Township concerned about letter regarding water quality
By Liz Dadson

Huron-Kinloss

(continued)

Huron-Kinloss council wants to know where a letter-writer got the information on which he bases his concerns about water quality in the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority watershed.

The letter from Brian MacEachern of Huron-Kinloss, states that the largest cause for excess phosphorous in waterways is from residual phosphorous on farm fields after crop harvest.

"They have no way of measuring how much of the residual phosphorous stays on the field and how much binds itself to other particles and is eventually washed into nearby ditches and eventually carried into creeks, streams, rivers and into a lake," the letter says. "I think it is safe to assume that a lot was carried into Pine River and Lake Huron last June when we had a lot of rain in a short period of time."

(next column)

02/03/2009 08:18 PM

MacEachern states, in his letter, that the same holds true for residual nitrogen from farm fields. "Huron-Kinloss Township has a septic system inspection ongoing to help prevent phosphorous and nitrogen from entering our waterways," the letter says. "This is admirable, but when the numbers on this table (from the Environment Canada Website) are looked at, possibly the money could be better spent on projects that would reduce the nutrient residue on fields from entering the waterways."
 

"I'm tired of the agricultural industry always looking bad on a chart," said councillor Anne Eadie.

"This is similar to other letters we've received," said councillor Don Murray who suggested council just note and file the letter.

Eadie questioned the information MacEachern quotes in his letter. "Many times, if you have a computer and the Internet, you can get whatever information you want to hear," she said.

Council agreed to send MacEachern a letter asking what regulatory body supports his findings and where he got his information.

^{for world news, books, sports, movies ...}