[All] Letter to Council re: Fish deformities & atrazine

[Louisette Lanteigne]

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
To: Regional Councillors <regionalcouncillors at regionofwaterloo.ca>; Eric Hodgins <EHodgins at regionofwaterloo.ca>; "mservos at uwaterloo.ca" <mservos at uwaterloo.ca>; "rdeloe at uwaterloo.ca" <rdeloe at uwaterloo.ca>; Emil Frind <frind at uwaterloo.ca>; eco <commissioner at eco.on.ca>; "info at sourcewater.ca" <info at sourcewater.ca> 
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 5:56:18 PM
Subject: Fish deformities in Grand River might be linked to atrazine
 

Dear Council Members et al. 

Here is a link to the KW article published on October 10th titled "Researcher Blame Fish Mutations on Local Sewage Plants" regarding fish changing sex in the Grand River:  http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/814661--researchers-blame-fish-mutations-on-local-sewage-plants

Atrazine is the most frequently used pesticide in Waterloo Region, used mainly on corn and soy crops. As new development and pits are created, many of these particulates, once captured in sediment of farmlands, are now being moved about,  exposed, and rinsed off by precipitation events and/or gravel washing and it is reasonable to state some of this might be making it's way into our storm water systems and treatment plants. This chemical is proven to change the sex of fish at doses lower than the allowable US human consumption level of 3 ppb.

In Canada human consumption levels are at 5 ppb but data shows a safe wildlife exposures standard of 1.8 ppb. The data to support the lower exposure amount is extensive.  The EPA and USGS have found Atrazine in almost every waterway where they have looked for it, and USGS even identified an association between contaminated streams and impaired fish reproduction. In the attachment is a mapping of the contamination found in the US as created by the US Geological Survey. It would not be unreasonable to state we may be experiencing these same issues since our area sits in close proximity to identified hot spots. 

Earlier this summer Syngenta agreed to pay $105 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with 2000 water utilities in the U.S. Midwest because Atrazine contaminated their municipal water supplies. 300 utilities with the highest Atrazine levels in their water will recover 100% of their costs. Here is a link with the details regarding the Syngenta Lawsuit settlement: http://www.atrazinesettlement.com/

In regards to source water protection, we must include such matters as a bona fide risks to intakes along the Grand River. 

Currently, staff from Syngenta sit on the steering committee for Health Canada's Pesticide Management Regulation Agency so personally speaking, I don't hold much hopes for a remedy from the government level.  In the US it took a lawsuit to make the changes happen. If we can prove the Atrazine links to our fish issues we might be able to seek fiscal compensation for the cost to remove these chemicals from our treatment plants. 

It's important we take a proactive approach to remedy the situation because if we don't act we could be held liable as a municipality dispite of statutory authority or immunity. Historically the courts are more likely to prosecute municipalities rather than higher levels of government.

http://ebookbrowse.com/oswca-paper-to-cwwa-27-feb-2007-final-pdf-d25588171


Councillor Vrbanic, if you could share this concern with members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalties on my behalf I would greatly appreciate it. Perhaps we can secure funding to review the situation via the Green Municipal Fund? 

Thank you kindly for your time. 

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ont
N2V 2L2
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20121010/2e7cde4b/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Atrazine Distribution Map 400.png
Type: image/png
Size: 196422 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20121010/2e7cde4b/attachment.png>