Community & Labour Action

Canada: The politics of water forum in Kitchener unites activists

Cambridge Now. By Celeste Walker -

Robert Case, a PhD student in the Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, is concerned about the state of our water resources. “The issue of water is not just in the domain of environmental management but it is a social justice issue” said Robert. This is particularly true since water is increasingly viewed as a commodity (to be bought and sold) and governments are pushed to privatize water resources. Robert knew there were a lot of other people in the community who had similar concerns and decided it was time to see what the response would be if he invited the community to a forum on the Politics of Water.

About 40 residents from Waterloo Region and Guelph came together to listen to three environmental advocates/activists: Susan Bryant of Assuring Protection for Tomorrow’s Environment (APT Environment) from Elmira, Noah Chaloner of the Council of Canadians and Wellington Water Watchers, and Louisette Lanteigne, a resident of Waterloo who is trying to save the Waterloo Moraine from development.

Robert Case: Think Globally/Act Locally

Robert began by saying that globally our water resources are in trouble. Currently there are 1.1 billion people who don’t have access to drinking water, and 2.2 billion who don’t have access to sanitation. Global water consumption in the 20th century has increased at a much greater rate than the population of the planet has grown. Meanwhile, global water resources are shrinking, the polar ice cap and glaciers are melting, and water is becoming more salty. Combine the factors of an increase in the demand for water with global warming, together with an increase in contamination and pollution, and we are looking at a disaster in the making.

Increasingly we are tapping into our groundwater resources. In fact, most of Waterloo Region’s water, and all of Guelph’s water, comes from wells. We are consuming water at twice the speed at which it is being replenished.

Think about the water cycle that you learned in school. The rain falls, it enters into our aquifers (the gravel basins where groundwater stores itself) and flows into our rivers and lakes. These wetlands and creeks and tiny rivers are being dug up for the mining of gravel and housing and roads, and we’re changing the way our water flows and its ability to recharge (replenish itself). The situation in the south western Untied States is so critical that streams and rivers are now backfilling the aquifers. Some States are importing water, and guess where they’re getting it from?

Our Water Resources Ready For Sale and Profit

What concerns Robert Case and Norah Chaloner of the Council of Canadians (CCC), is that water is increasingly being viewed by our federal government as a commodity that can be incorporated into a trade agenda. “Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century”, said Robert.

According to The CCC, The Federal Water Policy is over 20 years old and badly outdated. A National Water Policy needs to be formulated to address the following:
Canada should not permit the exporting of our water. Currently, bottled water is exported, bulk water is not.
A national water policy would address issues of increased contamination. In 2000, seven people died in Walkerton, settled claims have amounted to $78.5 million and there are still 200 outstanding claims. Municipalities issue hundreds of boil water advisories each year.
Communities across the country are struggling with aging water pipes and filtration systems and are looking to private investors to rebuild infrastructure through private-public partnerships. Detroit, Michigan privatized its water in 2001 and by mid-2002, 40,752 homes were cut off from water and sewage for not paying their bills.
Presently 25% of municipalities in Canada are facing water shortages and about 33% rely on groundwater, a resource we have very little data on.
The NAFTA defines water as a ‘service’ and an ‘investment’. Water must not become a tradable commodity. The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was formed in 2005 and offers an on-going dialogue with our NAFTA partners. They will meet again in April of this year. According to The CCC, the proposed Trans Texas Corridor or “NAFTA Superhighway” doesn’t just mean ground transportation, but also pipelines that will carry oil, natural gas, electricity, data, and water.”

The Price of Water

“NAFTA defines water as a good – meaning that, as soon as any provincial government sings a contract to export bulk water to the U.S. (by river diversion or tanker) nothing can stop further exports.” (NAFTA’s legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed, Murray Dobson, Globe and Mail, March 5, 2008)

According to Wellington Water Watchers (www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca) , Nestle Waters Canada is currently taking 3.6 million litres per day from the aquifer in Guelph and bottles 1.1 million litres per day from an aquifer in Hillsburgh. The application for the license to take water cost Nestle $2,000. The water, our water, is free for the taking. “If YOU were to purchase 3.6 million litres per day from the City of Guelph, it would cost $2,736 per day.”

Uniroyal called it the 'envirodome'. Citizens called it the 'toxidome'.
Uniroyal stored 32,000 tonnes of chemical-laden soil excavated
from the east side of the Canagagigue Creek here.

Elmira’s 18 Year Struggle To Clean Up

When Susan Bryant and her neighbours in Elmira questioned the facts of an Environmental Assessment conducted at the Uniroyal Plant in 1989, they had no idea that the water was contaminated and that their lives would be marked by an on-going fight to clean up toxic waste.

Uniroyal wanted to build a toxic waste incinerator, but in order to do that an environmental assessment had to be done. The Ministry of the Environment took water samples and discovered the chemical NDMA (nitrosodimethylamine) at 300 times above acceptable current drinking water standards. Immediately, the main well was shut down, water was trucked in, and the Region of Waterloo scrambled to build a water pipe to Elmira.

Uniroyal, now called Chemtura, had been dumping toxic waste directly into the Canagagigue Creek, which is part of the Grand River Watershed, and had been burying toxic waste on its property. Of course, they didn’t immediately admit they’d been doing that.

Patronizing Attitude and Denial Creates Activists

“We were just regular folk but the patronizing attitude of the government and the company radicalized the population and we became activists”, said Susan Bryant.
The government told citizens “that gathering facts and talking about the issues only promoted panic, and that nobody really knew about the health effects”.

It took the efforts of a CBC reporter to track down a scientist in Maryland who had studied NDMA for over 20 years. He told the CBC reporter that “he had never heard of NDMA in such high levels in any water supply”. This marked a watershed moment in the fight.

The company’s response was denial and the MOE immediately issued two control orders on the company. The company appealed the control orders and what followed were several years of hearings. At that time they were the longest OMB hearings in the province’s history. The scientist who had been found by the CBC reporter was called in as a witness.

Who Is Accountable?

“After 19 years we are at the point where we’ve got a half-way decent containment and clean up of the contamination. The progress has been glacially slow, but we know there would have been much less progress, much less public knowledge about this whole situation, had our group not been around to keep bugging the company and every level of government, especially the MOE” said Bryant.

The MOE has ordered a clean up of the groundwater to take place by 2028. Let me phrase this differently: The MOE has given Chemtura 39 years to clean up toxic waste. Glacially slow doesn’t even come close to describing the provincial government’s response. No wonder polluters in this province just dump and run. I wonder what the profits have been in all of the years that they’ve operated in Elmira and what percentage have gone towards a clean-up?

The Waterloo Moraine

Waterlooians Trying To Save The Waterloo Moraine

Louisette Lanteigne stood alone with her attorney at an OMB pre-hearing on February 27, 2008 and insisted that the development of three subdivisions on the Waterloo Moraine will have an adverse effect upon the environment. Specifically, she argued that development will negatively impact Claire Creek, which runs through the development, threatens the habitat of the Jefferson Salamander (an Endangered Species) and threatens the the groundwater supply for the Region of Waterloo. Offering support to Lanteigne ware David Wellhauser and Citizens For The Protection Of The Waterloo Moraine.

The proposed development of 1,600 homes by Activa is approximately 132 hectares in size and is north of Erb Street West and runs along the Wilmot Line. It includes an open space, community recreation facilities and a public school. Activa said that Lanteigne’s claims are “frivolous and vexatious”. If the OMB were to determine this to be true, then Activa will seek to recover costs associated with their appearing at an OMB pre-hearing. Lanteigne could be looking at paying out tens of thousands of dollars.

Development At Whatever Cost

The cards are definitely stacked against Lanteigne. The Region of Waterloo, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of the Environment and the Grand River Conservation Authority, have all given their approval to the project. But don’t think for one minute that the health of the environment is of paramount concern to any of these public agencies.

There has never been a development project (gravel pit or housing or whatever) that any of these authorities have not approved. It is the Province’s mandate that development will proceed, municipal and regional governments don’t stand in the way of this mandate, and the GRCA is only a commenting agency. Citizens defend the environment, at their financial peril.

Citizens vs Public Agencies

What does Lanteigne and her expert witness, Dean Fitzgerald, an aquatic biologist, have to say about the public agencies signing off on the development? They’re not impressed with the data. “The absence of baseline fish and creek habitat data means it is not possible to provide an assessment of current habitat conditions.” If there isn’t any baseline data, how can you monitor the situation in the future? The Region’s Official Policy Plan (ROPP) requires a complete inventory, and yet, they signed off on the development. There is no data for Monastery Creek, although it will receive runoff from the construction site.

Lanteigne is very concerned about the Jefferson Salamander and his habitat. This salamander is an Endangered Species, and the Ontario Endangered Species Act will be fully implemented by June of 2008. This legislation restricts the augmentation and destruction of known habitats of threatened and/or endangered animals.

The Salamander’s habitat is the Vernal Ponds of this Provincially Significant Wetland. This area is also a ‘primary’ recharge area (source of groundwater) for the Grand River and therefore, the Region of Waterloo. According to Lanteigne, not only will development threaten the Jefferson Salamander, but it will also adversely affect our groundwater resources.

One Small Victory, Perhaps, But Not In Time

In his request to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario in 2006 to review the Waterloo Moraine, David Wellhauser said, “A loss of even 1% of groundwater volumes represents a large financial cost due to lost groundwater volumes available to the citizens of the Region.” Because of David’s and Louisette’s efforts, the MOE is conducting a 16-month review of groundwater resources, which will be published in 2008. However, the results can’t be grandfathered and will not stop the current development on the Moraine.

According to Lanteigne: “Protect the water at its source and you’ll protect people, our health, our fisheries, our ecology, and our economy. Protecting our water is a wise investment.”

To learn more about the Waterloo Moraine and to help Louisette with her fight please go to www.waterlooians.ca.