"The Duke of Richmond must be rolling in his grave
at the disrespectful treatment Richmond residents have been
getting from the City of Ottawa" ---Overheard at Richmond Fair, 2003

• So far, the City has ignored the 680 petition signatures sent through the Richmond Village Association to Mayor and Council. It has still not responded to the RVA.
• Richmond residents have repeatedly requested a sit-down public presentation meeting from the City, with an open and transparent Question and Answer segment, to hear the City's rationale (if any) for a pipeline. Since the City cannot offer any rationale for a pipeline, against the safer, less expensive on-site treatment plant option, for treating Munster's sewage ---at Munster--- the City's only response is to ignore the requests.
• On September 23rd the City had an "Open House" without conducting the formal presentation or public question and answer opportunity ---that was so crucial to have, for any appearance of openness. Failure by the City to fulfill this simple public request, can be viewed as a deliberate attempt to deceive, as well as to remain non-compliant in their obligation to properly inform the public.
• After the Open House, residents' accounts of what they had been told by Councillor Stavinga, city engineers, and consulting engineers, conflicted widely. It seems people were told whatever they had to be told to pacify them at the time, and the truth in many instances took a severe hit. People were getting completely opposite answers ...depending on who they were talking to.
• This is the precise reason why "Open House" formats ---alone--- are so valueless.

Recent correspondence and information...

• Important, "Must Read" notice for Richmond Residents - Richmond Village Association

• Recent Ruptures of the Richmond - Glen Cairn Forcemain Raises Serious Questions about the City's Position on Munster Sewage Treatment - Friends of the Jock River.

• Richmond resident's open letter to Munster residents - Bruce Webster, (RVA Director)

• Open Letter to Mayor and Council, cc: Ottawa Citizen - Doug Arnold, Richmond Resident

City's Open House - September 23rd:

• Richmond residents protest sewer line: THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
  "Dozens of Richmond residents stormed a high school last night to raise a stink over a proposed
  sewage pipeline that would cut through their community and endanger their precious water supply."
  THE OTTAWA CITIZEN: 24/09/2003 2:31:01 AM

•  Failure to communicate effectively with residents: Stittsville News - Editorial
  "The public open house at South Carleton High School in Richmond last week was totally inadequate. ...it is going to become a municipal election hot potato and certainly is a glaring example of how a municipal government has failed to be successful in communicating with residents."
  Stittsville News - Editorial, September 30, 2003

News and Information Updates:

• Richmond ups ante in pipeline fight: THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - October 2, 2003:
  "Already ensnared in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over a proposed sewage pipeline from Munster Hamlet to Richmond, the City of Ottawa now faces growing opposition from the community."
  THE OTTAWA CITIZEN: 02/10/2003 8:17:50 AM

• Costly pipe to Munster: THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - EDITORIAL - October 2, 2003:
  "Munster Hamlet's wastewater is a relatively small problem that has turned into a very large headache for the City of Ottawa. Now the city is about to try to bring the issue to a close by building a sewage pipeline into Richmond. But the city's case for a pipeline is not yet convincing."
  THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - EDITORIAL: October 2, 2003

• City’s Munster sewage plan is a puzzle - THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - LETTERS -Oct 6, 2003:

  "It has always puzzled me what is behind the City of Ottawa’s decision to avoid the less costly and more environmentally friendly solution of on-site sewage treatment in Munster."
  THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - LETTER TO THE EDITOR - Re: Costly pipe to Munster, Oct. 2, 2003
  
  

• City spurns clear Munster answer - THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - LETTERS - Oct 17, 2003:
  "Richmond residents are not the only ones upset by the City of Ottawa's choice of a pipeline as the solution to the problem of Munster's wastewater. Many Munster residents also share their concerns and do not believe that it is the answer."
  THE OTTAWA CITIZEN - LETTER TO THE EDITOR - Re: "Richmond ups ante in pipeline fight", Oct. 2, 2003.

  ---

  Hauntingly similar examples of neglect of public health risks, between Walkerton's case, and in what the City of Ottawa is doing to Richmond's shallow-well aquifer:

  Walkerton Inquiry - info Part 1: click here
  Report of the Walkerton Comission of Inquiry Part 2: click here

This will become an all-too-familiar sight, if plans for a Munster to Richmond forcemain are carried out. However, the greatest risk of all would be from hidden slow-leaks (such as the most recent one above) polluting the aquifer ---making this area "A Walkerton, by design".

"The costs of the Walkerton tragedy are estimated at $155 million
- the equivalent of 10 years of public health spending by the City of Ottawa."
The Ottawa Coalition for Public Health in the 21st Century - Ontario Public Health Association

"Breach of trust" and "Public endangerment" In the Walkerton case, harm befell the public because of sloppiness on the part of the two bothers, and lax MOE supervision. The Richmond case is far more "manufactured". The mayor, supported by the ward councillor and staff engineers have willfully chosen the highest-risk, most expensive alternative ...in complete defiance of expressed public safety concerns . MOE is again asleep at the switch, as it merely rubber-stamps the city's falsified EA process.    Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 12, 2004

The Office of the Chief Medical Officer, City of Ottawa, (since December 2003), appears to have been stonewalling Richmond residents, by failing to address the obvious medical health risk posed by
the planned introduction of a pressurized sewage forcemain, through the shallow aquifer of the village.
To view a sampling of the correspondence - click here

Please contact the Richmond Village Association to help stop this insanity:
                                                             Send your emails to:  rvamail@sympatico.ca

Recent Letters to this website or the print media:  "Visitor Comments"  Nov. 16 / 03   

                                                                                       ...... Other related Visitor Comments

                    Thoughts to ponder...                    

To the City:
"To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice."  -Confucius

To Richmond Residents:
"Never give in --- in nothing, great or small, large or petty --- except
to convictions of honour and good sense.:  -Winston Churchill

Re: PUBLIC MEETING, RICHMOND - DECEMBER 9, 2003:

• Richmond Village Association, circulated a  notice of meeting flyer to residents.  VIEW FLIER

• POST-MORTEM REPORT on city's failed attempt to appear credible at Richmond meeting.

• Meeting attendees and letter writers to city made futile attempts to obtain pipeline costs

• "One-sided meeting": Letter to The Ottawa Citizen - Wednesday, December 17, 2003
  At its second public information meeting about Munster Hamlet's wastewater situation, the City of Ottawa sent its best flim-flam team under the leadership of councillor Janet Stavinga to Richmond last Tuesday. The intent was to put their best spin on the city's money-wasting solution.... VIEW

Application to the Commissioner of the Environment for an Investigation into the Munster Hamlet Treatment Facility Evaluation of Alternatives undertaken by the City of Ottawa, Pursuant to  Section 74, Environmental Bill of Rights, filed December 15, 2003 - VIEW APPLICATION

Six Ottawa councillors told about problem:
The Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee was told, that councillors made the wrong choice, of a pipeline, because they were not properly informed regarding risk to Richmond's shallow aquifer, or told about the history of Richmond's frequent (downstream) forcemain breaks. (Link to press coverage, below.)
Stittsville News - March 2, 2004:  Committee hears RVA view of Munster pipeline project

"Mr. McKinley said that the result would be “catastrophic” if city council ends up making the wrong decision in this matter and a pipeline is installed. He said that, in his view, city council has not seen all of the information that it should have seen before reaching its decision to proceed with a sewer pipeline rather than a stand-alone, on-site sewage treatment facility...."

Letter from Councillor Glen Brooks, to Minister of the Environment, regarding City Council making the wrong choice based on Council NOT receiving complete information:
                                                       CLICK HERE

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Significant New Document, (February, 2004), from the Strategic Policy Branch of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, has immensely positive implications for Richmond's aquifer ---simply because it is 180o from the city's position:  "White paper on Watershed-based Source Protection Planning" CLICK HERE "Without a comprehensive source water protection program, public health remains at risk." [Correspondence from RVA Director, to Mayor and Council,  describes how adherence to the provincial "White Paper on Watershed-based Source Protection Planning" , (above), would ensure safety of Richmond's water supply:  CLICK HERE]

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Community members gather to find ways to protect  their shallow aquifer, drinking-water source, from city-caused contamination: CLICK HERE

City duplicity over "concerns addressed by public":  "Alarm Bells"

Still applies:  Sanity Check --- Are you listening to yourselves?

Trail Road Leachate Management - PLC proceedings expose city's over-dependence
upon the SCADA-remote sensing system to protect residents from sewage contamination of their private wells.  CLICK HERE

Eight year old Richmond resident, Tiemen van der Horn, saw the city install the Munster forcemain, this year, along Cockburn Street where he lives, and has heard adults trying to figure out why the city would take such risks with peoples lives. Entirely on his own initiative, this is his response to the city of Ottawa. At Tiemen's request, parents Tim and Wendy have forwarded their son's letter to Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Ward Councillor Janet Stavinga. If an 8-year-old can connect the dots, with regard to the clear case of public endangerment posed by the forcemain ...what is wrong with our elected representatives?

Richmond forcemain breaks a SIXTH time - October 26, 2004

Trail Rd ON-SITE leachate treatment decision, example needed for Richmond's safety

Poor Representative - Letter to Editor, The Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 3/05

Top environmental lawyer speaks to Richmond residents about city's "illegal" actions

MOE tough on law-abiding rurals, easy on law-breaking cities -Free Press Advocate

Undetected, SEVENTH, forcemain break discovered by Richmond resident (Feb 27/05)

Rural sewage-line solution stinks - The Ottawa Citizen - July 31-05