WATERLOO SEWAGE TREATMENT ALSO BEING UPGRADED

The title in Saturday's Waterloo Region Record was "Waste water plant nearly year behind schedule". Quite frankly I'm just glad that the Waterloo plant, similar to the Kitchener plant is receiving a major overhaul. The Kitchener waste water plant upgrades were described here on September 3/12. Both of these upgrades will give at least some relief to our overburdened Grand River as well as to downstream communities such as Brantford and others who use the river for drinking water.

I've just recently been reviewing old technical reports concerning one plant along the river which for decades dumped/leaked and spewed industrial chemicals into the Grand River. This would be the Canadian General Tower plant at the south end of Cambridge. The example of human hypocrisy at its' best is exemplified by this company then winning environmental awards after the damage they had done to both the natural environment and probably to human beings downstream in Brantford. The awards were for their "cleanup" of a mess of such significance that instead of winning awards they should have been sent to jail. Only in Canada!

Back to the waterloo sewage plant. Apparently it and the Kitchener upgrades will cost taxpayers $108 million. This is money well spent. If you're going to keep bringing people into the watershed you've either got to improve sewage treatment and its' discharge to the Grand River or else find an alternative technology. That is my wish that the time will come when we don't dump our human wastes (treated or otherwise) into the drinking water source for others.

The designation of the Grand River as a heritage river many years ago may actually have focused enough attention on the river to spur politicians into spending our tax money more wisely on needs rather than on frivolous "legacy" projects for their own gratification and edification. This would include things like LRT trains and mega million dollar theatres.