Despite public attempts to clean and protect the Ottawa River, the watershed is still blighted by untreated sewage, industrial pollution and suspected illegal toxic dumping.
At a public meeting at Britannia beach last night, Ottawa Riverkeeper reminded the 65 people in attendance that 1.6 million people rely directly on the river for drinking water, hydroelectricity and recreation. Yet the threat of closures and no-swim orders at city beaches due to E. coli-contaminated water and other pollutants has not gone away.
“We have a long way to go before the river is treated with the respect it deserves,” said Ottawa Riverkeeper executive director Meredith Brown.
The citizen-based charitable organization, committed to the ecological sustainability of the Ottawa River, set out its three-year action plan at the annual general meeting.
“We have been so busy in the last year,” said Brown. “There really is a lack of understanding of who to go to with issues, so now Ottawa Riverkeeper really has become the go-to organization when there’s anything that’s happening with the river.”
REDOUBLE ADVOCACY
At the forum, Brown presented a three-pronged approach, with a focus on increasing the scientific knowledge available to the group.
With the Ontario Trillium Foundation recently renewing its $116,000 commitment to Ottawa Riverkeeper over the next two years, the group also plans to double efforts on the advocacy front, as well as bringing a focus to networking and capacity-building.
Brown screened a slideshow presentation of about 30 major issues that have been brought forward in the last year, including landfills that affect the water bodies, shoreline alterations, flood plain development, upgrades to current ferry routes across the river, and the Domtar project slated for development at Chaudiere Falls.
“Paddlers are coming to me saying they’re sick of paddling in raw sewage,” said Brown. There’s quite a few issues that are being brought forward. It runs the gamut.”
Ottawa Sun