POLITICAL RESPONSE TO REGIONAL BIOSOLIDS FACILITY IS INTERESTING

Every now and then if a citizen reads carefully he can detect a message from a reporter that they may or may not have intended. Saturday's Waterloo Region Record is an example for me. Paige Desmond wrote this story "Few takers for new biosolids facility". I don't question the engineering behind the heating of sewage treatment plant biosolids which presumably drys them and makes them lighter and easier to transport. I also understand that presumably and hopefully nasty things like bacteria, heavy metals, syringes and Lord knows what else are sucessfully removed.

What has caught my interest is the response by municipal politicians to having this biosolids facility in their constituency. Apparently Councillor Scott Witmer is adamant that Waterloo should not be the home of this facilty if there are going to be any odours involved. Obviously the City of Waterloo have been on the receiving end of odour complaints from the Erb St. landfill for a very long time including 1,051 complaints between 1999 and 2012. Wow! Meanwhile Regional Chair Ken Seiling says that there won't be any odours. Nada. zero. Huh! So why if there will be no odours are the Region having difficulties finding a willing host? Is Councillor Witmer, perish the thought, suggesting that anytime in the past, the Region has misled the City of Waterloo?

Meanwhile Regional Councillor Claudette Millar is also pointing out the obvious which is why if there will be no odours are the City of Waterloo objecting. Mind you she is also pointing out a little bit of history with her comment "We're (Cambridge) quite used to receiving things that we don't particularily want".

Sewage just like air quality, road congestion, water shortages and so many other environmental issues are the downside to development and constant economic growth. Generally developers and politicians would prefer that the public's attention be elsewhere so that money can continue to be made by the few at the expense of both the planet and of the rest of us.