WATERLOO — Walking around her Waterloo neighbourhood, Mary Alice Flood points out all the trees that are dead or withering.

Big ones, little ones, deciduous, evergreens. On boulevards, yards, paths and parks.

"There's fewer healthy ones than there are dead or dying," Flood said. "It just seems kind of strange."

She looks around Westvale in west Waterloo and questions why so many trees look like they're not thriving, if there's something in the soil or water.

"I wonder if the trees are like the canary (in the coal mine) trying to tell us something," Flood said.

She's lived in the neighbourhood for 25 years, and just in the past couple months took notice as she began taking regular walks around the circular Westvale Drive. She made a few calls, but got no definitive answers except that maybe climate change was the culprit.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence that we're so close to the landfill," Flood said of the Erb Street landfill site.

Both the city and region are confident nothing is amiss in the neighbourhood.

The landfill site, which is overseen by the Region of Waterloo, is closely monitored to ensure the surrounding environment is not affected by the operation.

"We'd detect something long before it got into the Westvale neighbourhood," said Cari Rastas Howard, project manager of waste management programs.

More than 500 groundwater wells situated in and around the landfill are tested routinely to ensure nothing is migrating into the ground.

"We would definitely notice something in our tests," Rastas Howard said.

As well, 200 gas wells collect the gases produced by the decaying refuse, including methane. While there can be odours coming from the landfill, those wouldn't cause damage to trees. In fact, the hundreds of trees planted around the site are thriving.

The city's manager of forestry and horticulture said trees are dead or ailing in the neighbourhood, but almost all are ash trees affected by the emerald ash borer.

"Right now the biggest issue that we're dealing with is absolutely the ash," said Tim Wolfe.

The city is about halfway done its pest control efforts in the area where 245 trees have been identified for removal. At the peak of the work, there will be a lot of dead trees in the area.

"Every year, we're monitoring and adding to the list," Wolfe said.

Otherwise, he said it's "status quo" from what crews have been seeing. Heat and drought related to climate change may be causing trouble for trees.

The health of trees is regularly monitored, and that's been stepped up a bit with the invasion of the emerald ash borer.

"We're always out there looking and inspecting trees," Wolfe said.

Flood remains concerned as she points to one tree after another. Some are already barren of leaves while others seem to have only had a portion of their branches covered this season.

"If it is weather, why is it just Westvale?" she asked.

The city has been replacing trees steadily over the last few years, but she said often those new saplings don't appear to be doing well either.

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Flood wants to know the cause and remedy for what she says is afflicting the neighbourhood's greenery, and she worries about the health of people living there. "Just replacing trees isn't the solution."

jweidner@therecord.com

Twitter: @WeidnerRecord