[All] Susan K's column this week O Merde

[Lanteigne]

 I enjoyed your article Susan! Well done.

This was from my notes of the 2006 Watershed Forum
Hon.Herb Grey, the co-chair of the International Joint
Commission explained how this INDEPENDENT group made
up of both Canadian and US officials works to protect
the shared water resources of the Great Lakes. The
Grand River itself isn't regarded as an issue under
their jurisdiction but the Grand's roll as a recharge
in relation to Lake Erie is. This is a serious tool we
can use to push for source water protection. If an
issue from here affects Erie, we can notify these
folks. We are encouraged to. He said Lake Erie's
greatest problem right now is the sediment entering
Erie. They blamed Agriculture. Development was not
mentioned but it's an obvious oversight.

He said that in Waterloo Region we had 149 sewage
spills into the Grand River. That's 7 per month. 88
incidents came from Bypass meaning it was partially
treated at the Pumping Station. The rest were raw
sewage.

For more info about this group, visit here.
http://www.ijc.org/en/home/main_accueil.htm


| 
I remember hearing Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller stating, if you want an example of Waste Recovery, just drink the water from Brantford. |


He  also spoke of how the human body evolved it's digestive track with 20 ft of intestines to literally remove the water from our wastes and and yet the first thing we do when we we crap is to put it into the water of a toilet.  If we simply let wastes be as nature designed, they will reduce to only 2% of it's mass over a 5 year period.
I have a question here for you too:  are we considering Aggregates and development lands as a possible source of sewage wastes if the lots being used were agricultural lands where the sludge was distributed? Do we consider the potential exposure to old wells which were often capped with stones or wood and literally buried into many of these fields? It would seem we might want to use ground penetrating radar to find things like that before approvals are given to dump sludge or build new pits. 

I know back in 2016 composting toilets are not legal in Ontario where sewer lines exist but I don't know if that is still the case today.
One of the big reasons why folks don't use composting toilets is because our water treatment and transportation are not designed for water reduction strategies. If we don't use similar water volumes in relation to current pipe designs and water use decreases, it means water stays in the pipes longer and the Chlorine can wear off creating water risks. It changes water pressure and water volumes so it's a far more complex water design issue to balance. Potable water is a revenue source for municipalities as well so there is pricing to think about too. 
As for what to do with old poop I'm a big fan of reusing it to create aggregate materials to offset the need for quarry pits. In fact it's proven stronger because you can literally make the perfect size stone or brick to get the job done. 
Lulu



    On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, 12:37:47 p.m. EDT, Susan Koswan <susankoswan at execulink.com> wrote:  
 
 Hi GRENers,

Well, someone has to write about this! lol

https://www.therecord.com/opinion/2021/06/23/we-need-to-embrace-eco-friendly-water-saving-ways-to-deal-with-our-waste.html?rf

Susan K


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