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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-03-27, Page 23Hdeve. sykes 1', 4 Inside this section. Jack Riddell on hockey Captain, Comet's birthday club................."...p, 12 District News ........ , . P. 11 Crop rotation . , ... , P. 10 Lions help seniors. . . ..., ... P. 4 The P.U.C. and town council are looking ahead to the next 20 years to determine the water needs of Goderich. A new water tower that hold a greater capacity will required. (photo by Cath Wooden) A MiSsis'Sauga real estate broker recently made‘, public a plan to sell Canada a to the United ted Staters. for $15.6 trillion. After the sale the money would be divided up among 16 million Canadians over the age of 18 with each becoming an instant Millionaire. Ben Pich, author of the plan, has details worked out in a eight -point plan and offered to act as exclusive agent to complete the sale. I think I could handle being a millionaire. Pich maintains that our Prime Minister could become vice-president of the new United States, House of commons . members would become members of the House of Reprresen- tatives and Provincial Premiers would become governors of the new Canadian states. Unemployed people from the Unites Stateswould move to Canada to take over the jobs vacated by the 16 million l;anadtan n uluunaires. 1 like it alreai,k Pi.0 wants to advertise the sale in WasAington to see if. the Americans are a�vtllt g to .snap up, Cana.da.as. an m-. vest0t . Prsident Jimmy Carter sat in the Oval'i•A:ffice with a host of his top of- ficia,#s and all sat grim -faced staring out to windows taking in the view of theMeticulously manicured gardens. Car r swung his.. chair around and facedt'he others. "SP they won't take a penny less than $15 trillion," Carter offered to the at- tentiye audience. "How will we' raise the ;{looney?" "Well, sir," aVtLy confident said. "Wars always stimulate the economy and there are still a few backward countries we could trample on. Or we could always sell Alaska back to the Russians. They would pay a good buck." The price is pretty steep. But these Canadians have been good neigh- bours," Carter_ttold his aides. "They yi.1 144,{,itch resources, lakefr,unt properties, callow us to build factories WI half the population spends their Florida h money in oeach winter." nter.' "They have that good old American spirit sir," an aide prompted. ",Yes. And it might look good for the election when the people learn I bought Canada for them. That will blow Reagan's socks off. But these Canadians, there's 24 million of them. I suppose we could hide half of them in New York City. But what are these Canadians like?" Carter asked. "They are a great blend of people sir and quite frankly, they do have some talent," an aide replied. "They play a great game of hockey and their beer and liquor is of superior quality. Canadian club is your favorite sir," "Oh yes, of course. And surely the people will go for United States Club whiskey and Molson American beer, A real vote getter. But who said they play hockey better than Americans, a fallacy. Gentlemen we won the gold medal and that means rare are the beat. ' Perhaps' we should buy Canada just to make sure we retain that medal," Carter said. Do they grow any peanuts up•there in that vwilderness?" "No, not much anyway but I'm sure it could be looked into," an aide offered in hope. "They have many politicians too and the people seem to enjoy elections, At least they hold them on a regular basis," Carter said with a grin. "Do you think those .people would be satisfied if we stuck them way up thereµ in those Territories with all • the politicians. Let them drink and play hockey and have elections on a regular basis and they should be alright." ' "I think we could give it' the old American try sir," an aide said en- thusiastically. "But what if they should rebel." "Well what do• we usually do with uncooperative people?" the president asked. "They were all sent to Canada, sir. the Goderich From the lake to your bathtub BY CATH WOODEN, Ever wonder how water gets from the lake. to your • kitchen sink? Ever wonder what else is in it besides good ol'. H20? Good questions. Glad you asked. The process isn't as complicated as it might seem,or it may just be'. that Chief of Operations at the water- plant, Maurice Wilkinson, is a good explainer. The water plant, which , is situated on St, Christopher's Beach, is run by the Ministry of Environtnent for the town of Goderich. It is manned by Wilkinson and or four operators 24 -hours a lay. Just beyond the break wall and at the bottom of the lake, there is a 30 inch' in diameter cement pipe. All the water that emerges from your taps and garden hoses comes from ,this pipe. - The water is sucked towards the plant by three • compact "raw water pumps", which give the water enough Momentum to travel through the rest .of the treatment process. These three pumps are various •sizes, .and. when used together, can pump 3.5 ' million gallons of water a day. The first stop' that the water takes Fs outside the plant at the ° "mixing tank". Here, the • lake water is given a heavy dose of chlorine to kill bacteria. Liquid .aluan- ninum sulphate (alum)"is • - also added in the mixing tank t� remove dirt. How does alum remove dirt? Anothergood question. Alum has a positive chemical charge, while the dirt. in the water carries a negative characteristic. Naturally, the two materials are . attracted to each other, creating a heavy substance which' sinks to the bottom. Elementary. Next, the chemically treated water lands in "flogulation 'tanks," also outside ...die plant ' and under -alae, . ground. Paddles in tlye. tanks keep the water' churning so that the chloride and alumn remain suspended and can do their j'obs. The water then goes to the "settling tanks" where the heavy particles are allowed to settle to the . bottonf. As a result, most of the dirt has been removed from the water before it actually. enters the plant. " During the sp water that' ent�'r plant has a green urky color- to it. Drinking a glass of green water can be unnerving. In order to ,be freed of the color, the water is filtered down through 30 inches of sand and charcoal, leaving the water clear. From there, it' drops down into a reservoir beneath the plant. Flouride, to aid in the de v e l o_p_ me n t -. of children's bones and' - teeth, is added at this stage. Now the wpter is sent through four "treated water pumps" which push the water into town. Like the raw water pumps, they are different sizes and when -perating at full capacity, they can pump 3.5 million gallons a day. In the Surnmer; that 3.5 million gallons a day is not enough. This is why there are sawn" -watering restrictions.' • At the present time, town ,council "and the public utilities corn-. mrssion are collaborating to see what Goderich • needs, water -wise, keeping the next 20 years in mind. There is no problem as - far as treatment is concerned, but the P.U.C. foresees diffic.ulties with storage and pumping capacities. • The present tower does not- store enough water to handle dire emergencies and will not be able to store enough for future in- dustries and residences in Goderich, especially ill_ areas surrounding the town are annexed. The town will be looking to - either erecting an ad- ditional tower or a new • tower in place - of the,,, existing one. The raw water and .. treated water pumps will` also have to be upgraded to handle more than what they do now. • Goderich Water Plant Maurice Wilkinson, Chief of Operations of the water plant, checks a guage that measures how much water is in the water tower. There are other In- struments on the panel that check chlorine and flouride amounts, and the temperature and tur- bidity (amount of dirt) of the water. Twenty-four hour a day' supervision must be kept at the water plant. (photo by Cath Wooden) Cath Wooden Supermarket Grocery Shopping 350 is a course that I would like to see of- fered at all secondary schools. If all young people were forced to include ,this program in their timetables, they would not find themselves in the same aisle I am, in now when they become grocery shoppers themse'l'ves. No matter how carefully I organize myself before I leave for the super- market, I still can't get it together in the store. I make a list and check twice, gather all coupons I have clipped in my thriftiness, couht my money, put on 'my supermarket sneakers, and drink eight cups of coffee. Sufficiently psyched up for the job, I climb in my car and head for the store, having to turn back only twice for the forgotten coupons and those two. old pop bottles under the kitchen sink. I always take the long route to the supermarket. I drive very carefully, halting at every stop sign, signalling at every turn. I build up my confidence. See how . well I drive? purely I can guide a cart through a supermarket. I get the car parked, scraping an average of three bumpers. After attempting to walk in the out door, this nervous reporter finds herself in THE SUPERMARKET, surrounded by efficient domestic engineers, loud children, and rushed check-out clerks. I step towards this pandemonium and break out in a cold sweat. I cash in my two pop bottles first and add the coins to my collection. Someone in the store kneW I was coming, and made sure that the carts were sufficiently tangled before I got there. I overcome the problem by • stealing someone else's. With great trepidation, I enter an aisle and bump into several carts. I'm always swimming upstream, it seems. The ,efficient domestic,,,.,, engineers always overwhelm me. - They move quickly and surely, barely stopping their carts to pick something off the shelf. They don't look at their lists after finding each item. They know what they want. They usually have trained children or husbands that travel down adjacent— aisles, picking things off shelves and tossing therrl over and into their cart with perfect synchronization., This creates the illusion that food is floating into their carts by witchcraft. I drop a carton of eggs. The efficient domestic engineer keeps an eye out for bargains and sales and takes advantage of them. I do this too. oftentimes I will notice, say, a lone jar of olive`s in the cookie section and grab it with great satisfaction, knowing I got the last one. •In the produce section, the efficient 'domestic engineers are at their best. I watch them, trying to pick up some' pointers. They squeeze the grapefruit. I don't like grapefruit, and Squeeze some grapes instead. Whoops,•I push my cart 0 off in a huff, pretending the grapes did not meet my high standards. Most efficient domestic engineers have well-behaved children that ac- company them to the supermarket. Some,. however, do not. My mother was one of these. Perhaps I could have learned techniques in grocery shopping had I not been busy trying to embarrass my mother throughout my childhood years. I would limp down the aisles and ,perform facial contortions. In a moronic voice. I would scream, "Mom! Mom! Over here in the frozen foods!" Or at the check-out, ''Mom! Did you remember the toilet paper? ! " As a result. I grew up a failure as a grocery shopper. I can't sneak through the express check-out with more than the prescribed number of items and a clear conscience, and manage to read the entire National Enquirer at the same time.