Stinky sewage treatments

Faced with the very real possibility of a sewage pipeline going through their community, a group of Richmond-area residents are demonstrating dogged determination in keeping up their fight to try to stop it.

Even though the pipeline was overwhelmingly approved at a recent city council meeting with only two votes cast against it, the Richmond-area residents are refusing to give up the battle -- a battle which has taken many forms over a period of almost 10 years.

Upset with their Goulbourn Ward Coun. Janet Stavinga for supporting the pipeline over an onsite treatment facility, the group is continuing to bombard Stavinga and fellow councillors with e-mails questioning the process which eventually approved the pipeline from Munster Hamlet to their community.

The group is also upset at comments Stavinga made during the council meeting, which suggested a petition signed by almost 700 residents contained untruths.

"We, the undersigned, reject the proposal of a pressurized sewage forcemain from Munster putting private shallow wells, the environment and human health at risk, when the safer alternative of onsite treatment at Munster would protect health, benefit the environment and cost much less," the petition reads.

Speaking of the petition, the Goulbourn councillor questioned its credibility.

"You know, I would sign this. I would sign this in a flash ... if it was true. But, it's not ... it's not true. This is a pipeline. This is not something that you drive a truck down. The comparisons are ludicrous, and unfortunately, it's that ... that fear-mongering which has fostered 690 people signing this petition," Stavinga told fellow councillors in urging them to adopt the pipeline option.

Use well water

Fear-mongering? These residents, living on well water, are scared, no doubt about it. No need to fear-monger.

Since the mid-1990s, first regional council and then city council have been trying to come up with a way to deal with Munster Hamlet's sewage issues.

The city's choice was a sewage pipeline, but they lost the battle at the Ontario Municipal Board, and were told to take another look at the alternatives. The city's appeal of that decision was also rejected.

With that in mind, some question the entire process which ended up supporting the pipeline anyway. And they're not letting up on their lobbying efforts.

Small wonder.

An independent consultant hired after the OMB appeal suggested both the pipeline and two different onsite plants could do the job, but the onsite plants were preferable because of the pipeline's cost.

Not good enough for the city. The same consultants looked at the numbers again, and then suggested the pipeline could be cheaper -- over a 90-year period!

Small wonder residents like Harvey Snyder, who's heading a subcommittee of residents fighting council's decision, thinks there's more than one problem with the process. And they want answers from Stavinga.

"We are not a mere nuisance to you. We pay your salary with our taxes," Snyder wrote to the Goulbourn councillor.

"If our concerns mean so little to you, perhaps you could arrange to have us removed from the tax rolls and return our money. That way, at least, we would be getting the representation we paid for."

Residents have found a sympathetic ear in Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess, who has questions of his own.

Try, try again

"Something smells about this process, and it's not just the sewage! There's something really wrong about what happened here when we go from one recommendation to another, to another," Bloess said.

"The fact is, I guess what this really shows us is, if you don't like the answer the first time, hire either another consultant, or go back to a consultant until you get the answer you want."

With the reopening of the leachate pipeline debate in Barrhaven, Richmond residents believe there's a real window of opportunity for them.

Surely, residents deserve one of two things.

They need to hear either a solid case made for the pipeline with some actual straight talk.

Or they deserve to have the debate reopened. Why not?  

Susan Sherring is the Sun's municipal affairs columnist. Contact her at 238-2268 or by e-mail at susan.sherring@ott.sunpub.com

Letters to the editor should be sent to oped@sunpub.com.