“Recycling” by andyarthur is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Ontarians may have invented the Blue Box, but our current linear, make-use-dispose economy makes it impossible for recycling alone to solve our growing waste problem. Currently, less than seven per cent of Ontario’s waste is recycled through the Blue Box, and 1 the province sends over 8 million tonnes (70 per cent)2 of trash to landfills and incinerators every year.
MEDIA RELEASE: For Immediate Release – 14 May 2020
Time to clean the swimming pool but where to drain the water?
It’s that time of year when you are likely thinking about getting the pool or hot tub ready for the summer season. It’s a good idea to prepare by first checking with your local town or city to find out what you should do with the water when you drain the pool. “Beware, that releasing pool or hot tub water containing chlorine or salt directly into the street or a storm drain could bring a very heavy fine. That’s because those chemicals would then flow untreated into a local stream, river or lake and could result in a fish die-off or be very harmful to aquatic life”, said Linda Heron, Chair of the Ontario Rivers Alliance (ORA). Continue reading →
Removing the regulatory baseline for 113 of Ontario’s most heavily polluting facilities in nine environmentally damaging sectors is the wrong approach if the Government of Ontario’s goal is to hold polluters accountable, as it has stated on several occasions. In order to achieve that goal, the MISA regulations should be updated and expanded to new facilities operating in Ontario across the nine industrial sectors.
Pollution – website banner of toxic water as running from sewers to the environment
ORA submits that Schedule 5 of Bill 66 is a regressive, unwarranted and potentially risky proposal that is inconsistent with the public interest and does not adequately safeguard the health and safety of Ontarians. Does the MECP really want to set the stage for another Grassy Narrows mercury disaster? Instead, the MECP should be focusing on improving the TRA and its regulations to better protect communities.
ORA would like to point out that the proposed list does not address an in-water pipeline scenario, it only addresses pipelines above, below and under a water body. Therefore, it is extremely important that the following be added:
We see this proposal as necessary step toward fulfilling the commitment the Ontario Legislature made through the Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015 to set target(s) for reducing algal blooms within two years of the legislation’s passage. Further comments about the framing of the proposed target are included below.
The VRS clearly recognizes the serious concerns of the SLCSG, however; we urge caution in the City’s approach to mitigating the algae issue. VRS agrees that action must be taken by the City of Sudbury to resolve the long-standing issue of algae blooms once and for all; however, we differ in the recommended approach.
The City of London inspected the gates of the failed Springbank Dam, on the Thames River, City of London. Around $ 7 million in upgrades, including the installation of the steel gates that would make the dam easier to operate, were nearly complete in 2008 when one of the four gates was dislocated during testing. The Thames River has been flowing unimpeded through the dam ever since. A lawsuit is in the works.
“(The Thames) is actually getting healthier ever single year (the dam) has been left open,” said Rob Huber, president of the TRAA, told the Londoner in June. “The neat thing about what’s going on in London is we’ve actually (had an opportunity) to see what would happen if the dam wasn’t there for the first time in (over) 80 years.” Article here.
This drone flight shows the sludge already beginning to back up behind the gate that was lifted into place on Monday, the 13th of July. There are two upstream wastewater treatment facilities releasing treated, and sometimes untreated, effluent into the Thames.
![lake-erie-algae-4[2]](http://www.ontarioriversalliance.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/lake-erie-algae-42.jpg)
