Actions to Reduce Phosphorus…

Actions to Reduce Phosphorus to be met by the Municipal Sector.
in the Municipal sector of wastewater treatment the MOECC already monitors and enforces the effluent requirements for the sewage treatment of phosphorus. In the DAP it actually has numbers and talks to upgrades and other modifications to secondary treatment and achieving it through tertiary level treatment.
-Are the new phosphorus effluent levels going to be phased in over years?
-enforcement I assume will come from MOECC.
-where is the money coming from (Provincial/Federal) for the upgrades talked about in this DAP?
most sewage treatment plants in Ontario are already meeting the 0.5 PPM limit.
the effort and the money would be better spent on land use and farming practices. we know the loadings the sewage treatment plants are contributing. the research and education and the enforcement needs to be on land use and farming.
one sewage plant could spend millions of dollars on one treatment upgrade for one municipality. but those millions of dollars could be spent on changing farming and land use practices through education and training. we believe the best investment of money and effort could be spent to the grater population of land uses.
if the focus is on municipal wastewater treatment then that is the low hanging fruit that already has research data, operator training and education and enforcement built in the system.
millions of dollars will be spent on municipal systems and there will be no more dollars left for an area that can make a bigger impact.
change the culture of land use and farming practices and that will last .

[Original Comment ID: 209396]