January 17, 2022
As dozens of families in North Kent, Ontario wait for a Ministry of Health report on why their water is black and gritty–and has been for years since a wind turbine project was built–the Ontario Groundwater Association has come out with a myth-busting statement today:
Wind turbines stir up sediment and release impurities into groundwater resources.
That’s not what the wind power developer in North Kent says; that’s not what the Medical Officer of Health for Chatham-Kent says (he has testified on behalf of wind power developers at Environmental Review Tribunals, delivered a paper on how it isn’t possible for wind turbines to have anything to do with water quality, and claimed the water is safe to drink), and the Ontario Ministry of Environment doesn’t appear particularly concerned about it, either.
Dr. David Colby maintains that the water, though discoloured, is not a health hazard:
“The Health Unit only tests for bacteriologic contamination. Black shale is a kind of naturally occurring rock. Rock can contain metals and other potentially toxic substances in its inorganic matrix. The toxicity is determined not by what the shale contains but rather by how much of the toxic substances are absorbed by the body,” Colby said. “Inorganic materials like rock particles, sand and dirt are not significantly digested, and if ingested, pass through the digestive tract without releasing much, if any, of their toxic content,” he told The Chatham Voice in 2018.
This Friday will be the one-year anniversary of the Ontario government announcement of an expert panel review on the North Kent water situation. A year that dozens of families, estimated to be about 80 homes and farms, have had to wait, meanwhile using water out of giant plastic tanks in their garages, and employing multiple filters in systems so that water even comes out of the tap.
The other myth that needs busting, one the environment ministry accepts without question, is that nothing bad can happen outside of 1500 meters from a wind turbine. Not audible noise, not infrasound, not seismic vibrations–nothing.
Nonsense of course.
Time for some reality around the negative effects of grid-scale wind turbines. Time for clean water, and quiet.
contact@windconcernsontario.ca
1 Comments