Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
Sewage rules way behind the times
The Ottawa Citizen June 29, 2010
Re: Editorial, Foolish laws, June 21 and Rules Set Standards, June 23.
Minister Prentice is correct when he states that our current practice of dumping poorly treated sewage into our waterways is an environmental and human health issue that must be addressed. What Minister Prentice fails to tell us is that the steps the federal government is taking are baby steps and by no means do they address the full suite of problems we have today with respect to managing our sewage.
Environmental and human health is being jeopardized by treated effluent from wastewater treatment facilities, poorly monitored land application of sewage sludge, failing septic systems and overflows of untreated sewage from combined sewers and treatment facilities that are overwhelmed by rain.
The proposed Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations, under the Fisheries Act, only address treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants (with exceptions for northern communities). The level of treatment that will be required (secondary) is the bare minimum to protect environmental and human health.
Not only are we way behind the times on this (the United States made secondary sewage treatment mandatory over 30 years ago!), our federal regulators will give many municipalities 30 years to bring their treatment facilities up to national standards.
The federal strategy to manage sewage does not address septic systems (in Canada about 40 per cent of the population is serviced by septic systems) and it does not address sewage sludge (the solid portion of our sewage). Most important, it does not adequately address a major pollution problem we have every time it rains: raw sewage flows into our river from combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows. If the regulations pass without changes, these overflows of untreated sewage will be better monitored, but considered acceptable and legal.
Here in Canada, the land of lakes and rivers, we are far behind in prioritizing the protection of our water quality and, ultimately, human health. Our wastes have changed significantly over the past decades and sewage has become a toxic cocktail of chemicals and substances that cause cancer, the feminization of fish and frogs, and conditions that render our lakes and rivers unsuitable for swimming and fishing. We need to step up our actions and make decreasing water pollution a true priority.
Meredith Brown,
Ottawa,
Riverkeeper and Executive Director,
Ottawa Riverkeeper
© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen