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Source Water Protection? What a Joke…
This government says that source water protection is a big priority.
But actions speak louder than words…
If source water protection was REALLY a priority it would make
sense that building a landfill which could contaminate source water these days
would be a difficult thing to do... Right?
But NOT if you have found the secret.
Here are: Ten Ways to Build a Landfill in Today’s Ontario!
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| 1. |
Build it by expanding an old, highly toxic landfill site which has not been
used for years. This works particularly well if the government has known about
this danger for years and done nothing about it. |
| 2. |
Build it in wetlands. |
| 3. |
Get the Ministry of the Environment to approve it without a public hearing. |
| 4. |
Ensure that there is evidence that dangerous contaminants may be leaving the
site, travelling through the aquifer. |
| 5. |
Make sure that water from the site flows onto adjacent properties. |
| 6. |
Build it where there have been gypsum mines that are unmapped so that there is
potentially very unstable substratum. |
| 7. |
Build it over clay which is prone to deep fractures which could permit flow of
contaminants from the site. |
| 8. |
Make sure that the Ministry which has responsibility for the environment has a
small budget (.03 cents of every dollar in the provincial budget), not enough
staff, lack of policies and little in the way of an ability to enforce. |
| 9. |
Provide as little information as possible to the public. |
| 10. |
Do it at a time when the government says source water protection is a priority! |
If you follow these rules, you too can build the landfill of
your dreams!
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The landfill is being built just outside Cayuga, Ontario, a
short distance from the Grand River. Here are some of our community’s concerns:
| 1. |
This site is known as one of the most toxic sites in Ontario. The government
has known about it for decades. Why, then, has nothing been done? We would
speculate that this government’s commitment to clean drinking water is a
commitment only if it doesn’t cost them money. This is source water protection
at work in today’s Ontario. |
| 2. |
The dump is to be created in a wetland which would otherwise be protected by
the Ontario Wetlands policy. (Note: It is a hugely ironic fact that the land in
question was exempted from being classified a wetland because there was a
landfill there!) This is source water protection? |
| 3. |
While provincial standards say clay (which abounds in the area) is an ideal
base for landfill, it is prone to deep fractures for which we believe there
have not been adequate tests. This means that the ground under the site is
potentially very unstable - contaminants from the site could poison the aquifer
of the area. This is source water protection? |
| 4. |
There are unmapped gypsum mines adjacent to the site and it is unknown whether
these mines tunnel under the site. This unknown could spell disaster for the
stability of the site, allowing deep movement of contaminants. Once again, this
is a commitment to source water protection? |
| 5. |
There is evidence already that contaminants from the site are spreading through
the aquifer. However, how far this contamination (known as a plume) has
travelled has not been determined – but the Ministry of the Environment is
allowing work to go ahead anyways. This is how our government expressed its
commitment to source water protection! |
| 6. |
The area is part of the Grand River and Oswego water sheds. Any leakage of
contaminants will eventually impact drinking water downstream. This is source
water protection? |
| 7. |
The project never came under open public scrutiny. It went ahead based on a
bureaucrat’s decision…public health in the hands of the bureaucracy! |
| 8. |
90% of the material will come from outside of Haldimand. There will be no
economic or standard of life benefit to the community. |
| 9. |
The landfill company has to provide $7,582.482 in financial assurance to cover
any problems that might occur within the first 25 years of the dump's life.
Will our children's and grandchildren's generations have to deal with the fall
out if there's a problem once the company is no longer responsible for the dump
in 25 years? |
| 10. |
Six Nations have an interest in the land where this site is. How this issue
will be resolved has not been determined – a huge unknown at this time. |
Haldimand Against Landfill Transfers (HALT) was formed late in 2004 to fight the
re-activation and expansion of a dangerously toxic landfill sight located just
outside Cayuga, Ontario. Since its start, the group has raised over $100,000 to
battle Haldimand-Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc. (HNSLI) and the Ministry of the
Environment (MoE) through the Environmental Assessment Review Tribunal and the
courts. These efforts have, while delaying the project, failed to stop it.
HALT is an incorporated not-for-profit with hundreds of supporters.
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