PUSLINCH – The township has raised an eyebrow at how several provincial bodies handled local groundwater contamination and its impact on Puslinch residents last summer.
In response to an updated report on what caused the smelly water experienced by private well owners in July 2023 presented to Puslinch council Wednesday afternoon, councillor John Sepulis has put forward a notice of motion for the township to investigate asking the Ontario Ombudsman to identify what action the local staff of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), Ministry of Transportation (MTO), Ministry of Health and Source Water Protection should have undertaken.
Citing the MECP and MTO's denial of the spill's impact, the motion also questions what changes could be made to existing legislation and regulations to ensure appropriate action is taken when contamination is identified and to identify any follow-up action to be taken by either the township or affected residents on the issue.
This follows an earlier update from the MTO and MECP that claimed a chemical spill was unlikely because it couldn't penetrate the bedrock due to the ground thickness where the water is drawn from and that the identified substances were “likely the result of bacteria present in the well."
An updated report from Harden Environmental Services Ltd. and Wellington Hydrogeology Ltd. disagrees: theorizing the concentrations of odour-causing compounds in the study area are "too high" to be naturally occurring and the bedrock aquifer's "interpreted overburdened geology" provides "a potential migration pathway" for surface contaminants to be drawn toward nearby pumping wells.
"A big concern is that (this) was not recognized by the Ministry of the Environment as a spill and it's clear to us that it was," said Harden consultant Stan Denhoed, during the meeting.
According to Denhoed, it's important the township now think about how it's going to deal with the "very susceptible" aquifer identified in the area that's associated with the ditch and road runoff as it's "probably not the only place in the township."
"This is life-changing (information)...at the end of the day, if you can't drink the water coming out of your tap in your kitchen sink, that has monumentally more impact on everybody's lives," said Coun. Russel Hurst, commenting on how the township was lucky the contamination was detectable by smell.
"I think (this is) an opportunity to refocus on what really matters within the municipality and that's water management," said Hurst.
Mayor James Seeley suggested the township request the Ministry of Health investigates creating guidelines for the identified odour-causing compounds.
As no guideline exists for the odour-causing compounds in drinking water in Ontario or Canada, the report used China’s National Standard for Drinking Water Quality to determine the water is not a health risk.
"I hope the people who were affected can get some assurance that a spill caused this," said Seeley. "It was a one-time incident, however...(residents) need to be cognizant that if anything happens around that area transportation-wise, their water could be affected."
The MECP is anticipated to provide comments on the updated report within the next two weeks. The report with the comments and Sepulis' notice of motion will return to council for further consideration at a future meeting.
The updated report is available on page 259 of the Puslinch agenda.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
