ess Wednesday en be Ask for OMB hearing in sewer water debate The and Area Ratepayers Association have asked the Associations legal counsel to prepare an brief addressed to the township council and the Ontario Water Resources Commission asking for a hearing in front of the Ontario Municipal Board regarding the proposed plans to build a water supply and sewage treatment system In Rockwood Almost ratepayers from the village adjoining area and Eden Mills listened to and asked questions of two representatives of the at a meeting which lasted almost four hours Wednesday evening and had some testy moments Grilled were Gordon Van Fleet assistant district engineer of the division of Sanitary Engineering and Charles executive officer of Project Development both of the Also attending was Jack of the Wellington DufferinGuelph Health Unit Association president Richard Strong chaired the meeting which was set up to answer questions about the proposed plans The association has charged the Is withholding vital Information about the proposals Reviews history Mr Van Fleet reviewed the history of the proposal from the time tests were first taken In 1966 up to the present explaining the limestone formation on which Is situated with Its many cracks and fissures allows surface pollutants to seep Into ground water and contaminate wells He attributed the fact that not all wells are contaminated because the water lows as rock is channeled or canalised with varying degrees of hardness Mr Van Fleet said the problem of well contamination could be solved by reducing the number of wells to one under a waterworks system t It be simpler to clean un the contaminated wells asked a ratepayer People careless You cannot correct the wells If the ground table Is polluted was the answer It would be possible to chlorinate each well and it probably would work for a short time but people become careless after awhile and neglect the chore than you are back where you started Under a one or two well system the village could control the quality of the water by chtorlnatlon and filtration Tests would be conducted each day to ensure the water was potable Because of the fissures and channels the rock It was possible to say where the pollution originated It could come from as far stent as or Acton A way pollution Has the water In Rock wood always been polluted That may very well be answered Mr Van Fleet The old hole might have been as bad then as now but we know It then he ex plained Mr Van Fleet subtly pooh poohed suggestions that Rock wood people could boil all their water to make it potable He warned if Rockwood wanted to go for the minimum system rather than the safest there could be hazards Involved Surprisingly the OWRC engineer cited backhouses or privies as one of the most fectlve methods of treatment for human waste since there were no large volumes of water Involved Contamination from outhouses is very small he told the crowd of ratepayers He doubted that people would go for the return of the outhouse however admitting at the same time that It would probably clear up many problems Is there any way of rectifying Rockwood problems without a sewage plant If lots were all square feet Bald Mr Van Fleet Breakdown If there Is a breakdown at the sewage plant would the emergency standby pipe dump untested effluent into the river was question Only under the most extreme conditions like Hurricane Hazel or the type of weather which hit Sudbury recently was the an He said bypasses are built into the system but hopefully never to be used There is standby power he explained to handle emergencies at all pumping stations Bypasses brought an Eden Mills resident to his feet charging the plant would be dropping gallons and gallons of sparkling clear effluent on Eden Mills in such a case since the effluent was to go downstream from Rock wood If it t good enough for the people In it Is not good enough for the people of Eden he noted Are available Asked why ratepayers were not able to get more information on plans and specifications Mr Van Fleet said some Information was of a confidential nature but plans were available that ratepayers could understand Otherdatawas of a technical nature which trained people would find useless At this point the village secretary C F O stood on his feet to say plans had been In his office for weeks except for two days one of the association directors had borrowed them The table is polluted wells impureand although no one has suffered stomach aches they could wake up one morning with people ck How long are we going to have to wall for remedial measures he asked the meeting Other considerations Mr Strong replied that no one wants to live In a village where water was contaminated but there were other considerations such as cost and protection for township residents He said he t understand why the government the courtesy to let residents see plans for the sewage plant which were not available from Mr Res dents have a moral obligation to protest when sewage is being pumped around the conservation area We are paying a lot of money to pump around the conservation area he said He also took exception to dual sewage lines to take the effluent along Harris St and back to the sewage plant which would be situated on the north side of Highway on the west side of the village where an outlet would take it to the river Needled by Mr Strong remarks about not being able to see plans Mr of the OWRC Mr Strong had been given the opportunity to see the plans but had not taken ad vantage of the opportunity Costs for the project had been ad as well as a breakdown of costs He said the consultants had been asked to design a sewage plant which would put the sewage down below the conservation area because research told the OWRC this was the only feasible method of handling the problem At this juncture John Gots an engineer arose to ask why the village did not put In water system and sewage pipes now but wait until later to build the plant He predicted the system could cost as much as million if t Is postponed too long Mr Letman reminded residents that the O R C was not trying to force the plan down anyone throats since the village trustees had requested the study of the area and this had been done with no cost to residents Water samples are again being taken in the village to corroborate samples taken Investigate lagoons Questioned about alternative systems Mr Van Fleet said the OWRC had Investigated the lagoon system but ruled It out because of the problems with limestone There was one suitable site but the farmer wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars for the land He reiterated Mr Root remarks at the founding meeting of the Association that the ter tiary treatment plant was the best method of dealing with problems Only two per cent of the effluent is affected by contaminates after treatment He assured Eden Mills res dents there would be a chemical added to take phosphates out of the effluent Hence there should be no algae problem Mr Van Fleet explained there was a necessity to dump effluent into a moving stream since large bodies of water tend to cumulate behind a dam in the case of a man made pond This builds up and creates an algae problem which Is not a health hazard but makes water un palatable for swimmers Why does the system have to bypass the conservation area Because the park was there first and swimming rights must be protected came the answer No legislation Mr Van Fleet admitted there was no legislation which could force conservation authorities to pay part of the bill for having the pipe bypass them Is it our responsibility to ensure that the conservation authority has clean water asked Mr Strong Yes under these cum stances was the reply Mr said the costs for by passing the conservation area with the system were offset by government grants which amounted to over half the cost of the system Any pollution problems on the River are only of a minor nature now but if there was effort mode FIELDING QUESTIONS from the audience at last Wednesday s meeting were engineer Gordon Van Fleet and Charles an executive officer of the O W C on the right next to Mr Van Fleet Left is Bob Leslie a director ot the Ratepayers Association and next to him Is Jack of the county health unit Staff Photo in the village there could be problems Tests have shown that the river could easily absorb the two per cent sewage from the plant w 111 effects Thanks visitors Bolh Mr Van Fleet and Mr questions They reiterated that the OWRC was only following the requests of the village trustees in planning for clean up water waterworks and sewage system for the village They also said an hearing would be the appropriate place to air objections from the residents It will be the OMB which decides whether the people of the were thanked by the village can afford the two meeting for efforts to an projects Dutrifautor of Home and Firm Petroleum Product Acton and D S nee HEATING OILS LUBRICATION OILS GREASES GASOLINES if DIESEL FUEL Phone 8532174 DEPENDAILE OIL BURNER SALES ft Hit VI CI Young St Acton Dont waste money on insurance It a fact some bus a ove w th ove lapp nsu a dangerously nsu Because your bus nvo s and sup pies nvento and bod debts taxes employees etc etc you need a bus noss Wo know how to plan you bus have just the you need and age DENNYS INSURANCE AGENCY ACTON PHONE 0150 Monday F day t Afro M Bo 3 SAFECO INSURANCE A B SUPERMARKET hnhrlr RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATION press clippings from various papers president Dick Strong goes over descrlb the dispute in the village 90 degree OWRC plans for a sewage treatment system in on the board with temperature surprise John Root MPP for Wellington and Mrs Root spent a short holiday in Northern Ontario recently come of it in North Bay Cochrane and went as far north and Moose Factory with side trips over to Moon beam Lake and to Iroquois Fails During their holiday they i visited with the Hon Rene Minister of Lands and at bis home on I 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