Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you,
It's certainly a pleasure to have an opportunity to have you here to testify and to rekindle some old connections.
Dr. Schindler, I'm looking at the slides here. When I look at cadmium and at surface water in comparison to the snowpack, the Athabasca River 2 and the Muskeg River 2 sites seem to have very high amounts of cadmium in relation to the snowpack. In terms of surface water, at Beaver River, Steepbank River, and basically throughout all the various testing points on the Athabasca River there are elevated amounts.
I don't know if it's filtered out or if it settles out, but for example if you look at AR17, which is downstream of Fort McMurray, it has a higher rate of cadmium than Athabasca River 3, which is significantly lower. Then we go up to Athabasca River 12, and the rate is quite high again. Could you explain to me how, in that flow, the cadmium levels can change or alter so dramatically, given the same testing cycles, the same testing techniques?
What happens with cadmium? Does it settle out?