PROLOGUE

This book is a detailed and specific account from a first hand observer, active participant, citizen, resident, and survivor of over three decades of false promises by all levels of government here in Elmira, Ontario, Canada. The false promises are in regards to the groundwater contamination by Uniroyal Chemical otherwise known as the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis. This book will enthrall you, horrify you, make you laugh, cry and every emotion in between. It should even make you question the very basic premise that democracy is the best form of government. Canadians want to believe that their authorities are inherently honest, truthful and looking out for the public interest. They want to believe that the first mandate of the Ontario Ministry of Environment is to protect the environment. Neither of those two is true.

This book gives names, dates, locations and quotes from both public and private meetings regarding the environmental disaster that unfolded from 1942 until both the present time and into the future. Our authorities refused any and all health studies that could ever have documented the human price of this environmental disaster. The meetings describing the damage to the soil, air, surface and ground water in and around Elmira, Ontario constantly and consistently minimized the extent and duration of the damage as well as the complexity or possible success of remediation. Due to this, when cleanup options were presented, they were according to consultants CH2MHILL “...the cheapest and least effective method ...”.

NDMA was the poster child for the groundwater contamination and, although once described as the most carcinogenic compound known to mankind, it was in fact not even second fiddle to the since banned DDT, lindane, parathion, and dioxins in Agent Orange that Uniroyal Chemical produced for the U.S. Military. Years after, citizens including myself, advised that the mandated 2028 groundwater cleanup was not going to happen, our authorities have now also admitted it despite the previous twenty-five years plus of denial. Of course, that's all O.K. for the company (Uniroyal, bought by Crompton, bought by Chemtura, bought by Lanxess Canada) as the Ministry of Environment are simply rewriting the mandated date to reflect the reality of a second or third class cleanup reliant upon never ending leakage and off-site dilution of toxic wastes. Elmira's drinking water, for the last thirty years and now likely forever, comes from a pipeline to the City of Waterloo. The Elmira Aquifers, at one time, were the envy of residents throughout Waterloo Region. Let me tell you how all of this has occurred, beginning with Chapter One.