Dear Editor:
I have been doing lots of studying and research in to the proposed sewage plant in Erin. I am astounded how my estimates and calculations come out at 10 times more than the amount the town is telling us it will cost with our taxpayer-funded ads in the Wellington Advertiser and Erin Advocate.
I stand by my estimates of $80,000 to $90,000 thousand for my hookup. I have been in construction for 50 years, now retired, and I feel that this abomination will have costs over runs of more than 130%. I have worked on these types of projects and I estimate $290 million dollars after we endure the inevitable rip apart of our town with cables, hydro and gas lines cut and disruptions to services.
Now we find out there will be a sewage charge of $500 to $600 dollars yearly. I would rather pump out my perfectly functioning septic tank every five years for a lot less! Also, what has the potential to happen with this sewage plant is to raise river temperatures for sensitive brook trout, never mind the micro plastics, endotoxins and medicinal ingredients that are not removed in the sewage treatment process and released in the effluent in to the West Credit River.
Also, what will die is Erin’s small-town charm as we get paved over with subdivisions and strip malls and box stores. Also this same West Credit River is a water source for many as well.
I can disprove all the engineers’ reports in regards to dilution ratios (the mix of river water to sewage plant effluent) and discharge, as a simple family of beavers and a dam built overnight, a fallen tree or a drought can change these numbers.
In regards to a drought, we are in one right now and I have never seen the rivers, ponds and creeks so low at this time of the year.
Where is the river flow to meet the effluent discharge ratio of 7.2 million liters daily? Mother Nature is a river’s valve and it is controlled by these forces, not an engineer’s report. How the Credit Valley Conservation Authority and the Ministry of the Environment approved this atrocity is beyond my realm of thinking.
Also, another point that astounds me is how the County of Peel, it’s residents and politicians allow Wellington County, on the west side of Winston Churchill, to dump in to their county on the other side of the culvert, the east side.
The proposed developments in Erin should be done on the developers’ own properties using technology that does not impact the West Credit River.
The proposed sewage treatment plant location would be a beautiful place for a baseball diamond, sports field and hiking and bicycle trails. That is the “welcome mat” that I would like to see as you drive in to Erin, not this abomination.
Ken Cowling,
Erin