Please
Join Our Letter Writing Campaign -- We Need Your Help!
Please take part in our Letter Writing Campaign to the Minister of Environment (MOE),
The Honourable John Gerretsen, to ask him to do something about the sewage dumping from Sudbury's sewage treatment plants. The
Ecojustice Report, "Flushing Out the Truth: Sewage Dumping in Ontario", revealed that Sudbury was the
4th highest City in Ontario, by volume, to release untreated and undertreated sewage into the natural environment in
2006 and 2007 -- at a total of 2.6 billion liters.
We are asking the public to write a letter to the MOE requesting tigher regulations, stricter
penalties and stronger enforcement.
For your convenience we have included a form letter (see below)
that you can personalize and send out. See below for instructions:
Sewage Dumping -- Letter Writing Campaign to
The Honourable
John GerretsenMinister
of Environment77 Wellesley St. W., 11th Floor, Ferguson BlockToronto, ON M7A 2T5Tel: (416) 314-6790 Fax:
(416) 314-7337
Email: minister.moe@ontario.ca
In response to
the 2009 EcoJustice Report, “Flushing Out the Truth: Sewage Dumping in Ontario”, the Simon Lake Community Stewardship
Group are asking you to join our Letter Writing Campaign to let the Minister of Environment know that dumping untreated and
under-treated sewage into our watersheds is not acceptable.
You can either
send The Honourable John Gerretsen your own letter by regular mail at the above address, or
follow the instructions below to send him an email on-line:
1. Click on this link http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/forms/email-form.php?replyRequested=y;
2. Complete the required
fields: Your Name; Email Address; Street Address; City; Province; Country; Postal Code &
Telephone Number; and
3. Cut and paste
the following letter into the Comment Section:
Dear Minister Gerretsen:
I am writing to
express my concern with the recent Ecojustice report “Flushing Out the Truth: Sewage Dumping in
Ontario.” This report reveals that, during the years 2006 and 2007, Sudbury’s
sewage treatment plants dumped 2.6 billion litres of untreated and under-treated sewage into our waterways, and was the 4th
highest City, by volume, in Ontario, dumping untreated and undertreated sewage into the natural environment. This was slightly
under the amount dumped by the City of Toronto for the same two years.
I understand that
sewage bypasses are sometimes necessary to prevent sewage backups; however, untreated and under-treated sewage bypasses contain
many pollutants, including heavy metals, oils, greases, E. coli and phosphorus. Many of Sudbury’s lakes already bear
the effects of past environmental practices, including mining activity and many decades of poorly treated sewage discharges.
These sewage bypasses can only make matters worse.
The Ministry of Environment controls
what can be discharged from sewage treatment plants. For the sake of our waterways, please do something about the sewage dumping
from Sudbury’s sewage treatment plants. I am requesting:
1. a Ministerial Order to require Sudbury and all other Municipalities
to contain these bypass discharges in holding ponds, or some such measure that will prevent untreated and under-treated sewage
from being dumped into our watersheds, and until such time as the sewage can be treated;
2. tighter regulations to require municipalities to upgrade
their sewage treatment plants to more environmentally responsible technology;
3. stricter penalties to deter municipalities from dumping
sewage into our natural environment; and
4.
the recommendations of the 2009 EcoJustice Report be implemented.
These recommended measures would allow our lakes and rivers an opportunity to begin
to recover to a healthier state.
Sincerely, (Your Name)
