MORE ON THURSDAY NIGHTS CPAC MEETING

CPAC have been chasing the Ministry of the Environment for the specific groundwater cleanup criteria that will be required in 2028. George Karlos of the M.O.E. suggested he was working on it however there will be much more urgency as we approach 2028. This did not sit well with Ron Campbell, Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, Richard Clausi or CPAC Chair Dr. Dan Holt. All four pointed out that the urgency was now if you really think in fourteen years the current mess in the aquifers will be cleaned. To this George then replied he'd have the specifics within six months.

Discussion wandered briefly back to DNAPLS and graham Chevreau asked the M.O.E. if there were any penalties or consequences for Chemtura's failure to proceed with DNAPL cleanup as indicated in the November 4, 1991 Control Order. This had followed Jeff Merriman again pretending that there was concensus on an issue namely putting DNAPLS on the back burner. I pointed out that Chemtura could usually manage to get a supporter or two on CPAC who would agree with them but certainly a number of APTE members back in the 90's including Richard and I (& Esther Thur) never remotely agreed.

Dr. Dan again raised the issue of CPAC's funding request from Chemtura. Dwight Este suggested that it was still on the table even though they (Chemtura) had been delayed.

Vivienne Delaney raised the issues of Responsible Care as well as of Financial Assurance to be paid in trust to the M.O.E. in order to handle cleanup costs down the road. Both Graham and myself joined the conversation with our concerns. George K. stated that the Chemtura/Uniroyal Indemnity was not an impediment to obtaining Financial Assurance. Dwight Este (Chemtura) advised that Responsible Care was still months away and that they did not have clarity yet from the Chemical Industry Assoc. of Canada (CIAC) as to what the format would be regarding community involvement.

Regarding downstream sediment samples taken by the M.O.E. in Canagagigue Creek; the analysis of them continues. Both Graham and Sebastian had comments regarding both that as well as the lack of off-site monitoring south and east of Chemtura's property line. Graham hammered the M.O.E. on eight month to two year wait times for samples suggesting it was all about political will. His decades of experience tells him that when the will is there lab samples can be turned around within 48 hours. Sebastian advised that he was "shocked" with M.O.E. claims about up to a two year wait for lab results. Regarding east side off-site monitoring I publicly asked jeff merriman for any groundwater results they had from well CH57 just off Chemtura's north-east corner.

The M.O.E. presented information regarding their Sediment Assessment framework. it was interesting and advised about factors other than pure chemistry which determined if there were problems. these included impacts on the benthic communities. Both Susanna and graham inquired whether a conclusion had been reached after the first downstream testing in the mid 90's. Ron Campbell commented upon biomagnification issues. Reference was made by Chemtura to an on-site cleanup of the creekbanks in the mid 2000's. George Karlos indicated that the data from the last three summers hopefully will determine if there are still Chemtura sources discharging DDT or Dioxins downstream. Interestingly a M.O.E. rep suggested that they don't comment on human health issues after they were asked about them.

Sebastian inquired about other contaminated drinking water aquifers still being used . I raised points regarding those occurrences in Kitchenr, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph with specific reference to Trichloroethylene (TCE) in numerous Guelph wells. TCE is highly toxic and the cause of horrible health issues including death throughout North America. Susanna somewhat inexplicably stated that there were no wells in southern Ontario that were capable of adhering to the Ontario Drinking Water Standards. She then qualified this by stating that that was due to either hardness of iron in the groundwater. O.K. fair enough.

There was also discussion about the upcoming further scraping of three sites in GP1 to remove more DDT and Dioxins. Chemtura continue to cling to their untenable position that they did either a good or even satisfactory job in GP1 & 2. Richard Clausi pointed out that CPAC's position had been misrepresented at a Grand River Conservation Authority meeting two summers ago. Dr. Dan also commented to that in support of Richard. I further added that Jeff Merriman had been present at that meeting in which CPAC's non support of the GP1 & 2 cleanup had been misrepresented. My inference was very clear that Jeff failed to enlighten the GRCA reps present.

The next public CPAC meeting will be held at 6 pm. in the Woolwich Council Chambers on Thursday September 25, 2014.

CHEMTURA SILENT WHILE M.O.E. TAKES A THUMPING

It was the first CPAC meeting since June and the CPAC members and SWAT took no prisoners from the Ministry of the Environment representatives. It seems to me that CPAC have long ago figured out that both Chemtura and the M.O.E. consider CPAC as nothing more than token public consultation. The partners in pollution would prefer for CPAC to be widely seen as simply present, acquiesent and quiet. Did not happen last night.

I started the ball rolling in my formal Delegation to CPAC. I briefly quoted Jaimie Connolly, M.O.E. hydrogeologist, from last June's CPAC Minutes. In no uncertain terms Jaimie advised Chemtura and his own employers that hydraulic containment was not adequate. Source removal or reduction of DNAPLS and "hot spots" was required. Then I discussed a court Decision from earlier this month in which a 25 year lawsuit filed against the City of Kitchener and Hogg Fuels was dismissed. The issue was coal tar that the City had relocated decades ago onto the former Hogg Fuel property which then migrated onto the CN Rail property. CN sued but as the Judge stated; CN wasn't so much interested in getting compensation from the City or Hogg as it was in avoiding having to clean up their property. The result was that all parties buffaloed and bafflegabbed the M.O.E. for 25 years while "studying" the contamination and liability. My last discussion involved Trichloroethylene (TCE) contaminated drinking wells over in Guelph. Contrary to the Ministry's recent position that yes there are drinking wells drawing water from contaminated aquifers but only upstream; I pointed out that the Carter, Membro and Emma Wells were all drawing contaminated water from downstream. They then used everything from pumping rates, steel liners and dilution from other wells to attempt to reduce the concentrations of contaminants.

Graham Chevreau of CPAC mentioned an upcoming SWAT report summarizing the history of the Chemtura site and cleanup. He also verbally took the M.O.E. to task about their failure to date to respond with formal groundwater cleanup criteria and to their failure to address remaining significant sources of Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLS) on their site. He was also unhappy with the M.O.E.'s responses to requests for off-site testing of soils just off Chemtura's eastern border. Graham's summation to the M.O.E. was as follows: "In summary and for the record, it is SWAT's opinion that the MOE's efforts at seriously investigating surficial soil and sediment on and around the Site are inadequate, and their management of the cleanup is ineffective. It is also SWAT's opinion that MOE's response to CPAC in general is dismissive, glacially slow, and is unacceptable."

There was silence in the room after Graham finished. Sebastian (CPAC) asked George Karlos (M.O.E.) for his response. George was clearly taken aback by Graham's blunt and forceful denunciation and could only mutter "No comment" and "I have nothing to say".

Much more on last night's meeting will be forthcoming shortly.

MAINTENANCE & INFRACTRUCTURE PROBLEMS HIT K-W WATER SUPPLY

The title of the Waterloo Region Record front page Local Section story last Friday was "Water station down to one pump". Regional Councillor Jim Wideman, as expected, makes comforting noises about built in redundancies as does Thomas Schmidt, commissioner of transportation and environmental services. Apparently having three pumps for two reservoirs is considered by them to be a built in redundancy. Unfortunately there is a problem with their definition of redundancy. If they had real redundancy available then the one remaining pump would be able to pump out both reservoirs at a rate to keep up with demand. What I'm reading however indicates that one reservoir uses two pumps each at 420 litres per second and the other reservoir uses one pump at 840 litres per second. If it was the two smaller pumps that went down then the one remaining pump (840 l/s) could sucessfully pump from one reservoir thus reducing by 50% the quantity of water available from the Grand River. On the other hand if it was one of the smaller pumps plus the bigger 840 l/s pump that went down then the scenario is that 3/4 of our Grand River capacity has been reduced as the one remaining 420 l/s pump presumably can only pump 1/2 as much from one reservoir.

The Region of Waterloo have their own tradespersons available for emergency work. What apparently they haven't yet figured out is that tradespersons need the parts to install on a timely basis. Seven weeks awaiting for two pumps is simply ridiculous. These should have been bought and kept available as replacements years ago. This is not good management for something as vital as our public water system.

A PUBLIC CPAC MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT

The Chemtura Public Advisory Committee meeting is tomorrow night at 6 pm. in the Woolwich Council Chambers on Church St. in Elmira. Interestingly enough while Chemtura have their noses seriously out of joint over CPAC's ongoing pressure on them; it would appear that the Ministry of the Environment are also seriously under the gun. Revelations around DNAPLS and inadequate cleanup of Dioxins and DDT in their south-east corner (GP1 & 2) have put a strain upon their credibility.

Questions on tomorrow night's Agenda will deal with the latest field testing in the Canagagigue Creek as well as the further excavation (scraping?) of three 10 metre square areas in GP1 & 2. There will also be questions about Responsible Care, Financial Assurance and a financial report regarding how much taxpayer money the M.O.E. continue to spend on the Elmira Aquifer cleanup.

While CPAC and the public have been well represented at these meetings by the Elmira Independent, I still believe that too many members of the public have a naive faith in the system. They are content to let a few citizens carry the load in the battle against Chemtura and the M.O.E.; and let there be no doubt it is and always has been a battle. Therefore the more citizens who can come out and either observe or participate with questions the better.

GUELPH DRINKING WATER

Lip service has been paid to many recommendations of the Justice O'Connor Report produced after the Walkerton water tragedy. Justice O'Connor stated that a multi barrier approach was required to ensure that water at the end of the pipe was fit for human consumption. These barriers included source protection at the very beginning of the whole water treatment process. It meant not just protecting ground and surface water from future contamination at source but if necessary removing or remediating existing contamination. If that was not possible then the source intake for surface water or the source wells for groundwater had to be relocated. This is not rocket science it is just plain commonsense. That apparently puts it out of reach for our politicians.

Trichloroethylene is a DNAPL chemical. That stands for Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid. It is heavier than water (Dense) and has a very finite ability to dissolve in water. Therefore it can and does co-exist in the subsurface both in the dissolved state and as a separate phase (Non Aqueous Phase). DNAPLS can and do dissolve slowly in groundwater and literally can take decades to centuries to fully dissolve. Throughout that time period although they dissolve slowly nevertheless the concentrations can easily exceed the drinking water standard of 5 ug/litre for TCE (trichlorothylene).

It is quite obvious that there is a subsurface source or sources of TCE upgradient of the Smallfield, Emma and Membro wells. As is usual these reports go to great lengths not to identify guilty industries which have contaminated the public's drinking water. Nevertheless they are known to both the Ministry of the Environment as well as the local politicians. There is no excuse to not have remediated this source decades ago. Somebody or bodies with political and financial pull have managed to avoid being held accountable for these serious health risks put upon the citizens of Guelph.

TCE in the groundwater is not the only problem. It breaks down into Dichloroethylene (DCE) as well as into vinyl chloride (VC). DCE has already been found and measured in some of these wells. While the identification of these longstanding contaminants and their health risks in the Grand River Source Protection Area is a good thing; it begs the question what is the M.O.E. going to do about it. The most likely answer is precious little unless your municipal politicians get off their asses and demand removal of TCE and metabolytes from your drinking water.

MORE CONTAMINATED SOURCE WATER IN ONTARIO (GUELPH)

Well I guess this is neither surprising nor reassurring. Waterloo Region authorities are not the only ones playing fast and loose with drinking water. I had vaguely known of a possible plume emanating from the Eastview landfill but that was about it. This weekend I got further into the Grand River Source Protection Area reports that are on-line. There appears to be multiple copies such as "Proposed Amended Assessment Report", Draft Amended Assessment Report" and "Final Amended Assessment Report". Regardless Guelph has serious issues with nitrates and trichloroethylene in some wells. The interesting thing is the willingness of all supposedly responsible parties to keep this water in the supply system. Also interesting is how they do it.

"The Carter Wells (east side of Guelph) contain Nitrates at concentrations that frequently exceed the ODWQS of 10 mg/lfor Nitrate.". "The water from the wells is blended with water from the Arkell Spring Grounds to reduce the Nitrate concentrations to below the ODWQS.". Therefore unsafe raw water is O.K. provided you dilute it first according to those folks.

"The water quality for the Emma Well (N-W Guelph) has shown an increasing trend for TCE (trichloroethylene) since 1997." Recent water quality has been as high as 3.4 ug/l for TCE.'. The drinking water standard for TCE is 5 ug/l. TCE is highly toxic with multiple health issues.

The Membro Well is in the south-central area of Guelph. "Since 2002, the City has taken steps to slow the increasing TCE concentration trend in the well. In 2004, the City installed a liner in the well to limit the production from the well to depths of about 40 m below surface." Also "...the City has slowed the increasing trend by reducing the pumping rate of the well." Don't these operational fixes just give you a warm, fuzzy feeling about your drinking water?

The Smallfield Well is at the extreme western edge of Guelph. It was removed from service in 1994 due to TCE concentrations as high as 45 ug/l. However at the time that was O.K. because the drinking water standard was then 50 ug/l versus the current 5 ug/l. "In 2008, the City initiated a project to return the Smallfield Well to service." "The well was pumped (in conjunction with the (nearby) Sacco Well) for a period of 13 days..". Despite this attempt to dilute this toxic chemical they still had readings of 20 ug/l. Also they were aware of nearby groundwater readings of TCE as high as 50,000 ug/l. Therefore at this time this well is not being brought back into service. My question is with this well shut down since 1994 didn't anybody have the bright idea of remediating the source? Rather than letting it slowly dissolve and move downgradient why didn't the City or the M.O.E do a cleanup? Unbelievable!

So once again we see our municipal and provincial authorities more than willing to lie to us and give us poisoned drinking water. Nice of them to tell us that it is becoming routine to "manage" toxic water. This "management" can consist of dilution/blending, reduced pumping, steel liners in wells and whatever other bandaids they come up with. This folks is why over 40% of Canadians are experiencing cancers and other health issues.

THE EBB AND FLOW OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT IN ONTARIO

The above title is the exact title of a Study done by the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund back in May 2001. This on-line study was found and distributed by one of the current Chemtura Public Advisory Committee members, namely Graham Chevreau. This study details the budget of the Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.) from the late 1980's through till 2000. It also breaks it down showing how much went to reserach for example versus to Legal Services and or overall Enforcement. Finally the number of charges laid per year, the number of convictions and the dollar value of fines are all enumerated.

It is not a pretty picture and indeed the title says it all. Enforcement has ebbed and flowed in direct relation to the budget available to the M.O.E. to do the job. From a total budget of $664 million in 1992/93 to a low of $172 million in 2000/01 the lack of enforcement since the flurry in the early 90's is obvious. What is less obvious and behind the scenes is the required lobbying by business and industry needed to "achieve" this disaster. The 90's were supposed to be the turnaround decade and they started reasonably well. I now better understand how corruption in this country works. Instead of direct bribes to M.O.E. officials you simply do the exact opposite. You stop donating to political parties until they get the message. If they hold back money to the M.O.E. their party will benefit. Otherwise their political opponents will. What a perverse and disgusting system. It never fails to amaze me at how diligent the wealthy and powerfrul are at manipulating the levers of democracy in their own favour.

The irony is the stupidity of these wealthy and powerful people. Yes they and their friends and family make more money at the expense of the environment. Yes to a certain extent they can buy health and live in less polluted neighbourhoods. But only to a certain extent. They breath the same air and drink the same water and eat the same food. They are not immune to the health effects of a deteriorated environment. And they and their families will die all the sooner due to their "success" at lessening environmental enforcement by making the Ontario M.O.E. impotent.

It is class warfare but their aren't just winners and losers. There are losers and losers and our current system is broken.