Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
Councillor says millions will be wasted trying to fix sewage spills; he’d rather build a pool
Coun. Gord Hunter says spending millions of tax dollars to clean up the Ottawa River is a “knee-jerk” reaction, and building a massive recreational swimming pool in the east end is a better solution.
Hunter said the city, province and federal government are spending a lot of money that isn’t going to fix the problem of raw sewage flowing into the river.
“We are still going to get closures at Mooney’s Bay and Westboro beaches,” said Hunter.
The federal and provincial governments have given the city more than $100 million for infrastructure projects in the last month, including the $30 million needed to install real-time controls in five downtown sewers to stop any unintended sewage spills into the river.
Hunter also said it was a mistake to build a beach at Petrie Island because of its position on the Ottawa River shoreline.
“The beach at Petrie Island was not a good idea,” he said.
Hunter said last week on CFRA that the city should have built a big pool at Petrie Island rather than a beach.
“We could take probably 5% of all that money and build the biggest, best outdoor swimming pool down in the Orleans area, probably on Petrie Island itself, and satisfy all the people with their swimming needs and the one thing that wouldn’t have to go into the Ottawa River is people,” said Hunter. “Then the issue of sewage, which helps the plant life along the Ottawa River, could continue as present. This is an awful lot of money to be spent on a very minor problem.”
Even if the city manages to contain sewage spills and overflows from sanitary storm sewers, Hunter says there will still be the problem of naturally created contaminants.
“Geese are a problem and other factors including poop that doesn’t get scooped,” said Hunter. “There is a problem that includes natural factors.”
Hunter says the beaches are ready for swimmers only a day or two after having been closed due to high levels of E. coli.
“I think a lot of knee-jerk is coming into this,” he said. “It’s a temporary problem. Two days later the beaches are open again.”
Coun. Peter Hume, chairman of the city’s planning and environment committee, said residents are demanding the Ottawa River be cleaned up and that’s what the city is reacting to.
“The city is entering into a long-term commitment to improve the Ottawa River,” said Hume. “It’s not a knee-jerk reaction. That’s probably the wrong term.”
With more development along the Ottawa River shoreline, there is more scrutiny about the quality of the waterway and the amount of raw sewage that spills into it, Hume said.
“People find it not acceptable,” he said.
City treasurer Marian Simulik suggested to committee that the extra cash from the province and feds might allow council to claw back about 7% of the 9% water rate tax increase council voted in favour of last year.
derek.puddicombe@sunmedia.ca