Chemicals are in his water, and this Torbay resident is blasting Transport Canada for acting too slowly
CBC
After finding toxic chemicals in his home’s well water, a Torbay resident is slamming Transport Canada for being too slow to act — even as the agency expands the area it is testing in.
Kenneth Baird knew the nearby neighbourhood of Pine Ridge had tested positive for toxic substances called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) in its water.
Court documents allege the problem stems from firefighting training carried out at the nearby St. John's International Airport, which used a foam that contained so-called "forever chemicals" that can cause a number of negative health effects on humans, including cancers.
Transport Canada is responsible for the site, and it's one of 80 federal sites contaminated with PFAS.
“Transport Canada really doesn't seem to be proactively managing this issue,” Kenneth Baird told CBC News.
Baird initially thought his home, which was built in 2017, was safe.
“I had notionally thought to myself, well, that's not going to affect us. It's too far away. There's a series of hills and valleys between us. It'll never reach us,” he said.
That changed in the summer when he learned the class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of affected residents had expanded to two defined groundwater catchment areas in the Town of Torbay and the Town of Logy Bay–Middle Cove–Outer Cove, including where he lives.
The suit was filed by McInnes Cooper partner J. Alex Templeton. It has not been certified and the allegations have not been tested in court.
In September, CBC News reported chemistry professor Karl Jobst, who is also a Torbay resident, tested wells outside where Transport Canada was testing and found PFAS was present.
On legal advice, Baird contacted Transport Canada twice to request water testing, but was refused.
Baird decided to get his water tested privately and a sample was sent off. It came back that his sample had more than twice the levels Health Canada considers safe for drinking water.
“It floored me that it indeed is reaching me this far away from the airport,” said Baird.
With this information, he asked Transport Canada to include his home on its bottled water program, which it had for Pine Ridge residents, but this was also refused.
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