K-W RECORD CONTINUES ENVIRONMENTAL STORIES (WATER)

Well done Waterloo Region (i.e. K-W) Record. Yesterday it was reporter Leah Gerber writing a story about both ground and surface water and the ongoing threats they are under from development, aggregates (i.e. sand & gravel extraction), industrial and pharmeceutical contamination. Today reporter Paige Desmond writes about both climate change and chemical contaminants impacts on fish in our local waterways. The title of her story is "UW studying threats to fish". Associate Professor Paul Craig at the University of Waterloo is studying the effects of human impact on the health of our waterways and biological organisms living in them, particularly fish. Various fish species are, if you will, the canary in the coal mine regarding healthy waterways that affect all life in Waterloo Region including human life. While only about 22% of our drinking water comes from the Grand River nevertheless there are both financial costs as well as health costs involved as the river suffers from human co-existence. ............................................................................................................. Firstly not all contaminants are fully removed by various treatment processes. This is not mentioned in the article however just one example is pharmaceuticals flushed down our sinks and toilets. Our Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) are not designed to remove them fully and as well there are also many industrial chemicals entering our waterways because 1) they are not tested for in the Region's Annual (Water) Reports and hence likely are ignored (NDMA, xylenes, toluene etc.) 2) the already expensive treatment of river water isn't designed to remove everything up to 100% of its' presence in river water. This paragraph is a result of my reading and researching the Region's Annual (Water) reports for many years. ....................................................................................................... Professor Craig is doing good work but keep in mind that the fish, in a sense, are merely a lab substitute for human impacts caused by pollution in our waterways. Also keep in mind that the Record are doing an excellent job in informing citizens that all is not well in our natural environment including groundwater, creeks, streams and rivers. Public knowledge of these failures is necessary long before our politicians will actually take positive steps such as sewage treatment upgrades, better source water protection and better enforcement of our current environmental laws.