Thursday, February 10, 2005
Environmentalists take signed petition to province

From the Wednesday February 9, 2005 Waterloo Chronicle (www.waterloochronicle.ca).

By Bob Vrbanac
Chronicle Staff

The Citizens for the Protection of the Waterloo Moraine handed over a 2,400-name petition to Kitchener MPP John Milloy yesterday with hopes he'll raise the plight of the environmentally sensitive area in the legislature over the next few weeks.

The petitioners are concerned that continued development on the west side of the city will lead to contaminating the Waterloo Moraine, the region's major source for drinking water. They're concerned that grading out the land to build 1,800 new homes will expose the vulnerable aquifers - which turns rain into potable groundwater - to road salt, pesticides and other chemicals.

Once these aquifers become contaminated, the almost 80 per cent of groundwater it provides to local residents will become useless for human consumption for generations to come.

So they've asked for the immediate halt of the plan to connect Columbia Street to Wilmot Line, and they're appealing to the province that no formal subdivision registration take place until an individual environmental assessment be done on this project.

Ginny Quinn, a member of Citizens for the Protection of the Waterloo Moraine (CPWM), put together the list of names and dropped them off at Milloy's office after being contacted by the MPP's staffers on the issue. The Liberal government has said that it is committed to protecting groundwater at the source after the Walkerton water tragedy, and she hopes that the province wades into the issue on the citizens' behalf.

It's not that Quinn, a local realtor, is necessarily against development. She's just against development in this environmentally-sensitive area.

Quinn, who was also part of the fight to keep a soil remediation plant out of a downtown Kitchener neighbourhood, said there are a lot of local citizens equally concerned.

"They're angry," said Quinn. "They're feeling threatened by this plan."

What concerns Quinn more is the number of people still indifferent to an issue that affects such a basic human need as clean, safe, drinkable water.

"I have so many of them saying that, 'Oh, we don't drink the tap water anyway,'" said Quinn. "What are we a Third-World country?"

Quinn attributes that laissez-faire attitude to the trust factor some people have in local authorities ability to protect groundwater. Especially with some of the revelations that came out of the Walkerton water inquiry.

Anyone who wants to share their concerns can contact Quinn or other members of the group like Penelope Polyzou and David Wellhauser to sign on in the petition.

In the meantime, a request filed by Polyzou and Wellhauser for a Part II order for the proposed Columbia street extension was rejected by the Ministry of the Environment at the end of January.

The city got formal notice of the rejection of the individual environmental assessment Jan. 22 said Cameron Rapp, team leader of community policy. The ministry can only act on new information it receives concerning the impact on groundwater, and has reviewed the hydrogeological studies already done.

"In their review it said that it has all been done to the best management practices, and they think it's reasonable," said Rapp. "They told us we can continue to implement the project."

Rapp said the letter validates the process that the city undertook, and the substance of council's approval for the project. "They said, 'No, we're not going to bump it up to an EA (Environmental Assessment).

"Despite the process they looked at the studies themselves, and said everything seems fine. The city can proceed subject to any permits or approval."

The only approval still pending before council is the draft plan for the subdivision.