Chemtura is planning new tests to determine whether any chemicals have leaked off of its property in Elmira – and some of these tests will take them to the spot where Canagagigue Creek enters the Grand River.
Other testing will take place along a 300-metre-long strip at the southeast corner of the Chemtura property, which advocates say has “never really been tested.”
“It’s important that we find out, if there is a problem, just how bad that problem is,” Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach, who chairs a Woolwich Township citizens’ group that monitors issues related to Chemtura, said Friday.
A new report from Chemtura – which was completed in August but only given to Siebel-Achenbach’s group last week – sheds some light on how much of a problem there may be.
According to the report, increased levels of the chemical NDMA have been found along the eastern edge of Chemtura’s property.
As a result, Chemtura will test soil on the other side of its property line, on a neighbouring farm property.
Siebel-Achenbach says he wants to see the chemical manufacturer test the soil three metres down, but doesn’t believe that will happen.
“All they’re doing is superficial soil sampling,” he said.
Separate from the tests on the farm, Chemtura will also be testing for DDT and other chemicals in the Canagagigue Creek bank, from its property downstream to the Grand River.
Chemtura spokesperson Tim Gagne says the company is ready for both tests on its end, but is still waiting on approvals from Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
“We’d like to begin right away, but we don’t have any sense from either the ministry or our neighbour when we might be able to begin doing that,” he said in an interview.
“We want to be sure that nothing has migrated … off our property.”
The tests of the creek are focused on soil and sediment, rather than water, which is tested separately.
Still, the creek does feed the Grand River, which supplies Waterloo Region’s drinking water.
Gagne says he understands concerns about contamination of the drinking water, even though tests have so far detected no major issues with water quality in the river.
“If it was my drinking water, I would also want to have every single bit of information,” he said.
The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change is still reviewing previous test results related to the Chemtura plant.
According to a ministry spokesperson, the most recent tests show less contamination in fish downstream of the plant, and nothing alarming as far as human consumption is concerned.
With reporting by Abigail Bimman
