The Rural Voice, 2004-01, Page 18.• The Environmental Farm Plan — EFP
`The`
EFP program provides up to $1500 in incentive funds
towards completing goals that farmers
identify during a two-day EFP workshop.
Having an EFP is becoming a routine pre -requisite for many programs.
Mon, Jan 19 & 26. 10 am to 4 pm - Markdale
Fri, Jan 30 & Feb 6, 10 am to 4 pm - Markdale
Fri, Feb 13 & 20, 10 am to 4 pm - Mount Forest
Mon, March 8 & 15, 10 am to 4 pm - Swinton Park
Thurs, March 4 &11, 10 am to 4 pm - Keady
March 10, 11 & 17, 7 to 10 pm — Markdale
To register call Grey County EFP Rep, Ray Robertson, 519-986-3756
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14 THE RURAL VOICE
calling Lake Huron the "first new
polution 'hot spot' on Canada's side
of the Great Lakes in nearly 20
years" and. just to make the
connection plain, said the area was
located "south of Walkerton".
"The region markets its beaches,
boating and fishing to tourists as
'Ontario West Coast'," The Post
article said. "But Statistics Canada
says it also produces more manure
than any other place in Canada and
much of this comes from factory
farms."
"It's an embarrasment to the
reputation of the province," the
article quoted Gord Miller, Ontario's
environmental commissioner,
claiming he was speaking about both
the lake pollution and the streams
that drain from farmland into the
lake. "The beaches are the symptom,
but the streams are the disease."
The article also used Huron
County's new beach posting
system as evidence of the
enormity of the pollution problem.
Last summer. on the advice of
consulting microbiologist Michael
Brodsky, the County Health Unit
posted signs on five beaches that
warned swimmers that swimming
could be dangerous because of high
bacteria counts for 48 hours
following rain storms. But The Post
article said Brodsky, former Ministry
of Health official, had urged the five
beaches be "permanently closed".
That was the kind of
misinterpretation that frustrated
public health officials in Huron.
Beaches are only closed, said Pam
Scharfe who is in charge of the
county's beach water testing
program, if there is an immediate
danger to health such as open
sewage, an oil spill, or toxic algae in
the water. "It's very rare to declare a
closure," she said, noting it would be
difficult to enforce such an order.
Penny Nelligan, director of the
Health Unit, pointed out Dr. Brodsky
had reviewed the county's 10 years
of accumulated beach -water testing
data and noted the five beaches in
question seemed to have consistently
high bacterial readings after a heavy
rainfall and recommended the county
focus its resources on testing peaches
that were low in bacterial infection at
some times and high others.
Brodsky himself was at the