Feature Article November 6, 2003
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New council will probably make final decision on water treatment plant:
Sydenham water test results referred to MoE.
The results of tests for bacterial and nitrate contamination on over 200 wells in the village of Sydenham have been referred to an official from the Ministry of the Environment in order to get an impartial opinion as to whether they warrant the building of the proposed water treatment plant in the village.
The tests were ordered to settle a dispute between residents opposed to the plant and the water committee of council, who were in the final stages of approval for the construction of a plant at the Point Park in the Village of Sydenham.
We just received the results this morning, said Gord Burns on Tuesday, and the engineering company for the water plant project has arranged, as far as I know, to have someone from the Ministry of the Environment look at them and hopefully make a recommendation. They might say we should proceed with water treatment, or they might say that other methods of remediation would be sufficient.
The test results are not being released to the public until they are seen by the council committee that has been dealing with Sydenham water. Gord Burns said that getting the Ministry of the Environment to look at the results is important because the MoE is an impartial third party that can provide an analysis of the meaning of the data.
Otherwise, they are just numbers, and different people will say they mean different things, he said.
Controversy over the current safety status of the well water in Sydenham is what led Mayor Leonard to request these comprehensive tests. Testing was done on several occasions in the 1990s and more recently, and the varying results have led opponents to claim the problem has been alleviated through septic and sewage improvements within the village.
Mayor Leonard has said he hopes these tests will give a clear indication of what the actual state of Sydenham water is, and the water treatment plant can then either be built or the project scrapped entirely.
The current council gave clerk Burns the authority to sign the contract to have the plant built during the period between September 26, when the South Frontenac Council entered a lame duck status wherein they are not permitted to enter into new spending commitments, and the swearing in of the new council in December 1.
The motion granting the authority contains specific requirements that need to be met for me to sign the contract - and they are currently far from being met, Burns said.
Aside from the need to have the MoE evaluate the results and report back to the water committee of council for a final decision, the township has also not been informed if the OSTAR program of the provincial government will cover their share of the increased costs that have been identified for the project.
With the change in the provincial government, we might not get an answer about our OSTAR request for a while, Burns said.
It now looks as if the new Mayor and Council of South Frontenac will be dealing with Sydenham water in their early days.
