Good afternoon, I am a…

Good afternoon,

I am a neighbour who lives very close to the proposed site. I am also a retired environmental microbiologist.

Firs tof all, I would like to say that the proposed site is located on a floodplain, with municipal drains running through it and connected to other branches of waterways in the area. It is slightly sloping land and it is predominantly sandy soil which is very permeable. In other words, moisture, whether it be rain, snow meltoff or sewage waste, would very quickly go down into the soil and could contaminate the water table. A lot of people in the neighbourhood have older fairly shallow dug wells, which are very subject to drought and the water table. We often have to test our water many times per year and shock our wells to keep our water potable. The cost of maintaining a water treatment system ie. filters, UV light, water softener etc. can be costly due to the mineral bacterial content of the water, so further contamination would add to that cost or it could render the water table to long term contamination and remediation.

I have done two environmental farm plans, and they only recommend spreading animal manure that is somewhat or fully composted at certain times of the year conditional to the amount of moisture in the ground, at that point in time. We don’t have a lot of topsoil depending on what you are doing with your land, so it is very permeable as I mentioned before.

If sewage runoff goes into the municipal drain and it’s associated waterways, this can contribute to a substantial amount of environmental contamination as well. The plant life and wildlife as well as domesticated animals can also be subject to problems arising from this. The waterways will be subject to toxic algae blooms as well as bacterial contamination such as E. coli, Pseudomonas, etc. If the contamination gets into the ground water from there, once again it can then contaminate our wells. We do not have the option of municipal water in this area.

Finally, the aesthetic implications of this proposal are not attractive. The persistent smell of sewage is not enjoyable or healthy, as many people have sensitivities to environmentsl smells, whether they be chemical or stinky smells. When farmers spread composted manure, they incorporate it as quickly as possible. I don’t see how it is possible for the odour to not be a burden to this municipality, especially to those close neighbours, AND if it is not being incorporated into the ground, which I assume is not allowed. A holding pond of some sort seems to already be constructed, so I don’t know what the plans are for that.

Suitable dumping at local sewage treatment facilities are readily available to septic tank pumping companies as I am sure they are well aware of.

I know the municipality does not support this practice. Let’s keep it that way. A possible battery electrical storage site may also be going on the property immediately west of this site. It does not sound like battery storage and septic run-off in that close proximity would be a good idea.

Thank you for letting me have an input, please let’s stop this proposal.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Neighbour.