At a recent Toronto luncheon meeting of the Empire Club of Canada, Hank Vander Laan, President and CEO of Trojan Technologies, spoke about the need for a multi-barrier strategy to protect potable water quality.
In addition to protecting public health, Mr. Vander Laan also stressed that water quality is of concern to the manufacturing sector. He pointed out that it can take up to 350 gallons of water to manufacture one computer chip. One bacterium can short out that chip. Photo - Steve Davey
Groundwater under the Grand Restaurant near Orillia is so saturated with road salt, the Ontario Transportation Ministry has agreed to supply drinking water for the business indefinitely. The Ministry says that elevated levels of salt are a problem in wells bordering Highway 11. Several residents said they would like the province to stop using salt, and just put down sand. The Transportation Ministry says that sand alone is not the best material for snowy and icy roads from both a safety and maintenance perspective.
A committee to monitor the impact of hog barns on water quality near Yorktown, Saskatchewan, is the first committee of its kind in the province. The 13 person committee will advise the provincial government on water quality and manure fertilizer use, and will permit a public review of soil and water monitoring data.
The committee will be chaired by a director of the Good Spirit Lake Cottage Owners Association, after the association expressed concern over the impact of a hog barn on the lake's water quality.
Three government representatives will sit on the committee, one each from Agriculture and Food, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management, and SaskWater. A representative of Big Sky Farms, the company building the hog barns, will also sit on the board. The rest of the representatives will be members of the surrounding community. The hog barns have already received approval.
Ontario Environment Minister Dan Newman introduced a bill October 10 in the Legislature that would give Ontario the toughest fines and longest jail terms in Canada for major environmental offences.
The Environmental Penalties Statute Law Amendment Act, 2000 would amend the penalty structure of the Environmental Protection Act, Ontario Water Resources Act and the Pesticides Act. The proposed penalties would:
The penalty structure in the Ontario Water Resources Act would be amended to ensure that these new tough penalties apply to the most serious offences under the new Drinking Water Protection Regulation, including failure to report samples that exceed standards and failure to ensure minimum levels of treatment.
Mr. Newman has also announced the creation of a SWAT team, which will be a highly mobile compliance, inspection and enforcement unit.
A $300 million class action lawsuit was recently filed in Ontario Superior Court against Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, the utility's manager, Stan Koebel, the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit, and the Town of Walkerton. The suit, filed on behalf of four Walkerton residents, alleges children in Walkerton were infected by the E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria two years ago which should have alerted officials that the town's water was contaminated.
The Halifax Water Commission has applied to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to bill condominium corporations for water costs. Five metro condominium corporations will be fighting the application during a board hearing.
The Water Commission says that while most condo owners pay their water bills, there is an ongoing problem with some residents. Many condo units can share just one water shut-off valve, making it difficult to punish the culprits.
The Commission wants to implement a billing system in which all water bills would be put in the corporation's name, but individual condo owners would still be billed separately. If the resident does not pay, the condominium corporation is responsible for the bills. If the corporation fails to pay the bills, the Commission could shut off water to the entire building.