ogliq2 Posted July 12, 2009 Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 I was trying to find out if the fish is safe to eat from the Welland river. I didn't find any definitive answers, but I found this li'l nugget. This might be old news, I'm not sure, but does anyone know if you can eat fish caught in the river? I know people who fish in the river, and say that the fish are safe, and the river is one of the least polluted stretches of water around, but by taking a good look at it, I'd say NOT... any info would be appreciated. I know that river road has been closed for about a year now with work going on at a pumping station there. Is this an effort to upgrade the facility to reduce pollution? It says that you need not be concerned to hike along the waterway, but what about fishing in it ??? Paul Posted By ALLAN BENNER/Tribune Staff Posted 9 days ago WELLAND — People don’t need to be overly concerned about taking a stroll along the Welland River bank, says Bjorn Christensen. Despite heavy rainfall over the past week and a recent report about billions of litres of sewage being dumped in the river when the flow of sewage exceeds the capacity of Niagara’s sewage treatment plant, Niagara’s director of health protection and promotion said exposure to the pollutants from walking along the river is negligible. “They’re not consuming polluted water, they’re not swimming in it which would cause an eye or ear infection,” Christensen said. “If they’re experiencing symptoms they should go to a physician, but unless you’re consuming very contaminated water you’re not going to experience those kinds of symptoms just from walking along the river or even sticking your feet into it.” A report released Monday by environmental watchdog group Ecojustice said 3.9 billion litres of raw sewage from Welland’s sewage treatment facility was dumped into the Welland River in 2006 and 2007. Betty Matthews-Malone, the region’s director of water and wastewater, confirmed Friday that numbers quoted in the study were accurate for Welland. The report says that 2.3 billion litres were dumped in 2006, and the region’s records show 2.28 billion liters dumped that year. In 2007, the report says the Welland sewage treatment plant dumped 1.6 billion litres, while regional records show 1.58 billion litres being dumped. However, she said numbers for Niagara Falls reported by Ecojustice, formerly known as Sierra Legal Defense Fund, far exceeded the region’s data — particularly in 2007. That year, she said 336 million liters bypassed the Niagara Falls wastewater treatment plant — significantly less than the 6.9 billion cited in the organization’s report. Although the need to dump sewage into waterways is a long-standing concern that is being addressed, Christensen said it’s better than the alternative. “The whole issue of overflows deals with infrastructure and the capacity of infrastructure to deal with storm events,” he said. “There’s no question that there are bypasses at certain times of the year when we get into these kids of (storm) events. ... But we do not want sewage backing up into people’s basements.” Matthews-Malone said the region’s data include partially-treated wastewater that was dumped, in which solid matter was removed and chlorine was added before it was released into waterways. She also said chlorine is added to all sewage dumped during summer months, although no chemicals are added to the sewage dumped during the winter. While the report was intended to draw attention to the problem, and hopefully garner additional upper-tier government investment to fix it, Matthews-Malone said the province is already taking steps to address sewage overflows in Niagara. She said infrastructure grants were recently announced to improve sewage treatment capacity in several areas of Niagara. “There’s further activity planned for (the sewage treatment plant) in Welland as well,” she added. The province “has been extremely helpful and supportive,” she said. abenner@wellandtribune.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucketmouthjohnny Posted July 12, 2009 Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 Just take the toilet paper off your fish before you eat them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted July 12, 2009 Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 Check the guide for your answer http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/publications/590b14-SO.pdf As for sewage overflows, they exist with every body of water that has a major town on it's shores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik.T. Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 I smelled raw sewage by the aquaduct ewwwww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 This pisses me off The reason we started stocking walleye is because they got the swewage under control. The City of Welland should be embarrassed. I know we are in Fort Erie. These local Governments seem to just accept that dumping sewage is inevitable in wet months. This is when walleye spawn. This is when they need the water to be clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogliq2 Posted July 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 I think these numbers are staggering ... Is there no way to put pressure on these municipalities to clean up their act ??? I think this "Bjorn Christensen" 's attitude is reprehensible, to suggest that you just don't drink it or swim in it ... They've turned the river into an open sewer, and THAT is sooo third world ... the possibilities for dysentery as well as a long list of other maladies are being given a free breeding ground here, and the people in charge just have a "let them eat cake" attitude. All the while the city of Welland is trying to develop Merritt Island as a tourist attraction ... Buffaugh A group of us should picket Merritt island when the food festival is going on .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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