A study published in a scientific journal in 1986 tells that the thick underground layer of clay (called an “aquitard”) between the ground surface and the Dalmeny aquifer is full of vertical and horizontal cracks (fractures) and can conduct liquids 100 times faster than the same kind of clay (called “till”) would if it was not cracked. The Fortune Minerals EIS made the unfounded assumption that the clay layer was not cracked and thus concluded it would take 50o years for contaminants to reach the aquifer. This study tells us that contaminants would move 100 times faster — that is, the arsenic from the FM waste would reach the drinking water in 50 years — make that 5 years! This study also shows that it has taken less than 50 years for surface water to reach the aquifer because in 1985 they detected a certain amount of tritium (a radioactive form of water that was only released into the environment since 1945) in the Dalmeny aquifer.
Below, see a link to the full 12-page article, the publisher and author information, the abstract (summary) and a key paragraph from the study’s conclusion.
Published in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 1986, 23(2): 229-240, 10.1139/t86-032
Link to full article http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/t86-032
Fracture permeability and groundwater flow in clayey till near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
C. KENT KELLER
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., Canada N2L 3GI
GARTH VAN DER KAMP
Sedimentary Resources, Saskatchewan Research Council, 15 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada S7N 2×8
AND
JOHN A. CHERRY
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., CanadaN2L3GI
Received July 8, 1985
Accepted December 23, 1985
Field and laboratory studies of a clayey unweathered glacial till have shown that its bulk permeability exceeds its matrix permeability by two orders of magnitude [100 times]. Such findings are common for weathered till but are rare for unweathered till, and have important implications for groundwater recharge and contaminant transport. The till in question is 6 m thick and appears to be unweathered and unfractured. It is overlain by 12m of weathered and highly fractured till. Results of consolidation tests on the unweathered till indicate a mean vertical hydraulic conductivity of 3.5 x 10-” m.s-‘ and a mean specific storage of 1.3 X m-I. Results of slug tests yield a horizontal hydraulic conductivity of about 5 x mas-‘. Drawdowns in the till in response to pumping from the aquifer below indicate a vertical hydraulic diffusivity of 4.5 x 10-5m2-s-‘. The slug test results combined with specific storage results from consolidation tests indicate a similar value for horizontal hydraulic diffusivity of 4 X m2-s-‘. Geochemical patterns, tritium data, and measured seepage fluxes from an ephemeral pond also indicate that the vertical conductivity of the unweathered till is much higher than the value obtained from the consolidation tests. The data thus show that the unweathered till has significant vertical and horizontal fracture permeability.
Key words: till, permeability, fracture, groundwater recharge, contaminant transport.
5. Conclusions
The results of this study of the Dalmeny site demonstrate that a clayey glacial till, which exists at considerable depth below the water table and which exhibits no visual evidence of weathering or fractures in vertical core samples, has hydraulic properties attributable to a permeable fracture network. The bulk vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivity of the till is approximately 5 X lop9m-s-‘; this is two orders of magnitude greater than the hydraulic conductivity of the till matrix. The Dalmeny site is flat and is located far from river valleys that could cause local stress anomalies in the till. Thus the hydraulically conductive nature of the unweathered till at this site may be characteristic of many other unweathered clayey aquitards in the Northern Interior Plains Region. An important implication of this study is that contaminants, which may enter the till at ground surface from waste-disposal activities, agricultural application of chemicals, or chemical spills, may not be effectively isolated from the aquifer by zones of unweathered clayey till. The fractures in the weathered and unweathered till may provide significant pathways for downward contaminant migration.
Fortune Minerals: Toxic Time-bomb 
The links did not apply. Here is my second try.
I am not sure if this is the place for this response but it is about the geology of the land so here it goes: Due to the recent and not so recent discoveries that deep well injection has a direct correlation to human activity caused earthquakes, I wish to provide some links that may help to confirm this concern that this also needs to be addressed. Contrary to common belief, Saskatchewan and Canada do experience earthquakes. In this post I am providing links to sources that include a short report entitled:
“Earthquakes in Saskatchewan and Canada” by Don Gendzwill from the Arts and Science Geology Department, University of Saskatchewan here that includes a map of the fault lines that I believe must be considered along with this study and the flow of the the Souris River Formation and the Dalmeny Aquifer:
http://artsandscience.usask.ca/geology/department/seismo/quakenat.html
A study released by the US Geological Survey and statement by co-author states how foreshocks, aftershocks are priming for more, so basically the snowball effect ” The findings suggest that even small man-made earthquakes, such as those of just a magnitude 1 or magnitude 2, can trigger damaging quakes, said study co-author Elizabeth Cochran, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Even if wastewater injection only directly affects a low-hazard fault, those smaller events could trigger an event on a larger fault nearby,” she told Live Science. ” “The boom in fracking in the central United States has paralleled an uptick in seismicity, with moderate-size earthquakes increasing in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Arkansas. The number of quakes in the central United States has jumped 11-fold in the past 30 years, according to the March 2013 Geology study.”
http://www.livescience.com/43953-wastewater-injection-earthquake-triggering.html
Her interview from March 18, 2014:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11413
Finally, the link to the USGS publication posted on January 17, 2014 “The current regulatory framework for wastewater disposal wells was designed to protect drinking water sources from contamination and does not address earthquake safety. Ellsworth noted that one consequence is that both the quantity and timeliness of information on injection volumes and pressures reported to the regulatory agencies is far from ideal for managing earthquake risk from injection activities.”
Now, because the Souris River Formation is a natural water filtration system and the rock underlying it contains “small faults known to exist in the subsurface, and the Prairie Evaporite formation which is composed of rock salt.” (Earthquakes in Saskatchewan and Canada, Gendzwill, USASK) it should be noted that there is more to be affected by this metal processing plant’s plan of disposal for both liquid and solid waste since “For example, wastewater disposal appears to be related to the magnitude-5.6 earthquake that struck rural central Oklahoma in 2011 leading to a few injuries and damage to more than a dozen homes. Damage from an earthquake of this magnitude would be much worse if it were to happen in a more densely populated area.
The USGS and Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) have conducted research quantifying the changes in earthquake rate in the Oklahoma City region, assessing and evaluating possible links between these earthquakes and wastewater disposal related to oil and gas production activities in the region. In a joint statement {http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3710}, USGS and OGS identified wastewater injection as a contributing factor for the 2011 earthquake swarm and damaging magnitude 5.6 event.
Studies show one to three magnitude 3.0 earthquakes or larger occurred yearly from 1975 to 2008, while the average grew to around 40 earthquakes per year from 2009 to mid-2013.”
“We’ve statistically analyzed the recent earthquake rate changes and found that they do not seem to be due to typical, random fluctuations in natural seismicity rates,” said Bill Leith, USGS seismologist. “These analyses require significant changes in both the background rate of events and earthquake triggering properties needed to have occurred to be consistent with the observed increases in seismicity. This is in contrast to what is typically found when modeling natural earthquake swarms.”
The Oklahoma analysis suggests that a contributing factor to the increase in earthquakes occurrence may be from injection-induced seismicity from activities such as wastewater disposal. The OGS has examined the behavior of the seismicity through the state assessing the optimal fault orientations and stresses within the region of increased seismicity, particularly the unusual behavior of the swarm just east of Oklahoma City.”
http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/man-made-earthquakes/
Currently, Ohio is looking at fracking, or rather deep well injection as a cause of two earthquakes that happened on “The State Department of Natural Resources ordered work halted at the well and six others in Poland Township, near the Pennsylvania border, on Monday after the two earthquakes earlier in the day. The quakes, of magnitude 2.6 and 3.0, caused no damage or injuries but were felt in nearby towns.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-earthquakes-fracking-20140312,0,4938210.story
“A disposal well in Youngstown was permanently shut in 2012 after it was linked to a series of quakes that began there three years ago, and no new disposal wells have been allowed within five miles of the site.”
This is the information I could find on this matter and the sources are only from the hydrological fracking impacts of deep well injection, but the process, and therefore the implications are relevant. Thank you for reading, Alice.
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