EJQ4 - Spring 2025 - Journal - Page 12
“The Lac Mégantic site has been cleaned up, but many other sites remain
problematic,” says Sauvé, noting that land昀椀lls, 昀椀re昀椀ghter training operations, military bases and airports, where suppressant foams are used, are often associated with water contamination, and that chemical manufacturing of
PFAS and processing facilities using them are also worthy of attention.
Cleanup underway in North Bay
While there may be little if any actual production of PFAS in Canada, there’s
no shortage of sites where 昀椀re昀椀ghting foams have been used. A multi-year,
$20-million remediation initiated last summer in North Bay, Ont. exempli昀椀es
the challenge of addressing signi昀椀cant concentrations.
WITH ITS 10,000-FT RUNWAY, JACK
GARLAND AIRPORT IN NORTH BAY IS
UTILIZED AS A SITE FOR VARIOUS AIRRELATED ACTIVITIES, FROM VEHICLE
TESTING TO EMERGENCY MILITARY
EXERCISES. CREDIT: JACK GARLAND
AIRPORT/FACEBOOK
From the 1970s through the 1990s, military trainees used AFFF foams in 昀椀re昀椀ghting exercises at Jack Garland Airport, which abuts Canadian Forces Base
North Bay. Over time, the foams seeped into the soil and groundwater, migrating o昀昀-site to nearby Lee’s Creek and then to Trout Lake, which supplies
the city’s drinking water.
Measurements by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and
Parks have detected an average of 56 nanograms per litre (ng/L) for a total of
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • S PRI N G 2 0 2 5 • P AGE 1 2
