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| Sings of pollution in Lake Ontario during heavy precipitation. |
Cameron Shirreffs vows never to swim in a body of water within the city’s limits again.
Despite a billion dollar plan to clean Toronto’s waterways, many residents such as Shirreffs believe Lake Ontario, The Don River and Humber River are far too polluted for any living thing to be in or around.
The 30-year-old cook spent a much of his childhood in the Don Valley, swimming and fishing in the streams. Once he reached his teens, Shirreffs decided Toronto’s waterways were too filthy to swim in.
“I stopped swimming in the water after my friend was bit by some creature we couldn’t see,” Shirreffs said. “The water was so murky, we never found out what it was.”
Shirreffs emphasized his fear of Lake Ontario and the Don River. He stressed how contaminated the wildlife in and along the water ways must be.
“I would like to fish in Lake Ontario again but I wouldn’t touch or eat anything from the lake,” he said. “Who knows what the fish in there have?”
City Hall has a plan to clean up the waterways and the perspective of Torontonians once and for all.
Adopted by City Council in 2003, The Wet Weather Flow Management Master Plan will take 25 years and is estimated to cost Toronto a billion dollars by the time it’s completed in 2025.
Janet Davis, Councillor for Ward 31 Beaches-East York, leads the Wet Weather Flow Management Advisory Committee. She has supported the Master Plan since its early stages.
“It’s important that we expedite the infrastructure investment that’s necessary to clean our water ways and make our beaches swimmable,” She said.
“The environmental assessment is almost complete and we’ll be working to begin selecting preferred options and implementing new infrastructure to stop the pollution in Taylor-Massey Creek, the Don River and our water front.”
Ted Bowering is the Manager of Policy and Program Development for Toronto Water, a department overseeing the city’s waterways and sewer systems. He said storm water is the primary target for the Master Plan.
“We will address the adverse affects of combined sewer overflows and storm water on our watersheds,” Bowering said. “The Plan looks at options to intercept and treat storm water and CSO’s before being released to the lake.”
In a natural landscape, storm run off travels through vegetation and returns to bodies of water in a clean way. According to Bowering, an urban environment pollutes run off and creates major challenges for maintaining the quality of waterways.
“In large cities, as in Toronto, where much of the ground is paved with concrete, asphalt or brick, water cannot easily infiltrate into the ground,” Bowering said. “The water picks up dirt, oil, grease, metal, pesticides and other pollutants along the way before it flows into storm water grates.”
Toronto Water oversees the building of tunnels and green space along rivers to intercept the polluted water. Some green space has been erected at the mouth of the Humber River and stormwater tunnels have been constructed in the Beaches.
In addition the city is in the planning stages of constructing water treatment facilities on Colborne Lodge Dr. and Ellis Ave. Toronto Water said these facilities are designed to intercept and treat storm water before it’s washed into the lake.
Bowering said the Master Plan has already contributed to a cleaner Lake Ontario suitable for swimming.
“Today’s beaches are not the same beaches of 20 years ago and people are missing out on a great opportunity to enjoy the beaches in their own backyards,” Bowering said.
This is not enough to get Torontonians like Shirreffs back into the water, however.
“I will never, ever swim in Toronto water again,” Shirreffs said. “Until they do something like completely overhaul the sewer system, I’ll be avoiding it.
Davis argues a negative attitude is a detriment to the city’s progression. She stresses a need for faith in the city’s ability to clean waterways.
“We all need to share the vision of a cleaner, greener city in order to move forward and achieve our goals,” Davis said.
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| A combined sewage overflow tunnel (CSO) in the East Beaches. CSO tunnels are designed to divert and purify stormwater before it reaches a body of water. Toronto water will oversee the construction of a number of these tunnels by 2028. (Toronto Water) |
“We need public support to build the storm water management facilities and more importantly, we need the public to do what they can on their properties to help keep water where it falls and out of the sewer system,” Bowering said.
Limiting fertilizer and pesticide use, along with using car washes are some of the most effective ways Toronto Water says people can help. greenspace also helps to naturally purify stormwater.
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