Advisory for NORTH BAY, Ontario

[Return to Ontario | Return to province list]

NORTH BAY

Type: Spill  -  Active

Issued: 12/4/2024

Details:

The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit was notified by the Dept of National Defence (DND) in December 2016 of their ongoing PFAS monitoring at Canadian Forces Base North Bay.

Since 2013, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has been measuring levels of 11 different PFAS chemicals in Trout Lake. Last year (2023), the average measurement of those 11 substances was 56 nanograms per litre. The ministry has measured up to 772,160 nanograms of PFAS per litre in some naturally occurring foams in the Creek.

Health Canadas Guideline of 30 nanograms per litre was established August 2024; it was lowered from 70 ng/L. 

As of October 2024, DND has tested PFAS levels at 163 properties. Twenty-two of those properties have received an alternative water supply due to high concentrations.

UPDATE DEC 4 – ON-SITE REMEDIATION EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY. The scope of work includes the removal and treatment of the most contaminated soil, the injection of absorptive material at the sites boundary to treat groundwater before it exits and the placement of adsorptive material at exit locations to prevent PFAS in Surface Water from downstream migration.

Since 2017, the City of North Bay has been working collaboratively with DND, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), and the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit to support ongoing testing and monitoring for PFAS in Trout Lake, Lees Creek and residential wells near the Jack Garland Airport lands.