Great Lakes Article:

Water quality meeting focuses on unity
By Matt Shurrie
Signal-Star
12/03/03

CLINTON - Realizing water quality adversely affects everyone, interested parties agreed here last week to continue meeting on the issue during a day-long discussion hosted by the Huron County Health Unit.

Representatives from the health unit and a number of organizations including cottage associations, farm groups, members of the tourist industry, environmentalists and municipal leaders spent Nov. 28 looking at how water quality is currently measured and what they might do collectively to improve testing results along Lake Huron in the months and years to come.

" Everyone at this table has a study," Huron County Warden Dave Urlin said. "We need to sit down and put the studies together and come up with a solution."

While Urlin’s statement certainly seemed to sum up the sentiment of the day it was Bluewater Shoreline Residents Association (BSRA) past president Bob Campbell’s comments that made plenty of sense when he suggested the group look at the water quality issue through a wide angle lens as they move forward.

" This is not as complicated as we make it out to be," Campbell said. "We need to zero in on the issues and the next step should be zeroing in on those areas. We could spend 10 more years on looking at wind direction or we can just point the finger at ourselves. I think that’s a better idea."

Originally planned as a session to update stakeholders on how the health unit’s water quality sampling process had been undertaken over the summer, recent national headlines calling Lake Huron a polluted mess sparked renewed interest. In fact, the meeting attracted close to 25 panellists and another 35 interested audience members.
After the morning session was spent outlining changes to water sampling with the health unit’s Penny Nelligan and Pam Scarfe explaining the sampling process, any misconceptions that beaches along the shoreline have been closed - a common error found in national stories - were quickly cleared up.

While it’s true that seven beaches are permanently posted - five along Lake Huron and two dams in Exeter and Wingham - the health unit made the decision to permanently post beaches in order to increase the amount of sampling at beaches deemed unstable.

" We are posting a warning - not closing the beaches," Scharfe said during her presentation.

University of Guelph scientists Michael Brodsky and Shu Chen also attended the session and explained the methods of sampling and the scientific background of E.coli.

" We all realize that over the last 150 years we’re all part of the problem," Urlin said during an open session amongst panellists. "However, we can all be part of the solution too and I’d like to see a committee come out of this. I’m tired of pointing fingers at each other. It’s not who’s at fault because we’re all at fault and we have to work with provincial and federal governments to find a solution."

Ontario Ministry of the Environment representative Ron Bennett said there are three potential polluters contributing to Lake Huron’s problems including cottagers, farmers and municipalities. However, he said it’s important to realize that this problem has been ongoing for many years.

" Are we dealing with a new problem?" Bennett asked. "No. We’re dealing with more people and a more educated public and the need for more information. I don’t think that there’s any question that people want to do something."

Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt, who also serves as chair of Huron County’s board of health, said Goderich continues to work on an extensive program to separate sewers and water systems. To date the town has invested millions of dollars to ensure that 98 per cent of all systems have been separated.

" We look forward to spending money to go further," Shewfelt said. "We know we’ve been part of the problem but hopefully we’ll be part of the future."

While the overall tone of the meeting was positive and one that looked ahead to find a solution, there clearly were times when the discussion became heated. Late in the meeting both the agriculture and tourism sectors clashed when farmers were accused of not doing more to help find a solution.

" We don’t have a good feeling," said one bed and breakfast owner from the audience. "We don’t want bad players."

Shewfelt interrupted saying it’s time for Huron County and the health unit in particular to step up and take a leadership role in developing a model for the future.

" It’s time to pull a group together and time to try and come in with some solutions," Shewfelt said. "Right now we’re all shooting off in different directions but I’m pleased with what I’ve seen here."

While no date for future meetings were announced it is expected the health unit will host a similar meeting sometime in January.