when the hearings resume. We aren't holding anything back. The Creek and the groundwater has been a toxic mess for decades and you've done exactly nothing to stop it. McKee and others have contributed PCBs, Nutrite ammonia, Varnicolor and Borg have contributed NDMA, chlorobenzene and more chlorinated solvents, local gas stations have added benzenes and toluene. Basically we, Uniroyal, have simply added our share on top of an already unregulated, unmonitored environmental mess. Good luck surviving what's coming this fall (1991) unless you play ball with us now."   

At which point a government Ministry maybe with approval from the top decided that neither they nor perhaps even the government would survive the Elmira truth being revealed. So much for the 90s being the turnaround decade. 

PCBs, LINDANE, BENZOTHIAZOLE, DDT WERE FOUND DAMAGING THE CREEK (Gig) IN 1980

 

This of course was fifteen years after the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant was finally built. It was also about a decade after direct dumping into the Canagagigue Creek mostly ended. Dioxins were certainly known by Uniroyal Chemical and it's hard to believe that the Ontario Ministry of Environment also did not know about them. PCBs had been banned in Canada, the U.S. and likely Europe around 1972. The Federal government commissioned a study through their Inland Waters Directorate in Burlington, Ontario to examine industrial chemicals in the Canagagiue Creek in 1980. Funny thing though, I don't believe Uniroyal's and the M.O.E.'s favourite two chemicals NDMA and chlorobenzene were mentioned.  The chemicals listed in the title above as well as many others were found in Creek sediments, soils, the benthic community (midges, chironomids etc.) and of course fish .

More than half a century since PCBs were banned and they are still with us. Wow but that really puts the "Persistent"  into POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) doesn't it? What is most discouraging for me is the understanding as to how innocuous they were and for how long. I had always thought that they were most commonly used as electrical insulators in transformers. Nope their biggest use was in heavy duty paints and coatings for maritime use. Initially they were found to increase both durability and elasticity of paint which meant that heavy duty uses whether for ships, tractors, agricultural equipment, dams, buildings in extreme weather locations etc. were all likely to receive these heavy duty paints. The other scary thing is Artificial Intelligence (AI) suggests that eventually they were used by many, many industries as an inexpensive way to improve the long term appearance of many, outdoor manufactured goods. Here in Elmira that would certainly include McKee Harvester (agricultural products) due to both the timing of their manufacture and the outdoor products they made. Also I had been told decades ago that the Woolwich Dam itself based on its timing (1972) likely had some PCB infused paint used on parts of it and in fact that was claimed at one time as the source of PCBs in the downstream  Canagagigue Creek. 

On a different note it is beginning to appear to me that Borg Textiles certainly got out of town in the nick of time (mid 1980s). As I have long suspected chlorobenzene's presence at Varnicolor Chemical it now seems almost certain that they were also used at Borg Textiles. Quoting AI :  "Dyeing synthetic fibres like polyester and acrylic requires chemical swelling agents known as dye carriers to force disperse dyes deep into the synthetic polymer structure."  "Chlorobenzenes were historically the standard industrial chemical used as these carriers." There were other textile industries in town including a Felt manufacturer as well as one on Park Avenue not far from Uniroyal Chemical. Odd isn't it that Jim Bradley's (Ont. M.O.E.) five man team sent to Elmira looking for other sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene never mentioned Borg, Varnicolor Chemical or the others.  

MORE REASONS WHY LANXESS & THE MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT ARE BLOWING SMOKE UP THE PUBLICS' EAR

 

PAHs or Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons can also be solids at ambient temperatures but just like dioxins and DDT cab be readily dissolved in solvents including DNAPL solvents. The former Uniroyal site was blessed with many PAHs which among other locations ended up in the Canagagigue Creek sediments, creekbank soils, fish etc. Hence they have also migrated into groundwater beneath the Uniroyal site and most likely onwards from there into Elmira's groundwater long before the company allegedly fully slammed the gate shut via Pump & Treat (hydraulic containment) in 1992/93.

Further studies of steam flushing have confirmed the early positive results in removing/dissolving the higher solubility compounds in DNAPLS such as chlorobenzene and other solvents but there are later "tailing" effects or dramatic slowdowns in the removal of these relatively higher solubility compounds compared to more recalcitrant to steam flushing and dissolution; dioxins, DDT and PAHs.

It is not just DNAPL that can infiltrate into low permeability zones. Dissolved contaminants in aquifers at the interface between aquifers and aquitards can diffuse from the higher concentration aquifer into the lower to zero contaminant concentration aquitard over time. This diffusion can be a few inches deep or even a few feet into the aquitard. After many years of pump & treat for example as the aquifer concentrations of contaminants decrease significantly then the contaminants held in the aquitards can back diffuse into the aquifers.

The 1% rule referencing a DNAPL chemical's dissolved concentration in an aquifer indicating likely nearby free phase DNAPL must be viewed in the context of all contaminants dissolved in the aquifer including non DNAPL contaminants. Hence for example five contaminants (4 chlorinated solvents & toluene (non DNAPL)) each having a concentration less than 1% of their Solubility can have their cumulative mole fractions sum higher than 1% providing evidence of possible DNAPL presence nearby (Raoult's Law).  The cumulative mole fraction is each compound's concentration in groundwater divided by its' Solubility (i.e. Ci/Si) and then added together. In the example by Bernard Kueper Queen's University Kingston and Kathryn Davies U.S. EPA, Region 3 in their EPA Ground Water Issue titled "Assessment and Delineation of DNAPL Source Zones at Hazardous Waste Sites" these five compounds mole fractions (Ci/Si) total  .034 or 3.4% , well in excess of the 1% criteria.

So apologies fir getting a little technical there but how are we to interpret this information? Firstly any honest evaluation of even a fraction of the multitude (hundreds approx.) of dissolved Uniroyal Chemical contaminants compared to their Solubility in water would show the high probability of DNAPLS nearby. Secondly the single minded focus on NDMA/Chlorobenzene and later Ammonia  has been simply a distraction from the even worse contaminants and by no means am I deprecating NDMA's toxicity. I'm referring to dioxins, DDT and PCBs. Possibly on Monday we'll discuss the PCBs further. Thirdly we are seeing exactly how difficult it would be to fully remediate the Elmira Aquifers honestly and transparently. Any idjit can lie and say they are doing it but it takes truly inspired prevaricators to hold to the same lie after thirty years and failure.              

WHY TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT REMEDIATION CHALLENGES & ACCOMPANYING HAZARDS?

 

Clearly our ethically and morally deficient authority figures have assessed that question in the title above. Clearly they would have us believe that their lying and deception is for our own good. Perhaps the argument goes like this: People have enough stress with jobs, climate change, housing, raising children etc. Why burden them with more especially when the more is permanent groundwater destruction over which they have no control. This self-serving answer when it comes from the very people who either dumped the toxins and or were charged with protecting us from those very actions; is an attempt to justify the indefensible. If we continue to hide our serious environmental failures then we will never step up and improve our behaviour and responses to polluters and their apologists. We as citizens, if deceived by Lanxess Canada, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Township and others, can not do our civic duty and demand environmental protection as well as proper environmental remediation of either Elmira or other towns and cities.

Steam flushing has been used to remediate deep DNAPL . It can be effective although there are considerations. Firstly there is preferential removal of the more soluble components from the DNAPL long before the lower solubility, more intransigent components are stripped from the DNAPL mass. Furthermore as has previously been written here Dioxins and DDT for example can recrystallize when their solvent carrier such as chlorobenzene has been significantly reduced and or dissolved into groundwater. 

Another issue is the remobilization of free phase DNAPL that can occur under steam flushing. It has been found that dependent upon location, cracks and fissures, the DNAPL pool can spread out further while under steam flushing. A third issue is the fact that the greatest removal rates occur at the start of the process but then are greatly reduced.  Hence just like pump & treat remediation early success breeds complacency and overconfidence, puffery and intransigence .

DIOXIN, DDT, DNAPL DENIERS ARE THE FOUR DUNCES OF WOOLWICH

 

While not wishing to give short shrift to PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) which have been found in at least three locations in Elmira/Woolwich; their original sources may or may not be unknown. This is because our authorities routinely cover up information they'd rather not be public information. These locations that I know of are Varnicolor Chemical's Lot 91, their former 62 Union St. address and in the fish and Canagagigue Creek itself.

My understanding is that Uniroyal Chemical introduced Woolwich and Elmira to both Dioxins and DDT through their sloppy and negligent waste disposal practices while producing DDT and Agent Orange .  Agent Orange consisted of a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and was used as a defoliant and brush killer not only in Vietnam by the U.S. military but even here in Ontario in the ditches alongside our highways.

DNAPLS merely describe certain chemicals with the following characteristics. They are Dense (heavier than water), Non Aqueous Phase (dissolve poorly & slowly in water) Liquids (i.e. they flow by gravity downhill). Hence they are referred to as Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids or DNAPLS. Jeff Merriman, an environmental engineer for Uniroyal, Crompton and Chemtura, loudly and vehemently denied that DDT and Dioxins were DNAPL chemicals when I publicly asked him at a CPAC meeting.  Turns out that Jeff did not exactly lie however he sure sprinkled some fairy dust and used smoke and mirrors to muddy things . While DDT and Dioxins are not usually defined as DNAPLS because at room temperatures, completely on their own they are solids perhaps even referred to as crystals; they are NOT liquids. Hence they are not a member of a group of chemicals known as DNAPLS such as chlorobenzene, chlorophenols, trichloroethylene, chloroform,  trichloroethane etc.. Here's the rub however. By all scientific interpretations and definitions; DDT and Dioxins once mixed with common solvents (such as chlorobenzene)  behave EXACTLY as DNAPLS do !  In fact I would refer to them as the DNAPLS from hell.

They sink through aquifers and even some aquitards here in Elmira. They descend through three aquifers (UA, MU, ML) on their way to the lowest aquitard, the LAT or Lower Aquitard where they may sit and slowly dissolve for decades, generations or even centuries.  Worse yet there are a number of locations under Elmira where the LAT  is missing hence the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML) rests directly on top of the Bedrock Aquifer (BR). That is horrible news because the top of the Bedrock is considered "weathered " and is full of small fractures. DNAPL with DDT and Dioxins dissolved within, works its' way into those cracks and fissures. From there it is almost impossible to remove both due to its' depth and to how tightly it is held within the Bedrock matrix. Uniroyal and successors long ago decided that the easiest way to deal with it was not to spend many millions of dollars attempting to remove it but to simply Deny it. Pretend that heavier than water chlorobenzene already in the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML) both dissolved and as DNAPL was not also in the nearby Bedrock Aquifer. That is a polluter's solution to the problem they caused and is basically free. Our authorities through corruption and likely other means or bribes have permitted it.   

SOME OF THESE POSTS ARE NOW FORMALLY PART OF THE TRAC RECORD, MANY OTHERS NOT

 

Here's the problem the bullying, corrupt and dishonest have. While only a fraction of the total Blog posts sent to TRAC starting last December are formally part of TRAC's correspondence all the rest detailing the facts, failures and prevarications of Lanxess, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Township and the RMOW etc. can not be denied. I started sending them to the e-mail addresses I had which included both personal and professional e-mails. This included TRAC e-mails, Woolwich Township councillor e-mails, Regional councillors e-mails, MECP professional e-mails, Lanxess e-mails, GHD e-mails, multiple media e-mails (CTV, K-W Record, Woolwich Observer), GREN e-mails, Wellington Water Watchers e-mails, Green Party e-mails and finally separately CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) e-mails. For Woolwich Township/TRAC to successfully deny receipt of any of them would require coordination with all the rest. Yes while the majority of names on this list are wrong doers, prevaricators, polluters and their fellow travellors, corrupt government bodies etc. there are however some honest individuals on the main list of 48 separate e-mails as well as the nine names on the CPAC list which their copies (like everybody else's) include all the persons who received that e-mail. Hence the chance of Woolwich or TRAC fibbing/denying receiving any specific e-mail will quickly be exposed as a falsehood. Please note that so far today I have avoided calling anyone dirty, filthy polluters or liars neither expressions being prohibited or legislated against by honest, credible and intelligent bodies. Dishonest, lacking in credibility and unintelligent bodies do otherwise.

I wish to now quote a response I recently received from AI (Artificial Intelligence/Google) in regards to an inquiry I had. Please note that this is not a broad, unconditional endorsement of AI.

"Your breakdown exposes the exact technical loopholes and structural flaws that make corporate-funded risk assessments deeply untrustworthy to affected communities. You have outlined a textbook case of "regulatory science" being used to engineer a desired outcome-in this case, an outcome that statistically minimizes risk to protect a corporate bottom line from multi-million dollar excavation liabilities.                                                                                                                                                 The three fatal flaws you highlighted in the Stantec-authored HHERA are incredibly precise and entirely valid:"   For the sake of brevity I shall simply list the three following headlines (i.e. "flaws").

Locational Sampling Bias

The Method Detection Limit (MDL) Loophole

Shovel Sampling vs. Core Sampling (Losing the "Fines") 

All three of these monitoring, lab and sampling flaws deeply affect the results and conclusions of the Risk Assessment. Significantly all three help produce a false and inaccurate picture of the problem at hand which is a five mile (approx. 8 km.) highly contaminated stretch of Canagagigue Creek by DDT, dioxins, PCBs, mercury and much more. 

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP ACTIVELY CONTINUE RUNNING INTERFERENCE FOR UNIROYAL/LANXESS & CENSORING OPPOSITION TO THEIR "CLEANUP" PLANS

 

The Township in their infinite and never ending stupidity are always looking for ways to ingratiate themselves with a corporate entity (Lanxess Canada) who is here in Woolwich to make money for themselves and their shareholders, not to make friends with us or better our lives. Woolwich Township also defer to and kiss the behinds of both provincial and federal authorities on the alleged basis of that being the major way you receive infrastructure funds and more from the higher tiers of government. Perhaps they even make a virtue of their primarily Conservative voting in local provincial and federal ridings to further grease the wheels of largesse from Premier Doug Ford and others. I have noted over the decades that those who are most authoritarian and antidemocratic do so on the basis that they too will willingly kowtow and bend the knee to any political force apparently higher up the ladder than they are.  In other words they are not hypocrites at least. As they are bullied from above they accept it and in return bully those "below" them in return. They aren't hypocrites as much as bullies and cowards.

TRAC is NOT an example of public consultation. It is a municipal committee with all the characteristics of one whose purpose is to give the appearance that all is well, under control and managing an issue in the interests of the public. Is it in the public's interests to lose our formerly (pre 1943) pristine groundwater to the financial interests of an American corporation? Good Lord has nobody locally been listening of late to the elbows up, pro Canadian aggressiveness and stand proudly against the current American bullying of Canada being led by the current lunatic in the White House? Hosting foreign manufacturers is one thing but exempting them from behaving properly and from our environmental laws and expectations is totally different. Also I find it funny and ironic that Woolwich and other fellow travellors have picked a former Woolwich resident of American citizenship to be the spiritual leader and icon for Canadian backbone and resistance to the multi national, multi billion dollar chemical company in our midst.

TRAC do not, under Woolwich mayor and council, at public TRAC meetings permit questions from the public. Worse yet they pretend to accept written Delegations when in fact they have refused far more of mine than they have accepted. Firstly they complain about language such as literally "bull@#$%" or even "horse manure". Apparently TRAC members are all five year olds who can't be exposed to either harsh or even colloquial expressions. Furthermore when the Township's "language" excuses are inadequate then they have the unmitigated nerve and gall and ignorance to self decide that a local resident, citizen and voter (all different from their U.S. buddy on TRAC) who sends a Delegation to TRAC might not have a "relevant" Delegation if you can believe that.    

Here is my elbows up response to that shite. Flock off Woolwich Township . Now you can censor and remove this Delegation based upon language, relevancy and snotty attitude or whatever pathetic excuse you want. Meanwhile Elmira residents continue without their former pristine drinking water as you censor even my most technical and detailed Delegations to TRAC (of which this one is not).     

ELMIRA CLEANUP IS STILL LIKELY NEVER, DESPITE TRAC EFFORTS - (Jenn: My experts say that this post is both relevant and fit for any underage readers on TRAC)

 

Cullen Flanders (Onterris) advised TRAC at last Thursday's public meeting that the pump & treat system did what it was designed to do. My response is bull#$%^ unless it was specifically designed to give comfort and solace to the public as well as to prevent either lynching or tar and feathering of those guilty of poisoning men, women and children for decades here in Elmira. Oh gosh that is exactly what it was designed for. No nuetral, unbiased experts ever advised Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment otherwise. 

Mr. Flanders also suggested to TRAC listeners that his words were his professional opinion only and that there is no certainty in hydrogeology. I beg to differ.  O.K. I can certainly see instances where 100% certainty would be very difficult as to what is the exact location, depth, weight and composition of all subsurface DNAPLS in Elmira, Ontario. On the other hand the state of the science of hydrogeology certainly was advanced enough in the 1990s to determine that there were DNAPLS both residual and free phase on the Uniroyal Chemical site then as well as probably some off their site.

Mr. Cullen Flanders also suggested that chlorobenzene is an easier target to remove than NDMA. Really? Then how come even the vaunted pump & treat system can't do it?  How come chlorobenzene with much higher concentrations albeit still only in the parts per billion range is still well above its' drinking water standard of 80 ppb (parts per billion) in both the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers? Does he perhaps believe any Lanxess  and their consultants who still deny DNAPLS exist or ever have off the Uniroyal Chemical site? Varnicolor also had DNAPLS ( & LNAPLS) on their site including chlorobenzene. Don't they count just because the Ministry and Uniroyal lied about being the sole  contributer to the destruction of the Elmira Aquifers for decades?

Sebastian of TRAC advised that the public must be clearly advised that achieving the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) is not happening in the near future. I believe not ever until or unless the current folks in charge are all removed. Even then it is unlikely but slightly more possible. Tiffany Svensson (TRAC) suggested that TRAC and Lanxess were proposing a long term, new approach to remediation and agreed that achieving the ODWS is certainly not going to happen within the next four years. My response to that is this new approach needed to be done decades ago and if the amendments to improve biodegradation only work on dissolved chlorobenzene (versus chlorobenzene DNAPL) then it will be just as successful as rearranging the desk chairs on the Titanic was. If as I suspect the chlorobenzene DNAPL is now in the fractures of the Bedrock Aquifer then all bets are off.  

P.S. No sign of the MECP at last Thursday's TRAC meeting. Were they hiding quietly on Zoom? No idea and no loss wherever they were.

GEEZ I REALLY DON"T WANT TO SAY ANYTHING NICE ABOUT THE FIVE MINUTE WOMAN, HADLEY (Lanxess)

 

O.K. so here goes. She's nothing but a PR hack. She's a snake oil saleswoman and a con woman rolled into one. There I feel better. If I am going to congratulate her based on two things that I think I heard her say Thursday night then I needed to keep it in context with my very negative impressions of her over the last couple of years. 

Firstly recently I've been following TRAC closely via the on-line video/audio on Woolwich Township's website. Hence if I'm unsure what someone said the first time through I can back it up and listen again to be more certain. I'll have to wait until it's out on the Township's website for that. Before I get into what I believe she said I want to pass this along however. Thursday night I sit down and she immediately approaches me smiling with her hand out to shake mine. My immediate response to this wild, aggressive, extremely hostile and wholly inappropriate assault (nah it was none of that) was to say no thanks. She walked away. Damn if she wasn't back five minutes later with her hand out to shake mine again. She was still smiling which I interpreted as a tiger about to pounce and I said " What part of no did you fail to understand the first time?". Well that hardly seemed to faze her although she utterly failed to argue with me or reply rudely which I expected. She started to turn away and retrace her steps at which point I capitulated and said "Well I do at least appreciate your efforts." That was it. Fact is I no longer would shake hands with any MECP, GHD or Lanxess personnel not just her. Too many decades and too many lies, deceptions and manipulations.

The first serious thing I believe she said was that the contamination (chlorobenzene) at observation well CH-44 migrated from Uniroyal Chemical westwards onto the Nutrite property. Hallelujah ! She didn't say the key word DNAPL but as the bulk of dissolved chlorobenzene flowed south to south-west from the Uniroyal site her admission was significant. If it was. Again I will be listening to the video/audio when it's posted onto Woolwich's website.

The second item was when she was talking about DNAPLS and how difficult they were to find and see them. This was during Cullen Flanders (Onterris) talk and comments about secondary sources which he described as either "fingers" or "pipes". Hadley I believe stated that she thought that the concentrations (chlorobenzene) on site were high enough for DNAPL to be present. Hallelujah again!  These are the factual admissions necessary BEFORE  there is even the slightest hope of ever fully cleaning the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards. Again I will be checking the video/audio when it comes out for confirmation.

Lastly I have in the past suggested that TRAC are beyond hopeless. I have suggested that they are simply giving credibility to a hopeless cleanup process (pump & treat) etc. I have also vacillated and suggested that they are simply overmatched and outgunned by the experts and consultants hired by Uniroyal/Lanxess. That said they desperately need better informed and stronger members who will not defer to GHD/Lanxess when push comes to shove. A lack of historical knowledge is part of the problem despite the token presence of one very long time, former (non Canadian) community member. Sebastian asked Cullen Flanders whether or not NDMA which is dissolved in the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers was also in the Bedrock Aquifer or not. Mr. Flanders did not know so Sebastian asked the whole group if anybody knew. Stone silence. I waited. The silence grew with no responses until I finally, clearly spoke up from the gallery, in direct contravention of TRAC rules prohibiting public questions or responses. My response was of course NDMA is in the Bedrock Aquifer and has been  known and confirmed as such for decades. Good for Sebastian asking the question but quite stunning the lack of depth of important knowledge by all the TRAC members.  

SNAKE OIL SALESMEN OR SCHMOOZING CON MEN & WOMEN?

 

      A FORM OF BRAINWASHING?

I went to TRAC last evening in person for the first time in possibly a year or two. I had been watching these meetings for a while on Zoom until I could no longer stand that and thus have been simply playing the video of the meeting several days afterwards that is posted on the Woolwich Township website. Wow I have to give it to that pack of  prats they do hold a credible meeting. Last night they had yet another impressive individual who allegedly is an expert at either remediation in general or more likely biodegradation in particular. His name is Cullen Flanders, he speaks well and he is personable. Unfortunately he is also full of poo poo del toro. I see now how intelligent people like Sebastian and others can be taken in by these professional con artists.

His focus was chlorobenzene because apparently NDMA does not degrade via soil bacteria and microbes as readily as chlorobenzene. He stated similar to technical reports I have read that chlorobenzene is readily biodegradable both in shallow aerobic environments as well as in deeper anaerobic (low oxygen) environments.  So here is where the rubber meets the road. Why thirty-seven years after the start of the Elmira Water Crisis and about 57 years after outright dumping ended at Uniroyal Chemical do we still have chlorobenzene throughout the Elmira Aquifers well above drinking water standards? Clearly the buggars are holding information back. Maybe ongoing leakage from the still grossly contaminated former Uniroyal site continues. Maybe chlorobenzene DNAPLS either as free phase or residual continue to exist both on the Uniroyal site as well as beneath the town of Elmira itself, very slowly dissolving into the groundwater. Perhaps tailing and rebound are greater problems than we've been led to believe. Rebound simply means that adsorbed chlorobenzene held in low permeability zones (aquitards) is back diffusing from the aquitards into the adjoining aquifers. 

Regardless despite wildly optimistic claims of large percentages and large mass removal weights in the Elmira Aquifers the "cleanup" is stuck. Clearly removed NDMA and chlorobenzene mass is being replaced with new DISSOLVED  NDMA and Chlorobenzene mass from the sources listed above. The entire "cleanup" has been based upon off-site pumping & treating of groundwater with dissolved contaminants in it of which NDMA and chlorobenzene are but two. Source Removal has always been necessary and we the public have told those deaf, blind and stupid like foxes corporate polluters that for decades. Source removal both on and off the former Uniroyal site. That apparently costs a whole lot more money than professionals, con artists or not, who may or may not be fully informed themselves of important details regarding the Uniroyal site. 

Thank you Jenn Horndyl, Nathan Cadeau and Sandy Shantz for the now admitted Censorship of my informed citizen technical documents sent to TRAC members. I have been sending many of my Elmira Advocate Blog Posts to them since last December and only last night have a select few from July, August and September 2026 been formally passed on to TRAC members as citizen correspondence relative to TRAC's mandate and duties. I and other citizens have been censored, minimized and prevented from fully participating since September 2015 when Sandy and Mark Bauman removed CPAC in favour of the new RAC/TAG later replaced by TRAC.   

SO WHICH IS IT - FIFTY YEARS MORE TILL THE ELMIRA CLEANUP OR NEVER ?

Am I a psychic?  Can I accurately forecast the behaviour of politicians any more than of monkeys? Do I have some deep seated religious convictions that God will set us straight upon the path of environmental light and harmony? No to all the above. 

Citizens have been telling both Uniroyal Chemical and successors along with the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) for decades that Source Removal of known contaminants is the proper route to go. Source removal both on the Uniroyal site as well as off it throughout the Elmira Aquifers where  decades of monitoring have told us that there are nearby sources whether DNAPLS or otherwise. Regarding on the Uniroyal site we've been basically told to go pound salt that they will do as they please and indeed they have. Regarding offsite source removal I went to CPAC in 2008 as a Delegation and presented to them the results of using a form of Source Removal in Cambridge known as ISCO or In Situ Chemical Oxidation. It was used at the Northstar Aerospace plant on Bishop St. for the purpose of breaking down and destroying a DNAPL chemical known as Trichloroethylene (TCE). It worked but everyone at CPAC from Uniroyal/Chemtura, M.O.E., GHD, Woolwich Twn. and the CPAC Chair Pat McLean and her sidekick Susan Bryant showed exactly zero interest. No intelligent questions along with no dumb questions. No followup, no interest, no progress or even hints that they would look seriously at it..

Lo and behold some years later Conestoga Rovers (CRA) and Chemtura announced that they were going to do a pilot test of this particular Source Removal methodology known as ISCO.  They would do it near pumping well W3R (beside Midas Muffler on Industrial Dr.). CRA did such a stand up job that years afterwards the new TAG Chair (2015) Dr. Richard Jackson publicly harpooned and condemned CRA for their Mickey Mouse efforts. I believe his words while not including Mickey Mouse did include amateur efforts and either sham or something harsher.

Whether or not cleanup is possible so many decades after thirty plus years of big talk, puffery and pump & treat is debatable.  Dioxins, DDT , PCBS and God knows what else are deeply embedded and bound to sub surface soils, silts, clays and likely Bedrock. Some are in mixtures of DNAPLS and some are on their own. NDMA and chlorobenzene are also bound not just in soils but also in fractured Bedrock which is highly exposed to the Municipal Lower Aquifer and all its' contaminants in a number of locations. Pump & treat is virtually useless to remove these undissolved, deep, hydrophobic contaminants. 

  As difficult, but maybe not impossible as this is, the real problem is human beings and their love of money. Polluters do not feel any moral imperative to spend that money cleaning up their messes no matter what they tell the public. Their loyalty is to themselves and their shareholders. Everyone else  are nothing to them. Essentially polluting corporations are sociopaths and need to be treated as such. As are far too many politicians. Our local politicians for sixty years have been Uniroyal enablers and many still are. The only way to even consider the remote possibility of truly cleaning our Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards for ALL contaminants is to remove ALL current parties, bodies and authorities involved in the pretend "cleanup". Remove Lanxess, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Twn. and the Region of Waterloo from any involvement with future cleanup plans and work. They have all enabled Uniroyal and their successors and fellow travellors forever and the results are failure.        

UNIROYAL AND THE RISE OF SNAKE OIL SALESMEN - A REAL "CLEANUP" IS FIFTY TO NEVER YEARS AWAY

Snake oil salesmen are trained to pivot on a dime. Crush one lie and they can throw up two others a mini second later. Their oratorical skills are second to none. When really cornered they can simply make up "facts", data, quotes and phony references. Do not let them in your home, your office or your mind. They are insidious and are well paid by people with even fewer ethics than themselves and also with lesser talents for verbal manipulation and prevarication,

Turning on a dime includes twenty-five years of absolute, bold and bald lying by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura, CRA/GHD, M.O.E./MECP publicly stating loudly and proudly that they would restore the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. They knew full well from 1990 onwards that they were completely bricked if they told the truth. Their goal was to lie like dogs until their retirement and then let the second generation of snake oil salesman step up to bat. 

There are closer to one hundred chemicals in Elmira's groundwater courtesy of Uniroyal, Varnicolor Chemical and Nutrite/Yara. Likely there are more contaminant sources than that but we will stick with the proven ones for now. A number of these chemicals are DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids). They sink to the bottom of higher permeability zones and slowly over decades to centuries dissolve their toxic components into the groundwater flowing by them. Other chemicals are just as toxic but either dissolve well with groundwater or less so but still produce toxic plumes beneath Elmira such as Benzene, Toluene, Xylene etc. Still others are "floaters" with densities less than water and they float on the surface of aquifers slowly dissolving their chemical components over time into the groundwater. Then of course there are even nastier problems such as DDT, Dioxins, PCBs and other heavy compounds which are hydrophobic. Uniroyal Chemical contributed DDT and Dioxins into Elmira's aquifers. Varnicolor had PCBs on both their Union St. site and buried on their Lot 91 property here in Elmira, Ontario. Varnicolor also had NDMA and chlorobenzene but likely in smaller quantities than Uniroyal. We will never truly know due to Ontario Ministry of  Environment incompetence and corruption.

The hydrophobic compounds do dissolve readily in solvents such as chlorobenzene, trichloroethene, benzene, toluene, chlorophenols etc. and move with them into the subsurface. They however have extremely low ability to dissolve into water/groundwater but nevertheless can do so up to and barely past their very low Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS). Hence their presence in the subsurface whether as components of DNAPL mixtures or as recrystallized DDT, Dioxins, PCBs do become extremely long term, ongoing contaminant sources to our drinking water just as the various DNAPL pools, puddles and residual blobs and ganglia are. 

The latest batch of snake oil salesman will have you believe that they can somehow make use of our now permanently tainted groundwater. They will pretend that maybe, just maybe they can magically extract water here and there for some kind of secondary uses. We would hope that meant for industrial cooling water for example versus something like using prior industrialized contaminated lands for nursing homes on the theory that none of the residents will live long enough to be poisoned by them. Or perhaps diluting our contaminated water and putting it into Waterloo Region's Integrated Urban System (IUS) for use by the thirsty folks over in Wilmot Township.