The Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-06-01, Page 13tr
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A streu m wort:
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- Pollution of the Maitland River
is once more in the news and.°
• °-causing some discussion in the
Ontario Legislature. Liberal
,,M'PP..for Perth Hugh' Edighoffer
questioned Environment Minister
James Auld in the Legislature
recently .on the matter and
obtained a promise that .the
o matter would be looked into. b
With the severe pollution of: the
river frm the Listowel Lagoon
moving into another season the
Signal Star decided to look intothe
matter as well. Signal Star
photographer Ron -Shaw chose a
portion 'of river near Brussels•
and spent Saturday- afternoon in a
canoe getting a first hand look at•
the river,
BY RON SHAW
As a spokesman for the Save the
Maitland Association pointed out I
was a little late to see the
situation at , its,worst. 0 The
Listowel Lagoon hd been dumped
two weeks before, at the height of
the spring run off, and the river
had had time to • hegin cleaning
itself out. What this fact in itself
proves however is that it isnot too
,late to save the Maitland ,River if
,steps are taken now.
Little more than two weeks
A sign of problems
.
saving
b y pollution .
.-. , THUR$ "�
after the surface had been thro l. utio
covered with a brown - detergent ugh it so we ust turned
tomk ,,
scum the river sparkled in thesun What is actually taking place at
as it flowed through farmland the Listowel Lagoon at present
under overhanging widows.....The seems to be a bit of a.mvsterv.
strewn isshallow•in.mostplaces : The Maitland Valley
as my, wife and 1 paddledupstrearn Conservation Authority said that
two weeks ago they wrote to the
Department of the Environment
asking about the status of the
spray system and were told there
We scared up ducks, observed .were no further' experimental
turtles and muskrats and 1 funds available. to continue its
generally drew the 'conclusion 'operation, Everyone agrees
that the-riyver is far from dead• however' that the only salvation
There we're other sights however., for the Ma itlandi was the spray
not, quite so reminiscent of a system first used late last
cover photo from Field and summer .
.4Strearn. , . The, Save the;Maitland
'On the leeward sid-e of the river Association is of the opinion that
haunting patches of fibrous sludge ' if the spray system were•operated
lie stuck among the cat -tails and this years altwice the capacity of
windfalls,. Deed fish float by all the 1971 extriment, it *could keep
too frequently and in numerous the lagoons empty during the
spots the canoe paddle comes out,summer and the lagoons ,could
` of the water with fingers of slimethen hold most, if not all of the
hanging from its tip, winter's sewage thus avoiding
The river bottom everywhere further dumping.
is covered with fibrous material observations 1 on the ri-ver,
that has sunk and attached itself to Saturday can lead to_ only one
rocks. As one area resident I conclusion however, the Maitland
spoke with described it, The ran be cleaned up if the O. W. R • C._,,,.._
rocks 0 Jike,.they-lra_ve_g�rown-..--t,he-farrmsttc� •cc mmuni re -s along
hair." its hank really want to' see it
Sewage „ floating down the saved.
Maitland, even at high water, is
most often held upstream of the '
Brussels dam because only one
, narrow area of that dam allows
water flow over. As a result
sewage;, drifts into kends and „w,
small bays on the downwind side
' of the river and piles up among tale
vegetation u there or sinks,
covering the bottom with a sludge.
"When we paddled up the river
a while ago we met a wall of sludge
on its .way • .downstream," A
Brussels resident (who asked not
to be identified) told me, "you .
wouldn't want to take a canoe
from the Brussels dam and
ntmberc.rs bass, chubb, and even
-trout, could be Seen swimming in
several, spots.
Photos
b.);:
Ron Shaw
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SECOND SECT'I
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Frosted with sewage
Picturesque view in
aces
Fiber -laden trees Aon shore
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