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Lakeshore Advance, 2013-02-27, Page 17Wednesday, February 27, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 17 letter to the editor Lambton Shores engineer disputes sewer plant letter CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 5 months and the deputy Mayor correctly states that this extra seasonal Clow will be stored in the existing lagoons, for treatment at a later time when the sewage flows are less. 'Ibis plan works well as long as a sea- sonal homes stay seasonal homes. What pre- vents the owners of seasonal homes from turning them into year-round homes. The current zoning allows for year-round usage of these seasonal homes. it is estimated that more than 30% of the homes serviced by mfiewers, in Grand Bend are seasonal usage. If lupe owners of these homes decided to move to Grand Bend, full-time, we could have a 30% population increase, without building one more hone. They could find themselves with an overloaded sewage treatment plant year-round. All sewage treatment facility sizing deci- sions should be based on serviced popula- tion, not on permanent residence information. What happens if we need to expand the plant? 'ihe deputy Mayor correctly calculates that more than $1 trillion will be collected from development fees if 450 new homes are built. She implies that this $1 million plus some amount from other new development would pay for the planned expansion. The consult- ant has estimated that the plant expansion would cost approximately $10 million if built today. Sometime In the future it would likely cost more and Lambton Shores would have to pay the full amount as the federal and pro- vincial infrastructure monies would likely not be available. 'That doesn't seem like a very wise plan. But aren't the septic systems failing in Grand Bend and won't we have to put those homes onto a sewer system? The deputy Mayor says that they are going to implement septic inspection program in the future, but because the 12th test wells meet drinking water standards everything is okay, and we don't need to do anything. The deputy Mayor needs to read the recently released GLEAM(Great lakes Envi- ronmental Assessment and Mapping Project) report done collectively by three American universities in partnership with over 100 environmental organizations. This report is available online by doing a Google search for GLEAM. This report shows that the near shore Lake 1 luron waters from Grand Bend to Kettle Point are under the highest level of stress due to nitrogen input from a wide variety of sources. One of the sources of nitrogen, that is stressing Lake lluron are Well Operated Sep- tic Systems installed in Sandy Soils. The nitrogen in domestic sewage is not remove by the septic system or the soil through which the sewage infiltrates. Almost all the nitrogen contained in the domestic sewage goes down to the shallow groundwater aqui- fer and then directly into Lake I luron. The 1600 homes in zones 3 and 4 south of Grand Bend, contribute about 20 tons of nitrogen per year to Lake I luron. 'This is by no means the largest contributor of nitrogen to the Lake, but it is a significant contributor that we can eliminate by installing sewers in zones three and four. if we want to protect our beaches, water quality, and tourism industry, now is the time to sewer these areas. 'ihe deputy Mayor says the 12 wells are all okay. She is correct, that the water quality in these 12 wells met drinking water standards, but the Lake water quality standards, are far more stringent than drinking water stand- ards, in order to prevent algae growth and protect fish habitat. The professional hydro - geologist at Golder's, told counsel that high volumes of groundwater were flowing under zones 3 and 4, diluting the nitrogen concen- trations to the point that drinking water standards were met. 11 solution to pollu- tion is not dilution. 'ihe solution is to remove the nitrates in an upgraded sewage treat- ment facility, and protect our Lake and our tourism industry. Some people may say why don't we solve the problem by installing tertiary septic sys- tems. in order to be effective the tertiary sep- tic system would have to have a nitrogen removal system added to it. 'ihe cost of such a system would cost between $30,000 and $35,000 per household, borne entirely by the homeowner, and have a life expectancy of 20 years. It would be significantly cheaper to accomplish this with a centralized sewage treatment system. 1 will deal with the plant costs, new sewage treatment technology, and repurchasing some of Pinery's capacity, in a later letter to the editor. Suffice it to say that the current plan, based on what I read in Council min- utes and agendas, is to build a plant half the size of the original design, at 75% of the cost. Not a Good Deal. Why are we planning to build a new sew- age plant in Grand Bend?'This Council has decided not to solve the problem in zones 3 and 4, or add significantly, to the sewage treatment plant capacity. So why build a new sewage plant??? if we don't want to solve the problem in zones :3 and 4, and we don't want growth, the current lagoons are fine. Please don't spend $18 million to accomplish noth- ing. Spend $26 million and give us long-term growth and a cleaner Lake. When is the truth not the truth? - When it is a half truth. These continents are my opinion, and are based on my 47 years experience as a profes- sional environmental engineer with a Mas- ters degree in environmental health engineering. Gerry Rupke MASc. PEng. Iakeshoreadvance.com Get all of your news, sports and more. 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