1. The crisis

I n November 1989, Susan Bryant got a phone call from her husband, Darrol. He had heard radio reports warning Elmira residents to stop drinking the tap water.

It was a Friday evening, and Bryant couldn’t get anyone on the phone at the Ministry of the Environment or the Region of Waterloo.

About six months earlier, Bryant and several other Elmira residents had formed a group called Assuring Protection for Tomorrow’s Environment, or APTE. The group had 12 people on the executive board, and members from 40 families. They were concerned about foul odours from the Uniroyal plant in the northeast corner of town. When they asked other environmental groups around Ontario for advice, they were told to be concerned about the water supply.

Before they could act on that tip, the Elm

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