FIDDLING WHILE WEST MONTROSE BURNS

The fiddling mentioned above did cost $150,000. An Ultraviolet (UV) Disinfection System was installed in January 2015. I've reviewed the Region of Waterloo's ANNUAL (Drinking Water) REPORT for the last three years and there are improvements. I would suggest that their drinking water has moved from third world grossly contaminated raw water being overdosed with chlorine to third world raw water being better treated at the end of the pipe. It still has too high chloramines and Trihalomethanes (THMs) but not nearly as bad as it was in 2013. The problem is still the highly bacteria contaminated raw water in the four West Montrose wells.

It is this high bacteria counts including Total Coliform and E.Coli that are the problem. E.Coli killed seven and made a couple of thousand people very sick in Walkerton in 2000. For the last two years I have been posting here and going to Woolwich Council warning the public about the West Montrose drinking water. The Region have claimed that the high bacteria counts are solely due to the influence of the nearby Grand River. While surface water does have higher bacteria counts than groundwater normally; commonsense would indicate that West Montrose's homes being on septic systems are also the culprit. This leachate from the tiles in the septic system flows with the groundwater, you guessed it, directly towards the wells down by the Grand River.

Justice O'Connor preached in his final Report from the Walkerton Inquiry that drinking water requires a multi barrier approach. These barriers, literally from groundwater to your kitchen sink, are to ensure redundancys in the drinking water system. In other words even only a short term breakdown or bypass in treatment will not have catastrophic results similar to Walkerton. West Montrose for years has been a catastrophe in waiting. Either human or mechanical failure and the highly bacteria contaminated water will be in your body with possibly fatal results or longterm permanent damage.

If bacteria are the short term acute issue then THMs and Chloramines are the longterm health issue. There are studies indicating higher rates of cancer in water systems with high chloramines and THMs. The scary part in West Montrose is that both are present. Normally by using sodium hypochlorite and ammonium sulphate to produce chloramine versus straight chlorine this tends to reduce the formation of THMs which are a by-product of chlorine and organic compounds in the raw water. I can only believe that the presence of both is caused by the high doses required to kill all the bacteria in the raw water.

The only solution is a new water source for West Montrose and while I do not agree that eventually hooking them into the Integrated Urban Supply (IUS) via St. Jacobs is necessarily the best solution, it will get them less bacteria contaminated water. Meanwhile these ANNUAL REPORTS still don't mention how much water the Region are trucking into West Montrose each year, month or day. While these Reports are bad news is it possible that they are bogus? Could the Region be trucking in enough water to make these reports simply an academic exercise? Why are the public and West Montrose still in the dark regarding this life and death matter?

REMEDIATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RAC) MEETING ON THURSDAY MARCH 10 AT 3 PM.

That's right this public meeting is being held at 3 pm. in Woolwich Council Chambers on Church St. in Elmira. Who do you suppose other than retirees, government bureaucrats, politicans and polluters will be able to attend this meeting during normal working hours? Why precisely nobody and thank God none of the unwashed masses otherwise known as the public. This is the exact same stunt Pat & Susan pulled for years with CPAC. There were meetings that I actually lost a half days wages in order to attend because Pat/Susan and their buddies plus Chemtura and the M.O.E. didn't want public turnout and sure as hell didn't want to inconvenience their schedules to allow others to attend.

There were fireworks at the last RAC meeting on December 3, 2015 as Dr. Dick Jackson, Chair of TAG, took both Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) to task. The irony was spectacular as posted here in the Advocate on December 4 & 5, 2015. Sandy Shantz decided that a kinder, gentler facade was necessary. She certainly didn't want Chemtura or the M.O.E. "interrogated" no matter how outrageous their actions or words. I expressed my disappointment at the time that the only remaining local media, the Woolwich Observer, failed to attend and record this meeting. They have been attending Sandy Shantz's court dates in Kitchener for which I commend them but I do hope they will step up and attend more Chemtura/RAC/TAG meetings held right here in Elmira, a quarter mile from their offices.

Among items on the March 10/16 Agenda are the reappearance in Elmira of Dr. Ronald Brecher. Those of us with long memories are unlikely to forget his input during the early days of the Elmira water crisis. He will be discussing the Risk Assessment process which in my opinion has always been a "scientific", mathematical method by persons with an interest in the outcome justifying continued dosing of nearby residents with toxic chemicals.

This Risk Assessment of course is typically how the M.O.E. continue to delay actually taking action. While they have "generic" criteria and standards the minute those are grossly exceeded as they are in the Canagagigue Creek then stop the presses, a new study is required. The last time it was a "site specific risk assessment" to advise us that the criteria for Dioxins/Furans could be relaxed somewhat as the only receptors on the Chemtura site were shrews and trespassers. Such crap then and such crap now.

The East Side Soil & Groundwater Investigation report will also be discussed. This should be highly entertaining as Chemtura/GHD and the M.O.E. all do their best to minimize, deflect and distract. CPAC and TAG have both already reviewed and discussed this report and its' ramifications. Now the guilty parties will attempt to delay, distract, deflect and stall. As contemptible as that is realize the M.O.E. are doing it using our tax dollars.

Lastly will be TAG's Recommendations to RAC. This of course is why Councillor Bauman and Sandy Shantz set this process up as they did. In the off chance that TAG with new, inexperienced volunteers actually were able to do their duty as so far appears that they are doing, RAC could stifle and indeed shut them down. Citizen volunteers have zero authority and quite frankly minimal input as long as informed media are not present to report the goings on. RAC are filled with politicians and government bureaucrats and they are the buffer protecting both Chemtura and the M.O.E. from outraged citizens. Thus it has always been here in Elmira and other contaminated communities across Ontario.

LET'S CLEAR UP A FEW THINGS REGARDING THE MAYOR'S ELECTION FINANCE WOES

Firstly I'm going to include a link to yesterday's Waterloo Region Record story titled "Elections Act allegations against Woolwich mayor still not resolved". While I am disappointed in a number of factual errors in this story nevertheless Paige Desmond overall is a good reporter who is human. The title I'm O.K. with but as mentioned yesterday the very first sentence in the story is flat wrong. Secondly what both I and apparently the reporter for the Woolwich Observer heard was that the Crown had indeed determined that it is in the public interest for them to investigate and determine whether prosecution is viable. In other words this is what I referred to yesterday as a reasonable prospect of obtaining convictions upon a number of the charges already laid by me through a Justice of the Peace.

Regarding my accepting the outcome if the Crown don't proceed, to a certain extent that is obvious. I have no power or authority over the Crown Prosecuters. They will do what they will do and I will "accept" it however that doesn't mean that if there are any other doors available to bring accountability with the law to Woolwich politicians that I won't pursue them. At this point I'm simply along for the ride and maintaining my confidence in the system.

I am very pleased that Ms. Desmond has again clearly indicated that mayor Shantz has acknowledged three separate contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act. I believe there are substantially more and have provided that evidence to the prosecuters. It will be up to them and the courts to make the final decisions and mayor Shantz will certainly have every legal opportunity to defend and dispute any and all evidence presented.

Lastly Ms. Desmond has also repeatedly stated that my complaints "are in part motivated by concerns about the mayor's involvement on a now-defunct citizen committee that was charged with overseeing the cleanup of polluted groundwater in Elmira.". That "defunct" committee is NOT defunct. CPAC lives albeit as the Citizens Public Advisory Committee not as the former name of Chemtura Public Advisory Committee and yes I am but one of many members. Also the impression may possibly be given in the story and the repeated use of this quote from story to story that I am repeating this alleged comment each and every time. That is not correct. On one occasion many months ago Paige specifically asked me whether or not my battle with the mayor over her nasty and dishonest attack upon CPAC had any bearing upon my attempts to make her accountable under the law for her multiple contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act (MEA). I stated that while the mayor needed to take ownership and responsibility for her Election Act contraventions and that both democracy and the public interest demanded it, nevertheless I could hardly claim to be operating in a vacuum. Of course while pursuing these Election Act issues I had to be aware in the back of my mind that the mayor had behaved very badly by abusing her position as mayor to attack Woolwich citizens and volunteers on CPAC. From this I believe that Paige has suggested that my complaints "are in part motivated by concerns...". Maybe her interpretation is correct and maybe it's slightly overstated. You folks decide.

DID MECAC'S PERVERSE DECISIONS PROMOTE AN OUTSIDE PROSECUTER?

Yesterday in Provincial Offences Court I received some welcome news. Fortunately besides other citizens there were two media outlets present namely Liz Bevan of the Woolwich Observer and also the Waterloo Region Record. Both of them have stories in today's newspapers. Here is a link to the Woolwich Observer story. The Record's story is inaccurate when it states that a decision whether mayor Shantz "will be charged" is a month away. She was charged via a Justice of the Peace accepting my "Information" many months ago. My notes from yesterday's comments in court by the local prosecuter are as follows: "The public interest requires the Crown to intervene and to take carriage of the file." Similarily the Observer states "Prosecuters are going ahead with a case against Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz related to election expenses filed after the 2014 municipal vote." The Observer also states "In Provincial Offenses Court Wednesday morning, Crown lawyers said they intend to pursue charges brought forward by Elmira resident Alan Marshall.".

Well isn't that a huge turnaround from the nonsense MECAC have been peddling here in Woolwich Township? Apparently our legal system have a different attitude towards law breaking than our local bureaucrats and Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) members. Also our courts have a totally different idea in regards to conflicts of interest. For the first time it was spelled out clearly in court that the outside prosecuter is being brought in from London, Ontario in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

In court yesterday two elements were made clearer. Firstly the crown are proceeding based upon the public interest. As I have felt from the beginning our democratic system relies upon strict adherence to election laws and to enforcement when they are contravened. Any failure to follow up as MECAC have done puts the whole system in disrepute. Secondly however the Crown must be confident that they have a reasonable prospect for conviction upon charges laid. Just because they suspect or believe that a candidate has violated the Municipal Election Act is not sufficient grounds to go ahead with prosecution. Some of the charges I laid against mayor Shantz are black and white. Some of them she has already publicly admitted to. In my opinion those will be easy convictions. The more difficult prosecution if the Crown chooses to proceed on them are the ones alleging that she knowingly filed incomplete and inaccurate Financial Statements.

ELECTION EXPENSES IN COURT YET AGAIN TODAY

This morning at 9 am. in Provincial Court, 77 Queen St. Kitchener we will get a taste of what the outside, independent prosecuter is all about. I had filed through a Justice of the Peace ten Municipal Election Act (1996) charges against mayor Sandy Shantz of Woolwich Township. Some of these charges are relatively minor ones dealing with undeclared expenses as well as undeclared Contributions (donations). Others are more serious including her failure to include an Audit by the March 27/15 deadline. This Audit is automatic when either the expenses or Contributions exceed $10,000. In her case they both so exceeded. Another what I would characterize as a medium contravention was the acceptance of a corporate donation in excess of $750. Finally to my mind the most serious charges relate to the possibility of her intentionally and knowingly filing an inaccurate Financial Statement by the March 27/15 deadline. If that charge is proven in court then the consequences are serious.

I received one sit down discussion with the previous local prosecuter. I have absolutely no complaints regarding him or his professionalism. The new prosecuter has not been in contact with me, either by phone, e-mail or any other way. As the complainant I had expected that he would be as part of his due diligence. I do expect however that a fairly serious quantity of documents and paperwork that I had provided the local prosecuter was sent on to the new one. I expect but do not know. Therefore as of now I am as in the dark as to this morning's proceedings as you are.

HAMILTON HARBOUR RAP

Two centuries of use and abuse had made Hamilton Harbour into one of the original Areas of Concern on the Great Lakes. Located at the extreme western end of Lake Ontario it had been home to human beings for 3,000 years. Settlement by Europeans began in the very late 1700s and for the next two centuries saw ever increasing shipping, industrial development and ultimately human and industrial discharges into the bay area.

Two cholera epidemics due to a lack of proper sanitation in 1832 and 1854 were the initail cause for a sewer system being built which discharged raw human sewage into the bay. This continued until the first sewage treatment plant was built in 1963. The first shipping canal which pierced the sandspit separating Hamilton Harbour from Lake Ontario was built in 1827. A second canal called the Desjardins Canal was built in 1837 and it connected Cootes Paradise wetlands which were even further to the west with Hamilton Harbour.

Industrial growth and development including shipping facilities along the water's edge, particularily the southern shore, resulted in infilling of wetlands and removal of shallow inlet areas. Industries also included of course Stelco and Dofasco steel manufacturers and all wastes went into the water and near shore areas. A thriving commercial fishery collapsed in the very early 1900s and even the sport fishery was finished by the 1940s.

From 1985 through to 1988 public consultation and planning was underway for a Remedial Action Plan. By March 1989 the Stage 1 RAP was ready. It encompassed all known concerns from point discharges of industrial pollutants, contaminated sediments and more as well as combined sewer overflows (CSO). These CSOs have long been the bane of municipalities trying to have a method to handle extreme precipitation events. The sanitary sewers and storm sewers have cross connections in order to handle sudden storm events and huge volumes of rainwater. The result is both raw and partially treated sewage being released into the receiving waterways. These problems continue even today throughout Ontario and Canada. Greater infrastructure dollars are the solution to separating storm and sanitary sewers and keeping rainwater out of sewage treatment plants and sewage out of storm sewers discharging directly into our creeks and rivers, harbours and bays.

CHEMTURA CANADA PROGRESS REPORT FOR JANUARY 2016

The good news in this report is that they have managed to pump all their on and off-site wells at their target pumping rates for the entire month. If they had managed to do that for the past twenty-four years they wouldn't be years behind their own inadequate pumping schedules.

Table A.3 gives us concentrations of various contaminants in the groundwater at two different Upper Aquifer(UA) containment wells. These contaminants include Chlorobenzene, Toluene, 2-MBT, Aniline, Carboxin, 2,4-Diclorophenol and 2-Chlorophenol. All but the last two are in the thousands of parts per billion. This is gross groundwater contamination.

Table A.4 lists the groundwater contaminants in the off-site pumping wells and also includes the usual suspects. Of note are the NDMA concentrations still in the Elmira Aquifers including 1.99 ppb at W3, 11.6 at W5A and .23 at W5B. The drinking water standard needed to be achieved is .009 ppb.

Table A.5 lists contaminants found in the groundwater at seven different Upper Aquifer containment wells. The list of compounds is similar to Table A.3 but simply shows that the contamination is spread throughout the length of the Upper Aquifer in Chemtura's south-west quadrant.

Appendix B lists the MISA (municipal industrial strategy for abatement) outlets from the site discharging into the Canagagigue Creek. First off one of the historically bad offenders is AWOL. Where did MISA 0400 go? No mention as to why it is suddenly not being examined and published in this Progress Report. Trends in MISA 200, 800 and 1100 are nothing to write home about. The MISA SWS outlet however seems to be showing more decreasing trends in discharges of Aniline, Carboxin and Lindane. It's long overdue and these MISA storm and cooling water outlets have long indicated contaminated groundwater infiltration into them despite claims to the contrary.

Table C.2 as usual is showing that bis (2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate is higher entering the Chemtura property than leaving it. This is unusual. Toluene on the other hand is statistically still higher leaving the site than what it is entering it at the upriver end (North) of the site.

Due west of the site is a new pumping well which is supposed to be starting up this year. It has some truly horrid NDMA concentrations. Pumping tests were conducted last December for W9 and the results from one hour to twenty-two hour pumping tests vary from 53 parts per billion (ppb) to 100 parts per billion. Keep in mind that the drinking water standard for NDMA is .009 ppb.. While of course other compounds were also found it is these terrible NDMA results in Table D.1, decades after both on and off-site pumping have been ongoing, that made it obvious that Chemtura/CRA's original "cleanup" plans were doomed to fail. Both greater pumping AND on and off-site SOURCE REMOVAL are still required but even then time is fast running out.