A warning from the Ontario Environment Commissioner that there is just too much sewage getting into waterways and lakes is likely to send a chill into all those who remember the outbreak of E coli poisoning at Walkerton 18 years ago. Six people died and more than 2,000 were sickened in that municipal calamity Tuesday the Commissioner, Dianne Saxe, issued her annual report which seems to recall the same sort of sloppiness and ignorance that haunted Walkerton. It says that between April 2017 and March this year, raw sewage overflowed into southern Ontario waterways 1,327 times from nearly 60 outdated municipal sewer systems that combine sewage and storm water. Ms. Saxe urged the province to require every municipality with combined sewers to take action to eliminate overflows using measures like additional storm water fees and building additional infrastructure. Saxe says the province’s waterways are also being affected by run-off laden with fertilizer and road salt. It was runoff of fertilizer and fecal material from livestock that caused the Walkerton poisonings.
