A sign warning not to eat fish out of Lee's Creek in North Bay in September. North Bay is one of several communities nationwide where Ottawa is providing bottled water because of contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).Gino Donato/The Globe and Mail
Residents in North Bay are suing their city and the Department of Defence, alleging that firefighting foams used on a military site contaminated their wells with chemicals that have been linked to an array of health problems.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice, seeks $100-million for losses in property values and $5-million for punitive damages. It excludes any claims for possible health issues linked to the chemical exposure, which stems from the use of toxic firefighting foams at the city’s Jack Garland Airport and an adjacent Canadian Forces base.
A Globe investigation earlier this year found that North Bay is one of at least 11 communities nationwide where Ottawa is supplying bottled water because chemicals known as PFAS leaching from federal properties have contaminated local water sources.
‘Forever chemicals’ in tap water leave these communities in a toxic limbo
Between the early 1970s and 1995, the Department of Defence conducted firefighting training at the airport using suppressant foams laden with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS – the same chemicals used for decades to make non-stick pans and stain-resistant upholstery.
Once considered wonder chemicals for their resistance to heat, water, oil and acid, the compounds have since become a global environmental liability.
Over the past three decades, researchers have linked PFAS exposure to cancer, developmental delays, immune disorders and other adverse health effects. They are highly resistant to breaking down in the environment, earning the moniker “forever chemicals.” Today, PFAS can be found in trace amounts among the blood and tissue of virtually every human.
Ottawa knew as early as 1994 that the firefighting foams could have serious health consequences and demanded that one of the manufacturers, 3M, add a warning to its safety literature, the Globe investigation found. Yet, the toxic foams remained in circulation.
The lawsuit states that, by 2011, DND knew PFAS levels in the groundwater around the airport exceeded federal guidelines. The following year, an environmental consultant informed DND that PFAS concentrations in the area may have be been under-reported by up to 90 times.
Water contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ in North Bay falls between the cracks
By 2013, provincial testing found PFAS in Lee’s Creek, a stream running from around the airport into Trout Lake, the city’s main source of drinking water. But concentrations remained below federal safety guidelines at the time, according to the municipality.
In 2017, Ontario introduced maximum PFAS concentrations in drinking water that were far more stringent than the federal guidance. That same year, DND visited the lawsuit’s two lead plaintiffs, David Sway and Peter Currie, to tell them their well water was no longer safe to drink.
Since then, the department has provided bottled water shipments to homes with contaminated wells. Earlier this year, DND told The Globe it was providing an “alternative water supply” to 23 North Bay properties.
Residents on tainted wells have also been warned against eating from plants or animals nourished by the water.
The suit also seeks an order requiring the defendants to “remediate and control any further release of PFAS” and provide filtration systems to affected residents.
The City of North Bay took ownership of the airport from DND in 1998.
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The class action applies to residents drawing from well water within a three-kilometre radius of the contaminated site, not the thousands of residents who draw their drinking water from Trout Lake.
Lead counsel Michael Hebert estimates between 200 and 300 homes could be affected. “It’s very hard to determine for sure because in the same geographic area you have some homes on municipal water and some homes on wells,” he said in an interview.
None of the claims have been tested in court. Contacted late Thursday afternoon, DND could not provide a response to the lawsuit. It is currently funding a $20-million remediation project in the city that has removed more than 26,000 tonnes of contaminated soil.
In the meantime, the city is looking at adding PFAS filtration to its water treatment plant at a cost of up to $50-million.
Karin Pratte, the city’s director of water, waste water and environmental services, told The Globe earlier this year that remediation efforts should start to improve the water quality in Trout Lake within 10 years.