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A 12-acre parcel of land on the Central Experimental Farm has been contaminated by road salt from nearby Carling Avenue and cannot be used for research, the Citizen has learned.

The contaminated land is located directly across from The Ottawa Hospital and comprises about one-fifth of the hospital’s preferred building site for a new Civic campus.

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The rectangular parcel of land is located between Carling Avenue and Winding Lane, and stretches east from Holland Avenue to the hospital’s helicopter pad.

About half of the contaminated area is planted with crops that are used for “demonstration” purposes only: to highlight research work on the farm. The other half of the parcel is maintained as a buffer zone that protects the research fields from traffic and road salt, said James Watson, a spokesman for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The revelation about salt contamination adds another dash of controversy to an already roiling debate about where to situate the city’s new super hospital.