Dear Editor,
As teenagers we would climb the water tower on ‘Tank Hill’, really just because we were teenagers. The height was considerable and you could see why we had such good water pressure in our taps. Treated bay water was pumped up from Grandview Drive, stored as potential energy in the tank, and then released on demand through the potable water distribution system. It went up as excellent drinking water and came back down as excellent drinking water, right to your house. Pumped energy storage for electrical generation is akin to a water tower arrangement – water up, storage for a time, then water down.
The water tower scenario, however, differs in that the water is directed through houses instead of through a turbine. And houses, by their very nature, turn drinking water into sewage. Up until the 1960s, Meaford’s raw sewage was dumped directly into the river, harbour, or bay until the treatment plant was built and this unhealthy surface discharge was averted. Our sewage is now highly treated before re-entering the bay. This infrastructure was professionally engineered, and Meaford’s homeowners still contribute good money for minimal impact on Georgian Bay.
The hundreds of shoreline houses and cottages, however, need scrutiny. Their continuous discharging of sewage directly into the natural soil environment, often only 50 feet from swimming areas … well, there’s really nothing good you can say about it. When close to high-water table or clay soil, a septic ‘loading rate’ area of 2500 – 5000 square feet is required for a 4-bedroom house, as a health and safety requirement. Many shoreline houses would have difficulty conforming to OBC 8.7.4.1.
This legacy shoreline situation falls into the category of ‘stuff that just happens’, and, as when sewage was dumped in the harbour, no one is personally held responsible. But it is stuff that needs to be fixed for health and safety reasons, and it can be fixed, like it was for the town 50-60 years ago. We don’t have to accept this contamination simply because ‘other people are doing it’.
In my personal experience with pressure sewers, which is one option, the Municipality constructs a sewer line in the road allowance with hook-up stubs in front of each house. A grinder pump tank receives the raw sewage (instead of a septic tank) and sends the macerated sewage via the sewer line to the treatment plant before it re-enters the bay. The homeowner pays for the grinder pump unit and the house-to-road connection, and then is responsible for sewer charges, the same as town homeowners. Professional engineers design the system, and there is a sizable cost for installation and operation.
An immediate benefit to the homeowner, and a very valuable one, is that substantial land area, formerly for septic use only, is now made available for free and unrestricted family use. This in itself makes the cleanup effort worthwhile, but homeowners will also have comfort knowing they’ve met building code safety requirements, and that they’ve done what they reasonably can to minimize their personal impact on Georgian Bay.
Thank you,
Craig Jowett, Meaford
