Waterloo Moraine & Risks of Aggregates to Canada's GDP, Water & Food Security.

By Louisette Lanteignebutterflybluelu@rogers.com

Waterloo Region's Water Supply

The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is Canada's

largest municipality to rely almost entirely on groundwater.

(75% wells, 25% the Grand River)

Over 100 interconnected wells are used to supply drinking water to an ever growing population of close to 1 million people that reside in one of Ontario's main economic growth areas.

Grand River's contribution to economy

- Provides 25% of Waterloo Region's water and 100% of the water supply for Brantford, Brent County and Six Nations.

- The Grand supports the same gross national revenue as the province of Nova Scotia. (State of the Grand River Watershed, GRCA)

- Natural Heritage River contains 51% of Canada's native fish species including threatened and endangered species

- River and tributaries support commercial fishing, tourism, birding, boating, trails and recreational use

-Recharges Lake Erie and supports the economy related to this resource.

Waterloo Region's economic contributions

Waterloo has a skilled and talented workforce of 282,300 (2010)

$19.5 billion GDP, with a 5.8% increase from 2009 to 2010 (2010)

Canada’s second most manufacturing intensive economy; 20% of our employed population (2008)

Canada’s 10th and Ontario’s 4th largest urban area (2010)

One of Canada’s fastest growing communities, with a population of 543,700 people that is projected to reach 729,000 people by 2031

74,000 full-time post-secondary students, including 15,000 co-operative education students

WATERLOO REGION PROFILE FOR 2011 -2014 STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Economic Contributions cont.

University of Waterloo’s Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (including the Agri-Food for Healthy Aging [A-HA] initiative)

Conestoga College’s Institute for Food Processing Technology

Close proximity to the University of Guelph, a leading agri-food research institution.

Waterloo Region will lead the country in economic growth

Strong manufacturing growth will give Waterloo Region the highest economic growth in Canada among medium-sized cities in 2012, says a new report from the Conference Board of Canada.

The region’s gross domestic product will grow by 3.3 per cent this year, down from 3.9 per cent in 2011, the board said.

The KW Record: June 28, 2012

Waterloo Region's Agricultural industries

Waterloo is the second largest food belt in Ontario: Total gross farm receipts in 2005 for all farms in Waterloo Region totalled almost $400 million.

Agriculture represents the largest land use activity in Waterloo Region

WATERLOO REGION PROFILE FOR 2011 -2014 STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

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Waterloo Agriculture Cont.

Although direct employment numbers on the farm are minimal, the impact of our access to agricultural land and product on employment across the entire food industry, from research, processing and end users is enormous. WATERLOO REGION PROFILE FOR 2011 -2014 STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Leading food companies in Waterloo Region.

Schneider-Maple Leaf Foods - Kitchener meat processing since 1886 and inventor of the official Oktoberfest Sausage

Dare Foods – Family owned since 1892

Frito Lay – One of North America's largest snack food companies

Weston Bakeries – Variety of fresh fresh, frozen frozen and speciality bakery products

Pillers Sausages & Delicatessens – A 1957 butcher shop that evolved into one of North America's Largest  producers of sausages and deli meats

Elmira Poultry – One of Canada's largest meat suppliers since 1985

Tamming Foods LTD. – Sugar wafer products

DC Food Processing – Packer, private label batter, breaded chicken, fish, veal and cheese

A View of Ontario's Farmlands2011 Census of Agriculture

Ontario has the biggest agricultural output as measured by farm cash receipts, with 12.6 million acres in agricultural production, just 5.6% of Ontario’s land base.

Though Ontario has less than a quarter of the farmland of either Saskatchewan or Alberta, the combination of soil and climate mean yields on Ontario farmland are often double or more than that of the Prairies.

Farmlands in Ontario at risk

Number of farms in Ontario dropped 9.2% from 2006 to 2011

The area farmed in the province fell 4.8% from 2006 to 2011.

Aggregate Resource Act 199085% of Ontario's aggregates are taken from Southern Ontario.

The reason for the decline of Farms in Ontario.

“It’s subdivisions, it’s shopping malls, it’s roads,” said Mark Wales, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. “We’re developing good farmland that in the long run will not be available to grow food, fibre and fuel for the world.”

Food vs. Aggregates: JobsSource:Liberal MP Leeanna Pendergast press release titled

“Lets put pits in their place”, June 21, 2011.

Aggregates employ 35000 people directly and indirectly including 3.2 billion GDP and 1.8 million in Labour income.

Canadian Agriculture and Agri-food sectors (2008) employ 2.2 million jobs. (one in 8 jobs in Canada.) and generates 99 Billion GDP. 8.1% of Canada's total GDP.

Mark Wales, President ofOntario Federation of Agriculture states:

“Canada is expected to be one of only six countries in the world to

be a net exporter of food.”

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/06/04/19836431.html

Global water & food crisis due to declining aquifers

World's largest aquifer going dry The Ogallala aquifer is the world's largest

underground water system, irrigating one-third of the US corn crops and providing drinking water to Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. It’s one of the fastest-disappearing aquifers in the world and the water is not coming back. ( Associated Press)

China's north that produces food for 400 million people is running out of water because they are depleting the underground aquifers.

Thomas Fingar, chairman and deputy director US National IntelligenceCouncil and

The failure of governments to limit pumping to the sustainable yield of aquifers means that water tables are now falling in countries that contain more than half the world's people, including the big three grain producers--China, India, and the United States.

Lester R. Brown,Earth Policy Institute, Washington D.C.

Agricultural lands WITH WATER are in high demand.

• Countries such as China, Korea and the United Arab Emirates are buying or leasing agricultural land to help meet their own food needs.

The International Food Policy Research Institute

• The World Bank estimates that demand for food will rise by 50 percent by 2030. The National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2025

• Global Economist project that agricultural lands will surpass the value of development lands in the near future due to rising oil production costs, population increases, higher standard of living, water shortages climate change and drought.

First photo: China, Second Photo: The US Third: Waterloo Ontario

Less water = higher contamination risks

• On September 11, 2007 a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, confirms high levels of Atrazine in Midwest drinking water supplies.

• The U.S. EPA, data shows raised Atrazine levels in 94 of 136 water systems tested at the source.

http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=4797&codi=19443&lr=1

What impact will the aggregate extractions have in augmenting existing water levels currently diluting concentration of pesticides, industrial spills

and water contamination in Waterloo Region?

Contamination Issues in Waterloo Region Effluent: 29 waste water plants drain effluent into the Grand

River

Animal wastes: 290,000 cows in the Grand River Watershed produce waste equal to wastes of five million people.

Leaky Landfills: The Greenbrook well contaminated by 1,4 dioxane, Middleton Wells in Cambridge at risk too. Waterloo's Landfill is leaking vinyl chloride.

Industrial waste: Elmira had contamination of NDMA (nitrosodimethylamine) from Unroyal/Chemtura. Elmira lost it's groundwater supply.

In Cambridge, North Star was sued for trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination.

Challenges in Protecting the Waterloo Moraine

Provincial Growth Targets may exceed carrying capacity of the Grand River and deplete the moraine. Gravel projects place the moraine and Grand River at risk.Today's policies cannot be grandfathered so older plans approved years back don't have to comply to today's laws. They pose a risk.We don't know how much water we have. Our knowledge of ground water volumes is limited to pre-development studies which forms the baseline data for conservation authorities. Post development data and ongoing monitoring is needed.

How much is 1% of the Waterloo Region's Water Supply in terms of basic water costs?

(*Not counting it's function for industrial or agricultural use.)

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1% of the Waterloo Region's water, at 1 cent per litre = $18,184 per day,

Annually: $6,637,160Source: Expert data as used in EBR request for Review for a Waterloo Moraine Protection Act

The yellow zone gathers 75% of the water used in Waterloo Region.

Development Encroaching!

Gravel Pits Encroaching!

Price the value the natural capital worth of aggregates left In place!

- Aggregates provide water and farmland used for municipal, industrial and agricultural use.

- We need to protect aquifer connectivity from source to wells to secure water supplies and the economic systems dependent on them stay viable for the long term.

What needs to be addressed

The technology, laws, regulations, and practices to preventing adverse impacts of aggregate extractions lag behind the real risks and associated costs.

Weakness of current policies

Prices to extract virgin non renewable aggregates are far too cheap to support recycling schemes and the need is there to mandate minimum use of recycled materials by government and municipalities better promote conservation efforts while offsetting landfill wastes.

Mandate reasonable Environmental Assessments

Currently EA's are not mandated for Aggregate extractions without ministry intervention and when EA processes do happen, test times, methods and units of measurements are not mandated to meet any reasonable scientific criteria to assure non biased data.

Example: Highland Mega Quarry http://www.highlandcompanies.ca/index.php/companies/melancthonquarry/

- Outdated bore hole data taken from 1945

- Lack of 12 month creek studies, seasonal variants

- Water quality data based on residential well tests: not for quarry risks.

- ”Peak over the fence” surface water data

- MODFLOW program was used. (Highly Subjective & hard to repeat results using very “bad” baseline data)

- MODFLOW lacks regard to localized geology, sediment types and assumes aquifers are self contained without cross jurisdictional impacts.

- Bore Hole info in outwash moraines isn't enough. (Ground Penetrating Radar needed etc.)

Problems with engineering firms.

Engineering firms are not held liable for their work in creating environmental impact studies after they've signed off on it. The risk transfers to the firm who purchased their data. . If issues arise due to poor environmental studies, they are not held liable for any of the the work they did.

Firms like this stand to profit from remediation if things do go wrong. There is no reasonable incentive for engineering firms to do a good honest job to prevent long term risks.

Lack of accountability: no guarantee of good work!

Modflow has it's flaws so back it up with further data.

Many hydrology firms use Modflow programs to study aquifers but the program assumes aquifers are self contained and this poses a risk.

Data input is often subjective which is why mandatory testing standards and methods are needed to clarify processes to explain where the numbers came from and how they came to the results. Make sure the data being used is current.

Modflow works better when supported with localized geological data including sediment type to better understand actual hydrological connectivity.

Highland Mega Quarry and Waterloo Region is built over Karst. The risks of aggregate

extraction in these areas are many.

Potential Environmental Impacts of Quarrying Stone in KarstA Literature Review by the USGS

pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0484/ofr-01-0484so.pdf

Topography isn't enough to delineate watersheds or prevent water risks.

(cross section of the Waterloo Moriane)

What goes in the ground will head to wells with draw down effects regardless of topography. Professor Mike Stone: chloride loadings to

Waterloo Regional wells reveals this fact.

If aggregate extractions deplete Waterloo's Aquifers: what are the associated costs?.

Cost for a Lake Erie Pipeline Cost: $1.2 billion (2008)

Does not include treatment or transportation costs

Does not include cost to upgrade intake facilities.

Water delivered uphill

The Grand River would be “infrastructure” and lose heritage status.

Cost for a Lake Erie Pipeline Does not include

increased minimum wage increases since 2008.

Does not include increased cost increases: Due to tar sands demand, steel is up 66% .

How much would water costs increase?

Lake Erie:Under Stress

Toxic Algae Issues

Growing “Dead Zone”

Declining water volumes

Contamination issues

Climate Change

Zebra Mussel blocks intake

Invasive species

Canadian and US water taking

Bulk Water Shipments

Zebra Mussels in intake pipe

ar

Lake Erie March 12, 2012Will it even be drinkable?

Protect our A1 Farmlands and source water areas for generations to come

Conserve & Recycle Aggregates(Bricks made from human sludge!)

Protect the function of AggregatesAggregates = Water Supplies

Mandate test times/methods& hold engineering firms accountable.

To protect communities and the economy, realistically assess the monetary risks of aggregate extraction and let

us make long term source water protection and food security the highest priority!