The Gatineau River
The Ottawa Citizen reports that, “Opponents of a proposed sewage treatment plant on the Gatineau River north of Wakefield rallied Saturday, hoping to bring a loud protest to a public meeting on the issue Tuesday evening (in the village of Sainte-Cecile-de-Masham). The MRC (municipalités rurales qui la composent) des Collines plans to build the sewage plant on one of two sites, trucking in sewage pumped from tanks across a wide region. That sewage used to go to Gatineau’s treatment plant, but the city stopped accepting it last year.”
“Opponent Wanda Gibson, who has a cottage on the Gatineau River, says she’s worried that the plant will use old technology, and will put out more effluent than the river can handle in dry spells. Opponents of the plan (also) don’t like the design, using aeration pits where sewage breaks down, with the treated water released to the river.”
“The sewage question is one of a flurry of development-related issues that have all arrived in Wakefield at once. Residents are protesting the planned extension of Highway 5, saying the risk of damage to the roadside Wakefield spring — a fast-flowing source of drinking water for up to 5,000 residents — is unacceptable. Their protest has the support of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Council of Canadians. Meanwhile an environmental screening by Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the National Capital Commission concludes the spring should be safe from damage by rock blasting, and from contamination by road salt.”
“There are also protests against expropriation of private land for industrial development at the village’s south end, including a plastic foam factory.”
The article is at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=4430577&cid=megadrop_story.
