Great Lakes Article:

Sewage diversion undermines Great Lakes protection bill: critics
Standard Freeholder (Osprey Media)
Published May 10, 2007

Legislation aimed at protecting the Great Lakes from being drained to dangerously low levels through large-scale water diversions must also cover the disposal of sewage, an Ontario legislative committee heard Wednesday.

Otherwise, diversions in the form of wastewater could still occur and undermine the legislation, several groups told the committee.

"They have the potential to upset the balance of the entire Great Lakes system," said Judith Grant, president of the Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations.

The bill contains glaring exceptions that could allow York region's plans to pipe its sewage from the Lake Simcoe-Georgian Bay watershed to a treatment plant on Lake Ontario, said Grant.

Several cities also want to draw drinking water from Lake Huron or Georgian Bay but divert their effluent to Lake Ontario or Lake Erie. The legislation is designed to create the legal framework that would allow Ontario to live up to its international obligations under a deal it signed in 2005 with Quebec and eight American states that border the Great Lakes.

The heart of that agreement is the prohibition of large-scale water diversions out of the region. With increasingly thirsty southern states clamouring for water for irrigation, drinking and industry, the issue is far from academic.

Lakes Michigan and Huron, and Georgian Bay are already at close to unprecedented low levels, resulting in dried-out wetlands and loss of natural wildlife habitat. Low levels are also curtailing how much freight ships can carry and impacting recreational boating and other uses.

"We know that there are water disputes on the horizon for use of water around the Great Lakes," said Mary Muter, vice-president of the Georgian Bay Association.

It's imperative water be returned to its source area after use, Muter said in calling for even tighter legislation.

Heavyweight environment groups, such as the Sierra Club of Canada, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Pollution Probe, all praised Bill 198 as a critical step toward creating a culture that "lives within our natural water budgets" and urged speedy passage.

The bottled water industry, however, sounded a loud note of disagreement, accusing the Liberal government of rushing through "unfair" legislation without consultation.