Our ex-Mayor Gord Harry (who lost his office because he tried to push something on us that we didn't want), the Niagara Regional Government, its Project Manager Bob Steele, and Robin Williams, head of the Niagara Regional Health Unit would have us believe lake pollution is the result of faulty septic systems. Recent articles in the Welland Tribune, CBC online, Toronto.CTV online and the Toronto Star (Click here to read them!!!) give the lie to this. Note that our Regional Government is planning on spending $400,000 next year to "better track sewage overflows" without doing anything to prevent them!
The Environment Canada Website in the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators 2006 - Full Report [2006-11-23],
cites that "In 2004, 88% of the 112 000 tonnes of pollutants released to either coastal or freshwater bodies by large industrial and commercial facilities reporting to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) were from municipal water and wastewater services."
The following pictures re-inforce those findings referred to in the above articles.
These pictures of the ditch along Golf Course Rd, the culvert which drains the run-off from that ditch directly into Lake Erie, and the bottom of Sunset Bay at Morgan's Point with a summer's accumulation of rotting algae, were taken in September, 2004, after a heavy rain. On the day these pictures were taken, there was a "plume" of brown run-off water running out from the shore below the culvert a good 500 meters into the lake extending 1 km. Southward, almost to the end of the point. The wind was blowing from the North-East. If you look closely at the pictures below, you should be able to make out the brownish water in the foreground and the greenish water further out near the horizon. (The pictures would have been much more dramatic had they been taken from above, like maybe from an airplane.)
This run-off from ditches that drain livestock farms and a golf course is undoubtedly rich in fertilizers, nutrients and pollutants on which algae thrive.
The following pictures were taken May 19, 2006, showing the poor condition in which the township keeps its ditches. This is the same ditch and culvert as in the pictures above. These pictures also show algae growing in the ditch and in the bit of run-off below the culvert from a previous rain. Imagine this ditch late in the fall, full of rotting leaves and maybe a dead and decomposing rabbit or squirrel or other "road kill" thrown in for good measure and then a good hard rain comes along...
Note the algae already washed ashore and starting to decompose this early in the year. Also compare the beach in the last picture to the beach (same beach) in the picture taken in 2004. Where do you suppose all that rotten foetid carpet of algae from 2004 went? Nobody carted it out. If one were to dig down into the sand there, well, I doubt he or she would find a pot of gold... The proposed water and sewer project does absolutely NOTHING to address any of this.
Keep in mind that this is but one of many ditches and culverts in Wainfleet draining run-off containing who knows what pollutants, etc., directly into the waters of Lake Erie.
The Toronto Star, Saturday July 1st., 2006 edition, featured the article entitled "Safe Swimming?", on the front page of its "GTA" section, written by Peter Gorrie, Environment Writer, re. the state of the beaches in and around Toronto and what is being done to render them safe for swimming. The Niagara Regional Health Unit has seen fit to declare some of our beaches unsafe for swimming, conveniently at the same time that we, the lakefront property owners have been accused of polluting Lake Erie's waters with our "faulty" septic systems while the Township Council and the Regional Government are trying to shove a sewer/water project down our throats that we don't want, can't afford and which won't do anything to address the real causes of the lake's (or the water table's) pollution. The following excerpt from the above-cited article points out some real causes of lake pollution. Although the article refers to Toronto's beaches, the similarities to our problems and their causes are too obvious to be ignored or discounted. (N.B.: Italics and passages underlined or within parentheses are my additions).
"Should the province relax the water quality standards that determine whether beaches are closed? The main marker is E. Coli. Ontario regulations deem it a hazard when more than 100 bacteria are detected in 100 millilitres of water. The rule is among the toughest anywhere, and the highest across Canada, says Michael D'Andrea, director of water infrastructure management.
The American standard is 126; Health Canada's limit is 200. Europe goes up to 1,000. 'It needs to be looked at by scientists,' D'Andrea says. 'We're just asking that it be reviewed.' "Most of the city's (Toronto's) human wastes no longer flow directly into the lake (and here in Wainfleet, those human wastes go into septic systems or holding tanks). Sewage treatment plants — first erected a century ago to curb deadly cholera outbreaks — contain them.
"Three main culprits continue to pollute the beaches:
"1. The biggest is the flood of contaminated water that washes into storm sewers from streets, parking lots, roofs and lawns (well, here in Wainfleet it is from roads, produce and livestock farms and golf courses) when it rains. There are 2,600 outfalls throughout Toronto: About 100 discharge directly into the lake; the rest flow into the rivers and creeks. They disgorge a witch's brew of garbage, toxic metals, animal feces, oil, fertilizer and pesticides. In the older, central city, storm and sanitary sewers are combined, so human wastes spice the stew.
"2. Birds contribute tonnes of feces. Every day, each of the plump geese waddling along the waterfront deposits a kilogram of germ-laden poop (and we've got more than our fair share of Geese here in Wainfleet the last few years).
"3. The rivers and creeks transport wastes. Some wash off nearby land, others spew from the sewer outfalls."
Here in Wainfleet we've got the Grand River upstream from us, a river which drains hundreds of thousands of hectares of land (much of it farmland), and more than a few towns and cities including Dunnville, Cayuga, Caledonia, Brantford, Paris, Guelph, Kitchener/Waterloo, Fergus, Elora, etc. So what do you suppose happens after a heavy rain?
The Township Council's and the Niagara Regional Government's answer to our "problems" is to install sewer and water lines and to allow the building of at least another 500 homes out here so that taxes from these new homes will help affray the costs of this unaffordable project. My contention is that further "development" will only compound the already existing "overflow" problem, not to mention all the other forms of pollution resulting from added population density (ie. more cars, lawn mowers, lawn fertilizers, etc.).
For those who may be interested, here is the letter I sent to the Minister of the Environment, Laurel Broten , on August 4, 2005.
Here is a letter I sent to our Mayor, Gord Harry, on August 30th., 2005.
E-mail sent on December 3, 2006 to Bob Steele, Project Manager for Regional Niagara.
