Concerned about Chemtura’s ability to clean Elmira’s contaminated groundwater by the 2028 deadline, an environmental watchdog group wants the company to act more aggressively. The Chemtura Public Advisory Committee also wants the chemical producer to pay more to help it monitor the process, saying even the province isn’t doing enough.
In a presentation to Woolwich council December 11, CPAC chair Dan Holt said it could be decades before the aquifer under Elmira provides drinkable water again.
“There are only 15 years left until the deadline for complete remediation of the aquifer, and all signs indicate that the goal of clean water will not be met. At the earliest, we can hope for clean water from the aquifer in another 35 to 40 years,” he said, arguing the company must remove that contaminants at source rather than relying on a pump-and-treat protocol to remove contaminants from the water.
“These contaminants can and do last for hundreds of years, and if they are left in the ground and aquifer, why would anyone believe that they will suddenly stop making our drinking water toxic?”
Chemtura has been using a pump-and-treat process to remove a pair of toxins – NDMA (nitrosodimethylamine) and chlorobenzene – from the former drinking water aquifers underneath Elmira. Discovery in 1989 of the carcinogenic NDMA precipitated the water crisis in Elmira, leading to the construction of a pipeline from Waterloo, which supplies the town with water to this day.
An MOE control order sets out the company’s responsibility for dealing with the contaminants in the municipal aquifers, with a deadline of 2028.
Although acknowledging the company must make changes to its processes in order to meet the deadline, Chemtura officials say the goal is achievable. They attended Tuesday’s council meeting, but did not make a presentation. In a later interview, plant manager Josef Olejarz said an aggressive schedule will be put into place
“Our intention is to meet the deadline. We have no reason to believe we won’t meet the deadline.”
A report completed by Chemtura consultant Conestoga-Rovers & Associates and tabled at last month’s CPAC meeting indicates current pump-and-treat rates should be increased by as much as 300 per cent, new wells should be drilled and the company should look at the injection of additional chemicals to neutralize contaminants at their source, among other proposals.
For Holt, the report raises a host of questions, including the impact of pumping much larger volumes of water out of the aquifer, that must be answered before the company goes ahead with any of the recommendations.
Outside of treating the aquifer, some of Holt’s other comments regarding Chemtura rankled officials. His claim that the company had failed to receive a Responsible Care designation following a December 4 onsite visit, for instance, was countered by Dwight Este, regional environment, health, safety and security manager, who said a decision has not yet been made.
He also pointed to comments about the public relations firm hired by Chemtura, Sussex, as being part of the Responsible Care direction to increase the company’s engagement with its neighbours, not an effort to help Chemtura with its image, as Holt said in his presentation.
The company is trying to regain a Responsible Care designation from the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, which didn’t renew in the previous review in part due to the way the company communicates with the public.
“As a company, we are committed to the principles of Responsible Care,” said Este.
Chemtura expects to present its some of its revised roadmap for getting to the 2028 deadline at the next CPAC meeting in January.
