[All] Costco: Why it's a bad idea

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Hi folks

Now that the Part II order for Hidden Valley is over, I can think about Costco and the first word that comes to mind is SALT.

We are paying millions to remediate Greenbrook wells and projects like the West Side Lands had a zero thresh hold to exceed salt levels. How will Greenbrook impact those same wellfields? Will the wells be closed due to salt? 

We also have vinyl Chloride leaking at the Erb Street dump. Rather toxic stuff. There is a way we can implement in situ bioremediation using enzymes that will eventually neutralize the toxicity but if the salt kills off the beneficial enzymes needed to make that happen we're stuck with the highest level of toxicity. That's not good. 

Folks preach that beet root juice can replace salt. What they must consider though is the fact that beet root is one of the highest naturally occurring forms of nitrate. Spread that on the road where does it go? Right into our storm drains, tributaries and the Grand River. What's the last thing the Grand needs right now? Food for blue Green Algae aka NITRATES. 
Do these folks intend to build a storm water management pond? Do they want geese pooping in that water with up to 5 lbs of nitrate and phosphate rich droppings a day? Again, not a reasonable plan. In order to protect WATER QUALITY and protect our WELLS for the long term, this project may need to be axed.

We also much consider the fact this project is a giant heat island on the West end of the city. What happens is that the storms of summer come rolling in from the west, right off the cool moist moraine fields and meadow lands and hit a hot dry paved thermal area where the heat causes the air to blast straight up. This pushes hot thermals up and cold thermals down and Voila: Tornado maker. I have three photos in the attachment to support. If this were on the east end, I would not worry as much since the rains and winds are strongest west to east not vice versa. This is a disaster in the making. Things like this push moisture straight up creating very nasty clouds. Not good. 

So in light of all these scenarios, it's up to us to ask the question: how will these risks be mitigated? Reasonably, the proponent is the one with the burden to prove they can build this safely. Neither the City, Region nor anyone else can prove it can because we do not have access to all the data. The proponent owns that. It's their duty to find the answers to address these issues. Not ours.

Salt, Heat Island and Goose Poop. Those are the issues I'm thinking of. 

Lulu 
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