Residents in the village of Bath are complaining about a mystery dust that has coated their vehicles.
Linda Flemming lives in the Loyalist Country Club Community and says she woke up Saturday morning to her car covered in a thick, white, sticky dust that wouldn’t come off with just water.
“I put on the windshield washer and it didn’t come off,” Flemming told Global News.
“I drove into the sun and it was like little diamonds all over and it actually made it hard to see out the window when you were driving into the sunshine.”
It took her the better part of an hour to scrub the substance off by hand and she says this isn’t the first time it’s happened.
“Last year it was the same thing,” Flemming explained. “Not quite as heavy last year, but yeah, it’s happened a couple or three times now and I just decided that this time we need to do something about this and that’s why I put it on Facebook.”
Flemming posted her experience on the Bath community Facebook page and said she was floored by the immediate response.
“I think I had more than 80 comments with people writing in and then I got an e-mail from one of the residents, saying, ‘let’s get in touch with the minister of the environment,’ and so I did and he wrote me back and wants to talk to me about it.”
Lafarge cement plant neighbours the residents of Bath and many are looking to the plant for an explanation.
In a statement, Rob Cumming, the environment and public affairs director with Lafarge Canada, wrote:
“Lafarge is aware of the concerns of its neighbours and is actively investigating. We have relayed information regarding the events to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and will cooperate with Ministry Officials.
“We won’t have any additional comments until we complete our investigation.”
Bath residents who spoke to Global News say they’re worried. Having a dirty car is one thing, but what worries them most is what’s in the air they’re breathing and how it may affect their health.
“There are people that are out early in the morning walking their dogs and they’re finding that they’re getting a cough or there’s a smell in the air that’s just not normal” Flemming said.
Multiple residents of the Loyalist Country Club Community have said an inspector with the ministry of environment has been in the neighbourhood conducting an investigation, but Global News has yet to confirm those details.
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