So, here is my question: Are there or are there not provincial or federal laws or regulations prohibiting the release of commercial and industrial waste and, especially, raw sewage into the rivers of Canada or, at least, the rivers and aquifers of Ontario?
If not, why not? If
yes, how are they enforced?
I ask after being
shocked to read the following article in Global News:
Oneida Nation of the Thames tap water different than
neighbouring non-Indigenous communities
Particularly
disturbing are the following three paragraphs:
"18 years of
water quality testing across Oneida First Nation sometimes shows striking
levels of dangerous pathogens such as E. coli flowing from residential taps. Upstream, the nearby city of London dumps millions of
litres of raw sewage into the Thames River that serves as the
community’s water source…"
"The Thames
River, which replenishes Oneida’s aquifer, is a dumping ground for waste, raw
sewage and pollution. To avoid basement flooding during heavy rains, London’s wastewater system dumps rainwater and raw
sewage into the river. In 2018, 266 million litres of raw sewage was
released and flowed downstream through several First Nations communities,
including Oneida.
"So far this year, more than 5.7 million litres of
London’s raw, untreated sewage — including commercial and industrial waste —
has been dumped into the river, according to city data.
London didn’t start
notifying Oneida of sewage dumps until mid-2018, say Oneida leaders, including
Chief Hill. Even then, Oneida is only notified after the dump has occurred,
sometimes hours or days later."
Here, again, is my
question: Are there or are
there not provincial or federal laws or regulations prohibiting the release
of commercial and industrial waste and,
especially, raw sewage into the rivers of Canada or, at least, the rivers and
aquifers of Ontario?
If not, why not? If yes, how are they enforced?
I realise that the
question is rhetorical. Doing just 2 minutes of searching on the Internet I
found that:
- raw sewage overflowed into southern Ontario waterways 1,327 times in the 12 months ending March, 2018;
- the city of Toronto releases more than 1-billion litres of raw sewage into Lake Ontario in a single day;
- when excessive stormwater has nowhere to escape, it funnels into sewers causing them to overflow and spill untreated contents into lakes or rivers;
- there are provincial regulations but they are full of loopholes circumventing enforcement.
I have
been following a Facebook group focusing on drinking water and other water
availability issues in South Africa. They regularly bemoan the fact that, due
to aging infrastructure, neglect and poor accountability, raw sewage is spilling into some of the dams sourced
for drinking water. I have been feeling lucky to be living in Canada - a First World
country after all. How presumptuous and arrogant of me.
