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March
1999 Newsletter
Remedial
Action Plan Going Down the Pipe?
In
1992, a six year study of Hamilton Harbour recommended a
remedial action plan (RAP) to clean up the mess. The central
requirement was reducing sewage flows into the harbour.
Over 80% was coming from Hamilton-Wentworth, with the bulk
from two sources.
One
was the decrepit Hamilton sewage treatment plant (which
is obviously continuing to deteriorate), and the other was
a string of combined sewer overflow (CSO) pipes. Every time
it rained, these CSOs dumped a mix of sanitary and storm
water into the harbour and local streams.
All
levels of government promised to contribute to the Harbour
cleanup. However, only the federal government has stayed
the course. The province backed out in 1995 when Mike Harris
took control, while the local governments have generally
waited for someone else to do their share.
A
key part of the cleanup plan was the construction of large
tanks to catch the CSOs. Hamilton-Wentworth agreed on a
plan to spend $275 million over a twenty-year period. Between
1993 and 1996 four tanks were built at a cost of about $50
million, or over $12 million a year, a pace that might have
accomplished the plan. They improved water quality in the
western end of the harbour to such an extent that authorities
began allowing swimming again for the first time in forty
years. Most of the money came from the federal and provincial
governments.
Since
1996 the CSO program has stalled. Spending in 1997 and 1998
combined was less than half a million, and nothing is planned
in 1999. The capital budget plans released in February propose
that $13.2 million will be spent between 2000 and 2008.
Note that these are the same plans which staff says 94%
of the spending must be eliminated from. Consequently, the
Region is now proposing that a new 20-year plan be negotiated.
Almost
all of this $13.2 million still promised is tied to the
Red Hill expressway. The region is proposing to build an
elongated tank under the road so they can argue that the
expressway will improve the environment. This is quite a
clever plan because it can also be used to keep RAP supporters
quiet about the incredible spending on the expressway itself.
The
message from the Region to the RAP supporters is quite clear:
no more CSO tanks will be built until the expressway is
completed. What is also clear, however, is that the cost
of building the expressway will leave no possible way of
financing other CSO facilities.
This
shows again that the expressway issue is the pivotal question
in Hamilton-Wentworth. If it is built, even the most applauded
environmental cleanup effort will be sacrificed. No one
can escape the choice being imposed: improvement of the
environment without the expressway, or more degradation
with it.
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