To celebrate World Water Day, proponents of declarations outlining how clean the region’s water remains are launching a new book.
The Elmvale Groundwater Observatory was written by William Shotyk, Beatrix Bicalho, Chad W. Cuss, Iain Grant-Weaver, Muhammad Babar Javed, Michael Krachler, Tommy Noernberg, Michael A. Powell and Jiancheng (James) Zheng.
There's going to be an online book launch on Friday at 7 p.m. to coincide with World Water Day. The Zoom link to the presentation can be found here, courtesy of the Elmvale Foundation.
The area is known for having some of the cleanest water in the world. The source of this water is the Alliston Aquifer, a large underground reservoir that is fed by rainwater and snowmelt from the surrounding hills.
"This groundwater contains one part per trillion of lead," Shotyk explained during an earlier interview with BradfordToday and InnisfilToday affiliate MidlandToday. "It's cleaner than ancient arctic ice."
During Friday's event, the audience will be provided with a link to allow them to download the book for free. For those unable to attend virtually, Friday's presentation will be recorded with the video posted online.
The presentation will be mainly an announcement regarding the book's completion while outlining a few research highlights and providing a chance to thank all of those who have helped along the way.
“The focus is trace elements, but we have included data on major ions, tritium (none could be detected) and organic contaminants (none could be detected),” an advance notice of the book says.
The authors have requested that once people have downloaded the free book that they not share it directly, but rather encourage others to go to the Groundwater Project website to download it for free.
The Elmvale Foundation is a non-profit research organization providing environmental science education. The foundation and its first annual event, the Elmvale Water Festival, were created by Shotyk.
"The remarkable purification of natural waters as illustrated by these artesian flows presents a tremendous opportunity for environmental science education," the foundation notes.
Shotyk is the Bocock agriculutre and environment chair in the renewable resources department at the University of Alberta, specializing in the study of trace metals in the environment.
His studies have shown that the pristine groundwater of the Elmvale area, including Springwater and Tiny townships, are comparable in many respects to the cleanest layers of ancient arctic ice.
"This water I'm talking about is not just great water, it's absolutely exceptional water," Shotyk said during the earlier interview. "We should treasure this water. The Elmvale Foundation will do everything it can to protect this water for future generations."
