An Update on Tiny's 'Toxic Plume'
By Jack Ellis

Last Fall The Tiny Cottager reported on the toxic plume wending its way underground from the long-closed Pauze waste dump in the 9th Concession. The plume has been tested by the Ministry of Environment for several years. Last Fall we reported that tests planned for 2000 had been put off until 2001 because of the Walkerton crisis. Now we can report on what was found in tests done last October.

The plume of waste materials still has the same components studied earlier. There is a major plume of chloride chemicals arising from municipal waste; a plume of trichloroethylene (TCE), a cancer-causing agent originating from toxic solvents; and plumes of substances TCE creates when decomposing. The nasty TCE plume is moving faster than the main plume toward the southwest, crossing into the 8th Concession and is potentially heading for the bluff and the bay.

The tests in 2001 were done on existing wells, both those specially drilled to track the plume, and private drinking wells. No new test wells were created. Thus, it was not possible to tell just where the leading edge of the plume is now located. It is believed that the rate of advance previously determined still applies: 80 to 100 metres per year.

They found that harmful substances, including TCE in the private wells, were below MoE guidelines. It should be noted that the US standard for TCE in drinking water is 5 parts per billion while Ontario's guideline is 30 parts per billion. Levels of TCE higher than 5 ppb have been discovered in several Canadian communities, including Barrie, Orillia, Waterloo and Delhi. Some of these municipalities have capped such wells.

The MoE decided last Fall there could be possible seepage from the Nipissing bluff face during the Spring runoff, and intended to sample springs along the bluff in April and to search for visual evidence of seepage. But remember what was happening in April? Yes, the provincial civil servants were out on an 8-week strike. So the tests didn't happen.

According to Mr. Craig Seabrook, Supervisor of the Barrie office of the MoE, they now hope to have their staff do some visual inspection as soon as they are able, and they may try to convince management to allocate funds to hire consultants to take on the monitoring program. Let us wish them the best of luck in getting the funds, and note that perhaps a letter to your MPP voicing your concerns about the plume and supporting MoE efforts may just be helpful. (The mailing address for Garfield Dunlop, MPP for Simcoe North, is 14 Coldwater Road West, P.O. Box 2320, Orillia, ON L3V 6S2.)