Loading...
Lakeshore Advance, 2013-05-15, Page 5Wednesday, May 15, 2013 • Lakes lora Advance 5 "ty letters to the editor Engineer discusses allocation When the Lambton Shores Deputy Mayor replied to my letter to the editor in the February 27 edition of the Lakeshore Advance, she dealt with seven issues. Every one of these seven issues requires correc- tion and clarification. Over the next several months, I will write about each of the seven issues with letters to the editor. 1 raised the question of allocation of, age capacity, in the new sewage treat - et facility, for the existing homes and businesses in Grand Bend, in my earlier letter. 'Ihe deputy Mayor responded and I quote "every home that is built in Grand • Bend was granted sufficient capacity for full-time residency in the lagoons or has a septic system." According to the Lambton Shores records, there are about 800 homes ,and about 100 commercial and institutional connections to the sewers in Grand Bend. 'Ihe Deputy Mayor says that each of these are allocated capacity in the sewage treat- ment facility. Almost every consulting engineer in Ontario would allocate 1 ms per day per household, of sewage capacity, to service these sewer connections. The Ontario Design Guidelines for Sewage Works 2008 would also require about 1 m' per day per dk, household, be reserved for each home, being serviced by the sewage treatment facility. 'this allocation of 1 m' per day per household includes the sewage contribu- tions from the home, commercial, and institutional users, as well as infiltration, inflow, and extraneous flows. To calculate the expected total sewage flow from the existing sewer users in Grand Bend when in full-time usage, we would multiply the 800 households by 1 m' per day per house- hold and get 800 m' per day of sewage flow. So we should expect to see that 800 m' per day of sewage capacity in the new plant is reserved for the existing sewer users, if the Deputy Mayor's statement is correct. 1 searched through the Stantec report, the ad hoc sewer committee minutes, and letters from Stantec. to Council, and found at least three copies of a chart showing that 431 ins per day of sewage capacity has been reserved for the existing sewer users in Grand Bend. This is far less than the 800 Ins per day required by prudent design standards, for full-time use of all 800 households. 'ihe problem is that many of the current users are seasonal users of the sewer sys- tem and the 41:i ms per day is the current annual average sewage flow ( total years sewage flow divided by 365) coming from the existing seasonal usage pattern . Under the current zoning bylaws, and the sea- sonal usage properties 111 Grand Bend have the right to be converted to year-round usage. If the seasonal usage changed to full-time usage the sewage flow would increase to about 800 ms per day and the new sewage treatment facility would be overloaded. Council needs to slake some hard decisions Council could decide to build a bigger sewage treatment facility (as per the earlier Dillon design). 2. Council could pass a bylaw prohibit- ing full -tine usage of current seasonal usage properties in Grand Bend. Council cannot ignore this issue and hope it will go away. Other municipalities have passed bylaws prohibiting the full- tilne usage of Seasonal properties to address this issue, or have built sewage treatment plants large enough to handle the seasonal flow, without flow equalization. 'These comments are made without prej- udice, and are based on my 46 years of experience as an environmental engineer, and as a reviewer and engineering advisor in the preparation of the Ontario Design (Micielines for Sewage Works 2008 Gerry Rupke MSc. PEng. Farewell to Lambton Shores Dear editor, As the former Lambton Shores CA() and clerk of Forest council, I really struggled with how I would say goodbye to a com- munity that I ha(1 dedicated so much of my life to and that had achieved so much. 1 low could I thank the people and Coun- cils it had been my honour to serve? I low could I ever adequately thank the staff it was my privilege to work with? As it turns out 1 found I didn't need to, the accomplishments of the first 10 years of this municipality speak for themselves and the Councils I served and the staff I worked with already know how I feel about them. Although the past few years have been charged with negativity and personal attacks I think the community has had enough of this and is tired of the chaos and rancour. 1 am confident that in time the municipality will find a way hack to the more positive and progressive philosophy of its past. At the end of the day I leave with only fond memories of the people of this c0111- 'nunity, the councils and staff I worked with and what we acconlplishe(1 and I leave knowing that I gave it Illy all and xvitl1 great satisfaction with what was achieved. 'Thanks and best wishes The Great Lakes "White Hurricane" of 1913 Joe Wooden Special to Lakeshore Advance 'This is the first of a series of articles cover- ing the Great Storm which devastated the Great Lakes area in 1913.'Ihe St. Joseph and Area Ilistorical Society is providing these articles and in November, the Historical Society will be offering a dinner theatre event at Hessenland to commemorate the Great Storm. The causes of the weather conditions have been described in various ways. This report uses some recent work by James Clary of St. Clair MI, using US weather service information. This year, 2013, is the 100th anniversary of the most devastating storm conditions every to strike the Great Lakes since records were kept and non-native settlements existed. This storm or storms, to be accurate, pro- duced heavy snow falls and rains, thirty-five foot waves, hurricane force winds, the low- est barometric pressure readings observed in North America until 2011. These weather conditions experienced on the Great Lakes in November, 1913 took the lives of 250 sail- ors, perhaps more; the numbers vary in dif- ferent records. Many ships were destroyed, shore facilities were damaged, and lake - shore communities were severely affected. The causes of the weather conditions have been described in various ways. This report uses some recent work by James Clary of St. Clair MI, using US weather service information. There were two storms associated with the two frontal depressions. One of these formed over northern Wisconsin and it reached Lake Superior on November 6. This depression produced northerly gales on Lake Superior and Lake Michigan on the night of November 6 and 7 and on Lake Huron by early November 8. This depres- sion moved easterly and this resulted in an easing of storm conditions. As the winds diminished ships' captains ordered their vessels onto Lake Erie, into the Detroit River and the St. Clair River and through the Mackinac straits and down the St. Mary's River. So numbers of ships were moving on November 8 and 9. What the ships' captains did not know about was the formation on November 9 of a frontal depression moving along Lake Erie. What they did not know was the more than abnormal barometric pressure readings. The lowest reading recorded was at Erie. Pennsylvania where the eye of the storms was over that town; the reading was 28.61 ': it has been commented by present day stu- dents of the weather that occurred in November, 1913, that this figure may have been the lowest recorded In the United States until the hurricane which calve up the eastern seaboard of the United States in 2011. The lower the barometric pressure higher and higher wind speeds result. In the northern hemisphere winds move in a counter clockwise direction around a frontal depression and you can plot wind directions in the lakes as this depression advances. This depression moved north and created the weather conditions which devastated Lake Erie, lower Lake Michigan and Lake 1luron. Wind speeds exploded. The terns used for what this depression created was "weather bomb". Winds reached 80-90 miles per hour. Waves as high as 35 feet were reported. As the depression moved wind speeds and directions changed unpredicta- bly with wave directions changing in a con- fused pattern. The storm brought rain and snow. Snow falls were heavy from Cleveland north to the shores of Lake Huron with depths on the ground reaching four feet. John Byrne The air was white with wt't snow, ht'ilce tilt' terns "white hurricane" as the high winds whirled the snow as it fell. The storms incredible intensity lasted for 16 hours, late into the night of November 9-10. Weather science in U)13 was in its infancy. 'Ihe paths of frontal depressions were diffi- cult to forecast. In retrospect it seems that the first depression with its stormy gale force winds moved off to the east thus creating a situation which seemed to allow a captain to order his vessel out. 1Nhat was not known was the corning of the second storm which may have come over the Appalachians to the south of the Great Lakes Basin. So the absence of forecasting science, the lack of radio communication on the ships and the approaching end of the navigation season all conspired to encourage the shipping companies and the captains to move their ships out after the original gales diminished. The result was serious Toss of life and the loss or partial destruction of about 40 ves- sels. Future articles will provide descrip- tions of these losses and stories about the crews. The next article will look at one of the ships and the rescue of the crew. Joe Wooden is an author and historian.