Warnings from the Experts
"There's 750,000 people putting sewage into the
river and 350,000 drinking it. The problem is most of the people using
water are in the city, not where they're dumping it." Warren
Yerex, GRCA fish expert.
"I think it's a river under serious threat,"
said Prof. Mark Servos, a University of Waterloo expert whose primary
focus is the Grand River. "The river can assimilate so much.
Then it will start to fall apart." He continued to state, "
We're losing the potential of the river to be resilient."
"What I'm afraid of is
we just don't know enough to know the impact from agriculture . .
. and from wastewater treatment plants" says
Sandra Cook Senior water quality supervisor at the GRCA. Cooke fears
the upgrades won't happen soon enough to save the waterway. Even if
the plants are improved in time, she's unconvinced they will be able
to keep up with unrelenting urban expansion. "The question to
me is: How long can a river take it? How long can a river take being
punched in the face?"
These quotes were taken from KW
Record, Urban growth, provincial plans just some of the obstacles
to rejuvenating the Grand River Watershed May 3, 2008
There's not enough water for our growth, environmental
commissioner says
October 22, 2008
By Greg Mercer, Reporter staff
CAMBRIDGE-- Waterloo Regional authorities say there's plenty of water
beneath our feet for another quarter million residents.
Ontario's environmental commissioner isn't so sure.
Gord Miller says he's concerned that growth here may be outpacing
the region's ability to supply water to a population expected to reach
750,000 people within 30 years.
"We're not going to have that many people if the water is not
there," Miller said Tuesday after the release of his annual report.
"That much growth is pretty ambitious."
Miller said growth projections are based on an unsafe presumption
that groundwater -- which supplies 75 per cent of local municipal
needs -- can be counted on for decades to come. The region provides
water in bulk to local
But Waterloo Regional Chair Ken Seiling said the municipality has
studied the issue extensively and is confident the Grand River and
underground water sources can feed expected growth well into the 2030s.
"I'm quite astonished by the (commissioner's) comment,"
Seiling said.
"There's not even a long-term shortage facing us, not for years
and years. We're well-equipped to deal with the growth that's coming
our way."
Seiling argues if the commissioner is opposed to the idea of piping
in lake water in the future, he's opposed to growth across the region.
"I guess he should argue nothing should grow in southern Ontario,"
Seiling said. "I'm not sure where he's coming from . . . and
I'm concerned if he's creating the impression we have a water shortage."
Moraine
Too Valuable to be Developed by Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Gordon Nelson of the University of Waterloo, with four decades of
experience in land use, environmental and heritage analysis and planning
Region should
take a long-term view of water problems by Emil Frind of Waterloo
is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Waterloo
and a groundwater expert.
Distinguished Professor Alan Morgan's PDF 2005
GRCA Water Forum Presentation illustrates the various water concerns
in the Waterloo Moraine.
Canadian
Science Body Concerned about Local Water Supply - This article
was published in the Waterloo Chronicle and speaks of how the Council
of Canadian Academies used Waterloo as a case study because we are
the largest municipality in Canada dependent on ground source drinking
water. To view the full study online visit http://www.scienceadvice.ca/groundwater.html