Excessive rainfall during the eight-day test period in July was “probably the main reason” that the results of the Phase 1 testing weren’t acceptable “in providing an adequate baseline to help characterize local conditions of groundwater,” said Carl Slater, technical support manager for the MOE’s West Central Region office in Hamilton.

The tests were conducted at the site of the proposed quarry on the corner of the 11th Concession East and Milburough Line to help determine the impact the quarry could have on water resources in the area. The data is also needed to establish a baseline against which predictions on the benefit of remedial proposals, such as a Groundwater Recirculation System (GRS), can be compared.

SMC has proposed a GRS as a way of mitigating the effects that dewatering the quarry will have on area groundwater levels. The system, scheduled to be tested in the final phases of the pump tests, involves two procedures, one assessing the passive return of water pumped out of the quarry into the groundwater system through a trench and the other using pressurized injection wells to return the water to the groundwater system.

The tests, which are to be done in three phases, are being conducted under a Permit To Take Water (PTTW) granted to St. Marys by the MOE. The permit will expire June 30, 2009.

Given that the Phase 1 tests must now be repeated as Phase 2, the process has been set back and the MOE is now asking the aggregate company for assurances that the remaining tests can be completed before the permit expires. Considerable time elapses between each phase because data collected from the tests must be reviewed by various agencies and the ministry must give written approval before each phase proceeds.

Slater said Tuesday that no extensions will be granted to the permit’s term. “If the necessary work cannot be completed (by next June 30), they’ll have to apply for another permit,” he said.

As a result of the MOE’s decision, St. Marys has sent technical data and the rationale of the ministry’s decision to its hydrogeology consultants, Gartner Lee, asking that they review the information and suggest how the company should proceed with the next two phases of testing. Asked whether she was surprised by the turn of events, St. Marys policy and planning manager Jennifer Tuck said, “At this point, nothing is surprising. We’ll work through the process and respond to agencies’ concerns.”

She said company officials hope to meet with MOE representatives after St. Marys hears from its consultants. The company will then decide how to proceed.

Not surprised, but elated, by the decision are members of FORCE (Friends of Rural Communities and the Environment), which has been fighting the proposed quarry for the past four years. “It was clear to our community from the start, given the weather conditions, that the test data would be unreliable,” FORCE chair Graham Flint said.

The FORCE chair commended the ministry for “taking decisive action to ensure sound science.”

The Phase 1 tests were done during a period of significant rainfall, with 155 mm of rain falling during the course of the testing. FORCE’s hydrogeologist, Dr. Ken Raven of Intera Engineering Ltd., noted that figure is nearly 50 per cent higher than the 93 mm of rain that fell during a November 2004 pumping test by St. Marys, the results of which were questioned by the MOE.

But excessive rainfall wasn’t the only factor affecting test results, Flint charged. The low volume of water pumped during the tests also calls the data into question, he said. While the permit allowed for water to be pumped from the ground at 50 litres per second, the tests were conducted at 10 litres per second.

Even at 50 litres, the amount of water to be pumped was dropped substantially from the 150L/sec . that had been talked about in earlier discussions, he argued.

Also causing concern in the anti-quarry camp is St. Marys’s recent request to change its GRS testing, which was to be done during the final two phases.

Slater said the ministry has yet to receive a definitive plan on the revised proposal, but Tuck said the company is only asking to switch the order of the testing, proceeding with the pressurized injection well testing first, followed by the trench system testing.