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Fresh thinking on waste
Time to protect natural treasures
Editorial, Oct. 22.
Further surface sprawl
onto the Oak Ridges Moraine is one probable outcome of the
proposed King City-Big Pipe connection, should it be built.
The reduction of underground base flows to the Humber River is
even more of a certainty.
David Miller
recognized this when, in the midst of his 2000 run for
re-election in High Park (a city ward that borders the Humber
River), he took valuable time away from his campaign to speak
out against sprawl at the Humber headwaters in King Township.
The Star needs to follow suit.
Yes, electors need to
support local and regional councillors who will defend "green"
community plans. But the infrastructure that goes hand-in-hand
with these plans demands serious consideration, too. As we now
know from Richmond Hill, courtesy of the Star's recent
front-page image of a suburban wasteland, executive orders
from on high can mean that hundreds of hectares can get
bulldozed in a week, whatever the plans might have once said.
What is less well
known is that this was all made possible with the help of the
underground service connections; a.k.a. "the big pipe." And
with intermediate capacity, community-supported wastewater
treatment systems, many King Township residents now recognize
that the infrastructure answers are no longer restricted to
either septic tanks or big pipes.
Serious and creative
thinking is needed if our city region is to thrive.
Michael McMahon,
Toronto
The
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