Aug. 30, 2005

 

Gord:

Here's what I gather (in simplified form) from my research over the last few years regarding septic systems and their operation. The septic tank acts as a repository for the waste matter which is then, through anaerobic action of bacteria, digested and converted into a liquefied sludge. The overflow liquid works its way out of the tanks through the weeping tile and then dissipates largely through evaporation.

 

Although it is true that much of Wainfleet Township has very thin soil with bedrock only a couple of feet (or even less) below the surface, most of us residing along the lakefront have sand to a depth of at least 8 feet under us above bedrock. Our wells are drilled through at least 20 feet of bedrock.

 

"Grey water" has been an issue of contention for quite a few years. The Niagara Health Unit in its infinite wisdom insists that all this "grey water" go directly into our septic systems. The result is that all this grey water from washing machines and dishwashers overloads septic systems, causing them to malfunction. Meanwhile, all along the lakeshore, our properties are built on sand and sand is a natural filter for grey water. Ah, but detergents are dangerous pollutants... Well, why haven't the "powers that be" put a moratorium on them? Why haven't they forced manufacturers to make only bio-degradable soaps?

 

In your recent statements in the Welland Tribune and in your recent letter to me, you postulate that because the bedrock is so closes to the surface, waste water must necessarily flow into the lake carrying along with it all its pollutants because it cannot permeate bedrock. Well, Gord, you can't have it both ways! If our septic systems which are above bedrock are spewing effluents into the lake, how then are they contaminating our wells which are at least 15 feet below the surface of the bedrock? Seems to me that water flows along the surface of rocks much quicker than it does through solid rock. Moreover, the liquid portion of the waste from working septic systems, as previously stated, evaporates as water vapour. Any solid particulates (already digested and neutralised by anaerobic bacteria action) precipitate and are further broken down and neutralised by bacteria in the soil. Granted, after very heavy rains, some of these innocuous particulates may be washed from the soil into the lake, but I warrant that this would be a miniscule amount compared to who knows what raw undigested sewage and chemicals that get flushed into the lake from farms and golf courses, etc., via ditches and storm drains.

 

Inland wells are typically drilled much deeper than our shallow wells. Obviously, they are tapping into a different aquifer. At a depth of 80 or 90 feet, with many layers of rock and clay, well, I guess they are insulated from many pollutants(and therefore their water would test ok). Our shallower wells along the lakefront, however, could very well be affected by pollutants which infiltrate cracks, faults and fissures in the bedrock inland from us. The fact that the bedrock is so close to the surface inland compared to many feet underground here at the lakefront would presuppose that the bedrock layers slant at an upward angle heading inland. If this is the case, then groundwater, containing any pollutants, could seep between layers a mile or more inland where the bedrock is very close to the surface and eventually work its way into our lakefront well-water.

 

Anyway, we could go on arguing forever over this smoke-and-mirrors game. The crux of the matter, as I see it, is that you have set yourself up as the agent of "change for the better", the knight in shining armour who would save us from ourselves, the concerned mayor who would bring safe drinking water to Wainfleet and clean up Lake Erie while he's at it. Well, most of us along the lakefront (if not in all of Wainfleet) have already taken steps to purify our water and make it safe, at our own expense. As far as polluting Lake Erie goes, well, even if all of us lakefront property owners were to stop defecating today and for the rest of our lives, I'll bet my life and everything I hold dear that it wouldn't make a tinker's damn in the poor state of our lake's water quality. After all, Wainfleet lakefront property owners only occupy about 20 km. of lakefront. What about all the other thousands of kilometers of Lake Erie shoreline here in Ontario and in the US? Our contribution to the lake's pollution, compared to Buffalo and many other cities bordering the lake, is minimal at best. If we closed down Wainfleet completely and moved everybody out, the lake would still remain just as polluted.

This issue, unfortunately, is not really about the health and welfare of the lakefront community, nor is it about the quality of Lake Erie's water. That is why I'm against this sewer/water project. It doesn't begin to address the real problems of polluted water tables and lakes. It is but a band-aid solution. At the same time, especially in light of the fact that you and your Council are busy hammering out a "development plan", and as a result of what you had to say in the Tribune about Wainfleet's "future" as you see it, well, it becomes patently obvious to me that the real agenda here is not our health and welfare and water quality but the ways and means to develop this community and bring it into "the 21'st century" in spite of our wishes to remain a rural quiet community. You can't go ahead with any substantial development with "things as they are" so you must advocate change. What better way than to "discover" a problem to which (according to you) the only answer is sewer and water mains?

 

André.